An introduction to me, my family, and our adventures...
A bit about me & my family... and yes that's me in the Stormtrooper armor
.
Thanks for checking out my site....
Here is WAY too much information:
Brendan is a husband, dad, & pastor who loves Jesus, Comic-Con, Star Wars, music, guitars, food, coffee, dogs, cars & not driving off cliffs anymore. He’s been married to Susie for over 20 years and they with their two kids & two pups live in San Diego. Brendan has served in ministry for over 30 years, writes for Worship Musician Magazine and Worship Leader Magazine, and teaches with Worship Team Coach as well as at many national conferences & training events. He is passionate for vertical worship, sharing the truth in love, bold evangelism, and equipping & empowering the saints to serve others with their gifts and talents. He serves as lead pastor at Sanctuary San Diego, has loved being part of the ministry team at a variety of churches as a pastor for the past twenty years, and is excited to be part of reaching people far from God, teaching them to follow Jesus, and launching them into ministry to serve God and others!
The call God has on me for ministry is to shepherd followers of Jesus, disciple and help others worship Jesus, develop in others a focus on the transforming power of life in the body of Christ, model an effective approach to worship blending technology and teaching, creating a vibrant expression of the worship arts based on strong biblical preaching that’s life relevant, leading bold evangelism in the community, and bringing together people from all walks of life to worship Jesus Christ.
My personal mission statement is: To have a life worth imitating and a faith worth considering...
To live and lead a lifestyle of worship.
My purpose is to know Jesus better, and to help others grow closer to him.
The Apostle Paul once described himself as trying to be all things to all people so they could relate to what he was saying, and that’s what I've made an intentional effort to model in my life. Whether good or bad, I do embrace the wide range of experiences that have served to form my character development.
In no particular order, I am a shepherd pastor, teacher, musician, chef, navy brat, father, husband, Star Wars fan, Browncoat, Trekkie, recovering Catholic, adopted San Diegan, Coronado Islander, motorsport enthusiast, gamer, marksman, collector of oddities, coffee connoisseur, and appreciator of the finer things in life, such as not driving off cliffs (anymore).
Education & Professional Experience
I'm very happy to have completed my Master's of Divinity from the seminary at Azusa Pacific University, taking a measly 19 years to finish, while concurrently earning a Master's of Educational Technology. I probably took longer than any other seminary student ever, having started the program in fall 2001, just one week before the events of 9/11, and graduating in May 2020. And I definitely have completed more postgraduate units than anyone ever for a Master's degree, coming across the finish line with 140 units (for a 74 unit degree). Because I have 66 units post degree, I've been given an ABD by Northwestern University and am currently working on my doctoral dissertation. Funny to think I have completed more education than most whom have actually had a doctorate conferred upon them.
I’ve been actively involved in ministry leadership for 30 years as a pastor (lead pastor, executive pastor, worship pastor, administrative pastor, outreach pastor, small groups pastor, men's ministry pastor, creative arts pastor, facilities director, IT & technologies director, office manager, community engagement director, social media & web manager, and minister to college-age, high school, and jr. high school groups).
We are very happy to be back in San Diego after an adventure in the Midwest which turned out to be an unexpected foreign missions trip to a strange culture... we spent two years ministering in South Bend, Indiana, where I served at South Side Baptist Church as Pastor of Worship and Connections, after two decades of ministry in SoCal.
We lovingly served as members of the ministry team at Quest Church San Diego for the next four years, where we had the opportunity to assist in relaunching, revitalizing & re-energizing a church that was needing some TLC.
In early 2022 we started a new church called Sanctuary San Diego, currently gathering in the Lakeside area of East County: www.sanctuarysandiego.com
For many years I have routinely performed Biblical counseling (marriage and family, grief, crisis management, etc), and my wife and I LOVE to help newlyweds navigate the waters of married life in home based Life Groups.
The entirety of my ministry career has been multivocational. Normally the term used is "bivocational" but I have always had to have multiple side hustles to support my family. Over the years I have been a chef at a Greek restaurant, a high school teacher and administrator, a music instructor, a magazine writer and book co-author, an automotive technician, an HVAC technician, a speaker/educator/trainer/coach for leadership development conferences and workshops, a content creator for websites, and a YouTuber. My current side hustle is being a Work & Family Life Consultant for Navy Fleet and Family Services, providing support to military service members and their families.
My articles published with Worship Leader Magazine and Worship Musician Magazine can be found on my media page here in the top menu. I enjoy teaching sessions at national worship conferences, and helping develop and coordinate local Worship Leaders Networks, where I assist other worship leaders in developing their ministry teams. For four years I coordinated a local gathering of worship ministry teams in cooperation for multi-church nights of worship called Encounter, partnering with pastors from Canyon Springs Church, Horizon Valley Center, Mira Mesa Christian Fellowship, Horizon North County, and several others to bring this event to fruition 4-5 times a year. And with some longtime friends I co-founded the San Diego Worship Leaders Network, which has over 800 members engaged in supporting one another as we serve our local churches through worship and technical ministry.
Family
My family is not perfect and we do struggle through many life challenges together, like just about everyone we know. My wife Susie was diagnosed with leukemia in July 2020 and she has been fighting cancer ever since. We are grateful that she has a positive prognosis, and prayerfully encouraged that the medical treatments and much prayer are so far being very effective in beating back the cancer! We are extremely thankful for the tremendous support we've received from our church community in prayer and meeting practical needs as we've walked this road together.
In December 2022 my wife Susie and I celebrated 23 years of married life together, and we are thrilled to have two amazing teens we refer to as Hobbit #1 and Hobbit #2, as we try to keep their names off social media. Hobbit #1 is enjoying life as a college student here in the San Diego area, and Hobbit #2 is continuing the high school journey here in San Diego. We also have two dogs and two turtles rounding out the family.
My wife has her Master’s degree in Special Education and taught kindergarten/first grade bilingual students with mild to moderate disabilities in the inner city, until our kids entered the picture. She was a stay at home mommy for 11 years, but as our kids have reached school age, she's been finding opportunities to serve in ministry and returned to the education field as a teacher helping special needs students. She enjoys scrap booking, antiques, reading, Trading Spaces, and is a closet Trekkie, Browncoat, & Tolkien fan. She was born in Costa Rica, grew up in San Diego, and is fluent in Spanish – and is teaching our children to speak Spanish. Susie helped lead the Mothers of Pre-Schoolers ministry at our church for several years, and was a core member of our Moms On A Mission group.
Passion & Calling
My main passion, anointing and calling in ministry is for Word centered worship that is passionately experiential and life transforming, the spiritual care and mentoring of Christ followers, and servant evangelism with a focus towards long-term community impact.
Susie and I believe that as a husband and wife we are both called to serve in ministry, and we have had the wonderful experience of serving together in several ministries through our years together. Susie and I started and led a Young Married ministry that has continued to grow and develop far beyond our five years of involvement. We also worked together for several years in community outreach, in our church’s servant evangelism kindness outreach ministry, which I later came to co-lead as assistant pastor. And of course, Susie was instrumental in helping launch Sanctuary as a new church in San Diego, helping with all the hospitality and fellowship aspects of our gatherings, and keeping me centered.
Music is a huge part of my life, and I spend a great deal of time listening and performing. I strive to always be developing my worship leading abilities and musical skills, and I add new songs to my repertoire constantly. I’m proficient on many different instruments, including electric and acoustic six string guitars, twelve string acoustic, five string bass, keyboard, violin, viola, mandolin, ukulele, drums, djembe, cajon, conga, bongos, maracas, and I lead from vocals. I’d love to learn the electric cello, banjo, and taiko drums. Currently I'm working on learning the traditional Irish Penny Whistle and the Peruvian flute and I've threatened to make my own bagpipes.
Personal Background
I grew up in a Navy family, so I basically lived everywhere; we moved 25 times in 21 years, but I consider San Diego to be my home town. We just completed what was lifetime move #41 for me, relocating from Alpine to Lakeside.
It should be known as well that I am the prince of Navy brats – my dad was a highly decorated two-star admiral & multiple war veteran, and I took great advantage of being his son to exercise my bratness on many military bases around the world. Unfortunately he was killed in the line of duty when his F-18 went down in May 1995, but he was an amazing role model and I miss him dearly. As a long-term survivor, I participate with the organization TAPS: Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (www.taps.org) as a Care Group Facilitator, Peer Mentor, chaplain, and group leader for young adult children of military service members who have died in the line of duty, and I proudly serve other Gold Star families.
I'm a car guy and I love spending time on cars – restoring them, modifying them, repairing them, racing them, driving them, and yes, even just looking at them. I've got a YouTube channel focused mainly on DIY auto repairs for the average shade tree mechanic, and the SoCal Car Culture scene: www.youtube.com/brendanprout
Over the years I've created hundreds of videos posted ranging from live song performances to DIY car repair tutorials. Feel free to look me up, subscribe and share some of my videos! Cliffjumper is the name of the channel, named for my infamous experience driving off a 300 foot cliff in Malibu.
My garage is full of every random tool ever conceived of for auto maintenance, and some that were never meant to be used on a car. Sometimes I have to make my own tools to fix things that break on cars that are no longer supported by their manufacturers (for some reason I am drawn to “problem” cars, rare & hard to find parts for). I love being involved in the car scene, hanging out with different auto clubs and communities. I use that connection as an evangelistic opportunity to share the love of Jesus, with 1 Corinthians 10:31 as my inspiration: whatever I do, I do it for the glory of God.
Volunteerism & Charity Work
As alluded to previously, I am also a huge sci-fi geek, and helped found the San Diego Star Wars Society in 2002, serving on its leadership team now for 20 years, supporting local charities, our military families, and schools through participation in events and fundraising. I'm also a member of the 501st Legion, Rebel Legion, and Droid Builders, participating as a cosplayer and builder.
Additionally I serve as a volunteer with Comic-Con International as a Committee member, senior staff member, and Assistant Department Head in the Artist Alley Department, helping facilitate our How To Room, promoting educational programming and content designed to equip and empower creative people.
I'm also a founding member of Geeks4Christ and enjoy collaboration with Geeky Guys & Gals for God, and the Christian Comics Arts Society. I enjoy most cheesy sci-fi and fantasy (Firefly, Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, the Matrix, etc). I do have fun playing Halo & Forza Motorsports on Xbox with my friends when I get the chance, and I spend time keeping up with friends online through social networking, mostly Facebook and Instagram these days. I am also a proud child of the 80’s and love memorabilia and music from the best – check that – the most *radical* decade ever. Hitting up events like Radwood that celebrate this period in time are one of my favorite things to do!
Somewhere in all this I’ve been involved in the film/TV/media industry. My geeky friends & family who work in this medium are probably somewhat to blame, but I’m drawn to the production aspects of film making such as costume & prop making, musical scoring, and special effects and cinematography. I’ve had the pleasure of appearing on screen on a couple of TV shows and movies as an actor, so as weird as it sounds, I’ve been a member of SAG and AFTRA and I have an IMDB page online. A few years ago I had the opportunity to appear as a Stormtrooper on the Deal or No Deal Star Wars Special, and recently I was in a Super Bowl commercial for the NFL. Just one of those weird eclectic experiences I've been blessed to have.
Squirrel
Yes, I have ADHD. And Dyslexia, and Audio Processing Disorder. They've been challenges I've overcome thanks to the self discipline taught me by my parents, and as a neurodivergent, I find that my special attributes make it possible for me to connect with others that are not neurotypical, and be an encourager for them.
As far as employment goes… I've most often been what you could consider multi-vocational, and what those in ministry would call a tent maker. I’ve been the senior chef of a Greek restaurant; started working there in 1995 and was serving there once again until the end of 2015 – it was a true blessing to have a place that I can go back to when everything else falls through! I’ve also been a high school teacher (government, economics, guitar, English, religious studies, Spanish) musician, and pastor (as mentioned earlier). I was laid off from teaching at the end of school year 2008, substituted for a year until budget cuts killed that as well, and though it had been a couple of years since I was a vocationally salaried pastor, I had the opportunity to serve sacrificially at our then current church for a couple years as a volunteer before joining the staff at CBC. God is amazing and has faithfully taken care of our needs in such a wide variety of means, we've had to write it down - the math just doesn't add up, but God's provision does! From September 2010 until January 2015, I was blessed to be on staff at San Diego Community Bible Church. After an 8 month search process, the Lord led us to Indiana where I joined the staff at SSBC from September 2015 until September 2017, and then He brought us back to San Diego once more, to serve at Quest Church from September 2017 until October 2021. I was invited to rejoin the ministry team at Community Bible Church in December 2021 as an interim pastor, and in February 2022 I began a new adventure as in a completely different field, as an HVAC technician with Air Temperature Specialists while simultaneously launching a new church in San Diego called Sanctuary (www.sanctuarysandiego.com). In November 2022 I pivoted from HVAC work to being a counselor with Navy Fleet and Family Services as my weekday job.
Yes, it has been a busy season, working a full time weekday job while pastoring at two churches, while being a husband to a wife fighting cancer, and dad to two teens! I'm aiming to simplify, and prayerfully approaching decision making in that regard.
In the midst of all of this, I’m an avid writer. As mentioned, I have articles regularly published by Worship Leader Magazine and Worship Musician Magazine, and recently authored chapters for a book called "Superhero Grief" that was published in summer 2020 and is now being used as a textbook for many universities. I have several books of my own in process which I haven’t quite taken to the submission stage yet, but I’m pretty sure that I’ll jump into the book publishing fray at some point soon, rather than keep this stuff all to myself. (Thanks to my friend Margaret Feinberg for the inspiration and encouragement!!!)
And... I recently released my first few singles on iTunes, to be followed shortly after by a six song EP and a full length 13 track album. Lord willing, of course.
All things considered, this overview is not exactly brief, but it’s a pretty good snapshot of this particularly geeky pastor whose site you’re reading. If it strikes your fancy, please shoot me an email, follow me on Instagram or Twitter, message me on Facebook, text me, tweet me, or you could get all crazy and call me on the phone. But really, who still does that now? ;)
Thanks for checking out my site....
Here is WAY too much information:
Brendan is a husband, dad, & pastor who loves Jesus, Comic-Con, Star Wars, music, guitars, food, coffee, dogs, cars & not driving off cliffs anymore. He’s been married to Susie for over 20 years and they with their two kids & two pups live in San Diego. Brendan has served in ministry for over 30 years, writes for Worship Musician Magazine and Worship Leader Magazine, and teaches with Worship Team Coach as well as at many national conferences & training events. He is passionate for vertical worship, sharing the truth in love, bold evangelism, and equipping & empowering the saints to serve others with their gifts and talents. He serves as lead pastor at Sanctuary San Diego, has loved being part of the ministry team at a variety of churches as a pastor for the past twenty years, and is excited to be part of reaching people far from God, teaching them to follow Jesus, and launching them into ministry to serve God and others!
The call God has on me for ministry is to shepherd followers of Jesus, disciple and help others worship Jesus, develop in others a focus on the transforming power of life in the body of Christ, model an effective approach to worship blending technology and teaching, creating a vibrant expression of the worship arts based on strong biblical preaching that’s life relevant, leading bold evangelism in the community, and bringing together people from all walks of life to worship Jesus Christ.
My personal mission statement is: To have a life worth imitating and a faith worth considering...
To live and lead a lifestyle of worship.
My purpose is to know Jesus better, and to help others grow closer to him.
The Apostle Paul once described himself as trying to be all things to all people so they could relate to what he was saying, and that’s what I've made an intentional effort to model in my life. Whether good or bad, I do embrace the wide range of experiences that have served to form my character development.
In no particular order, I am a shepherd pastor, teacher, musician, chef, navy brat, father, husband, Star Wars fan, Browncoat, Trekkie, recovering Catholic, adopted San Diegan, Coronado Islander, motorsport enthusiast, gamer, marksman, collector of oddities, coffee connoisseur, and appreciator of the finer things in life, such as not driving off cliffs (anymore).
Education & Professional Experience
I'm very happy to have completed my Master's of Divinity from the seminary at Azusa Pacific University, taking a measly 19 years to finish, while concurrently earning a Master's of Educational Technology. I probably took longer than any other seminary student ever, having started the program in fall 2001, just one week before the events of 9/11, and graduating in May 2020. And I definitely have completed more postgraduate units than anyone ever for a Master's degree, coming across the finish line with 140 units (for a 74 unit degree). Because I have 66 units post degree, I've been given an ABD by Northwestern University and am currently working on my doctoral dissertation. Funny to think I have completed more education than most whom have actually had a doctorate conferred upon them.
I’ve been actively involved in ministry leadership for 30 years as a pastor (lead pastor, executive pastor, worship pastor, administrative pastor, outreach pastor, small groups pastor, men's ministry pastor, creative arts pastor, facilities director, IT & technologies director, office manager, community engagement director, social media & web manager, and minister to college-age, high school, and jr. high school groups).
We are very happy to be back in San Diego after an adventure in the Midwest which turned out to be an unexpected foreign missions trip to a strange culture... we spent two years ministering in South Bend, Indiana, where I served at South Side Baptist Church as Pastor of Worship and Connections, after two decades of ministry in SoCal.
We lovingly served as members of the ministry team at Quest Church San Diego for the next four years, where we had the opportunity to assist in relaunching, revitalizing & re-energizing a church that was needing some TLC.
In early 2022 we started a new church called Sanctuary San Diego, currently gathering in the Lakeside area of East County: www.sanctuarysandiego.com
For many years I have routinely performed Biblical counseling (marriage and family, grief, crisis management, etc), and my wife and I LOVE to help newlyweds navigate the waters of married life in home based Life Groups.
The entirety of my ministry career has been multivocational. Normally the term used is "bivocational" but I have always had to have multiple side hustles to support my family. Over the years I have been a chef at a Greek restaurant, a high school teacher and administrator, a music instructor, a magazine writer and book co-author, an automotive technician, an HVAC technician, a speaker/educator/trainer/coach for leadership development conferences and workshops, a content creator for websites, and a YouTuber. My current side hustle is being a Work & Family Life Consultant for Navy Fleet and Family Services, providing support to military service members and their families.
My articles published with Worship Leader Magazine and Worship Musician Magazine can be found on my media page here in the top menu. I enjoy teaching sessions at national worship conferences, and helping develop and coordinate local Worship Leaders Networks, where I assist other worship leaders in developing their ministry teams. For four years I coordinated a local gathering of worship ministry teams in cooperation for multi-church nights of worship called Encounter, partnering with pastors from Canyon Springs Church, Horizon Valley Center, Mira Mesa Christian Fellowship, Horizon North County, and several others to bring this event to fruition 4-5 times a year. And with some longtime friends I co-founded the San Diego Worship Leaders Network, which has over 800 members engaged in supporting one another as we serve our local churches through worship and technical ministry.
Family
My family is not perfect and we do struggle through many life challenges together, like just about everyone we know. My wife Susie was diagnosed with leukemia in July 2020 and she has been fighting cancer ever since. We are grateful that she has a positive prognosis, and prayerfully encouraged that the medical treatments and much prayer are so far being very effective in beating back the cancer! We are extremely thankful for the tremendous support we've received from our church community in prayer and meeting practical needs as we've walked this road together.
In December 2022 my wife Susie and I celebrated 23 years of married life together, and we are thrilled to have two amazing teens we refer to as Hobbit #1 and Hobbit #2, as we try to keep their names off social media. Hobbit #1 is enjoying life as a college student here in the San Diego area, and Hobbit #2 is continuing the high school journey here in San Diego. We also have two dogs and two turtles rounding out the family.
My wife has her Master’s degree in Special Education and taught kindergarten/first grade bilingual students with mild to moderate disabilities in the inner city, until our kids entered the picture. She was a stay at home mommy for 11 years, but as our kids have reached school age, she's been finding opportunities to serve in ministry and returned to the education field as a teacher helping special needs students. She enjoys scrap booking, antiques, reading, Trading Spaces, and is a closet Trekkie, Browncoat, & Tolkien fan. She was born in Costa Rica, grew up in San Diego, and is fluent in Spanish – and is teaching our children to speak Spanish. Susie helped lead the Mothers of Pre-Schoolers ministry at our church for several years, and was a core member of our Moms On A Mission group.
Passion & Calling
My main passion, anointing and calling in ministry is for Word centered worship that is passionately experiential and life transforming, the spiritual care and mentoring of Christ followers, and servant evangelism with a focus towards long-term community impact.
Susie and I believe that as a husband and wife we are both called to serve in ministry, and we have had the wonderful experience of serving together in several ministries through our years together. Susie and I started and led a Young Married ministry that has continued to grow and develop far beyond our five years of involvement. We also worked together for several years in community outreach, in our church’s servant evangelism kindness outreach ministry, which I later came to co-lead as assistant pastor. And of course, Susie was instrumental in helping launch Sanctuary as a new church in San Diego, helping with all the hospitality and fellowship aspects of our gatherings, and keeping me centered.
Music is a huge part of my life, and I spend a great deal of time listening and performing. I strive to always be developing my worship leading abilities and musical skills, and I add new songs to my repertoire constantly. I’m proficient on many different instruments, including electric and acoustic six string guitars, twelve string acoustic, five string bass, keyboard, violin, viola, mandolin, ukulele, drums, djembe, cajon, conga, bongos, maracas, and I lead from vocals. I’d love to learn the electric cello, banjo, and taiko drums. Currently I'm working on learning the traditional Irish Penny Whistle and the Peruvian flute and I've threatened to make my own bagpipes.
Personal Background
I grew up in a Navy family, so I basically lived everywhere; we moved 25 times in 21 years, but I consider San Diego to be my home town. We just completed what was lifetime move #41 for me, relocating from Alpine to Lakeside.
It should be known as well that I am the prince of Navy brats – my dad was a highly decorated two-star admiral & multiple war veteran, and I took great advantage of being his son to exercise my bratness on many military bases around the world. Unfortunately he was killed in the line of duty when his F-18 went down in May 1995, but he was an amazing role model and I miss him dearly. As a long-term survivor, I participate with the organization TAPS: Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (www.taps.org) as a Care Group Facilitator, Peer Mentor, chaplain, and group leader for young adult children of military service members who have died in the line of duty, and I proudly serve other Gold Star families.
I'm a car guy and I love spending time on cars – restoring them, modifying them, repairing them, racing them, driving them, and yes, even just looking at them. I've got a YouTube channel focused mainly on DIY auto repairs for the average shade tree mechanic, and the SoCal Car Culture scene: www.youtube.com/brendanprout
Over the years I've created hundreds of videos posted ranging from live song performances to DIY car repair tutorials. Feel free to look me up, subscribe and share some of my videos! Cliffjumper is the name of the channel, named for my infamous experience driving off a 300 foot cliff in Malibu.
My garage is full of every random tool ever conceived of for auto maintenance, and some that were never meant to be used on a car. Sometimes I have to make my own tools to fix things that break on cars that are no longer supported by their manufacturers (for some reason I am drawn to “problem” cars, rare & hard to find parts for). I love being involved in the car scene, hanging out with different auto clubs and communities. I use that connection as an evangelistic opportunity to share the love of Jesus, with 1 Corinthians 10:31 as my inspiration: whatever I do, I do it for the glory of God.
Volunteerism & Charity Work
As alluded to previously, I am also a huge sci-fi geek, and helped found the San Diego Star Wars Society in 2002, serving on its leadership team now for 20 years, supporting local charities, our military families, and schools through participation in events and fundraising. I'm also a member of the 501st Legion, Rebel Legion, and Droid Builders, participating as a cosplayer and builder.
Additionally I serve as a volunteer with Comic-Con International as a Committee member, senior staff member, and Assistant Department Head in the Artist Alley Department, helping facilitate our How To Room, promoting educational programming and content designed to equip and empower creative people.
I'm also a founding member of Geeks4Christ and enjoy collaboration with Geeky Guys & Gals for God, and the Christian Comics Arts Society. I enjoy most cheesy sci-fi and fantasy (Firefly, Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, the Matrix, etc). I do have fun playing Halo & Forza Motorsports on Xbox with my friends when I get the chance, and I spend time keeping up with friends online through social networking, mostly Facebook and Instagram these days. I am also a proud child of the 80’s and love memorabilia and music from the best – check that – the most *radical* decade ever. Hitting up events like Radwood that celebrate this period in time are one of my favorite things to do!
Somewhere in all this I’ve been involved in the film/TV/media industry. My geeky friends & family who work in this medium are probably somewhat to blame, but I’m drawn to the production aspects of film making such as costume & prop making, musical scoring, and special effects and cinematography. I’ve had the pleasure of appearing on screen on a couple of TV shows and movies as an actor, so as weird as it sounds, I’ve been a member of SAG and AFTRA and I have an IMDB page online. A few years ago I had the opportunity to appear as a Stormtrooper on the Deal or No Deal Star Wars Special, and recently I was in a Super Bowl commercial for the NFL. Just one of those weird eclectic experiences I've been blessed to have.
Squirrel
Yes, I have ADHD. And Dyslexia, and Audio Processing Disorder. They've been challenges I've overcome thanks to the self discipline taught me by my parents, and as a neurodivergent, I find that my special attributes make it possible for me to connect with others that are not neurotypical, and be an encourager for them.
As far as employment goes… I've most often been what you could consider multi-vocational, and what those in ministry would call a tent maker. I’ve been the senior chef of a Greek restaurant; started working there in 1995 and was serving there once again until the end of 2015 – it was a true blessing to have a place that I can go back to when everything else falls through! I’ve also been a high school teacher (government, economics, guitar, English, religious studies, Spanish) musician, and pastor (as mentioned earlier). I was laid off from teaching at the end of school year 2008, substituted for a year until budget cuts killed that as well, and though it had been a couple of years since I was a vocationally salaried pastor, I had the opportunity to serve sacrificially at our then current church for a couple years as a volunteer before joining the staff at CBC. God is amazing and has faithfully taken care of our needs in such a wide variety of means, we've had to write it down - the math just doesn't add up, but God's provision does! From September 2010 until January 2015, I was blessed to be on staff at San Diego Community Bible Church. After an 8 month search process, the Lord led us to Indiana where I joined the staff at SSBC from September 2015 until September 2017, and then He brought us back to San Diego once more, to serve at Quest Church from September 2017 until October 2021. I was invited to rejoin the ministry team at Community Bible Church in December 2021 as an interim pastor, and in February 2022 I began a new adventure as in a completely different field, as an HVAC technician with Air Temperature Specialists while simultaneously launching a new church in San Diego called Sanctuary (www.sanctuarysandiego.com). In November 2022 I pivoted from HVAC work to being a counselor with Navy Fleet and Family Services as my weekday job.
Yes, it has been a busy season, working a full time weekday job while pastoring at two churches, while being a husband to a wife fighting cancer, and dad to two teens! I'm aiming to simplify, and prayerfully approaching decision making in that regard.
In the midst of all of this, I’m an avid writer. As mentioned, I have articles regularly published by Worship Leader Magazine and Worship Musician Magazine, and recently authored chapters for a book called "Superhero Grief" that was published in summer 2020 and is now being used as a textbook for many universities. I have several books of my own in process which I haven’t quite taken to the submission stage yet, but I’m pretty sure that I’ll jump into the book publishing fray at some point soon, rather than keep this stuff all to myself. (Thanks to my friend Margaret Feinberg for the inspiration and encouragement!!!)
And... I recently released my first few singles on iTunes, to be followed shortly after by a six song EP and a full length 13 track album. Lord willing, of course.
All things considered, this overview is not exactly brief, but it’s a pretty good snapshot of this particularly geeky pastor whose site you’re reading. If it strikes your fancy, please shoot me an email, follow me on Instagram or Twitter, message me on Facebook, text me, tweet me, or you could get all crazy and call me on the phone. But really, who still does that now? ;)
