Jim

My entire family of origin came to faith when my dad battled and died from cancer in 1978. I was 16 when that happened and since that time I have been blessed with the enormous gift of mature men who have walked with and equipped me over the years.

My goal is to give that same gift forward for the rest of my life, helping young men to live on mission, people far from God to find their way Home, and people trapped in religion to find their way to genuine freedom.

I have been married to my wife Sue since 1984 and have the family most people only dream of, even though it is always a challenging and beautiful adventure. I have a BS in Biblical Studies and a Masters in Organizational Leadership (2019 grad as an old man - it’s never too late).

I am the Lead Pastor of Summit Church in Centennial, Colorado. We are an Oiko-centric, inter-generational church obsessed with changing the world through more and better followers of Jesus. I've been a youth pastor, sports writer, sales consultant, air traffic controller, church planter, and lead pastor.

Jon has become one of the greatest friends I have ever had and I learn from him continuously. We hope that our conversations, blogs, and books can be a help to you and your journey to greatness in God and life on mission in today’s world.

Jon

I think of the story of my faith as that of someone who grew up in a gorgeous, green river valley, at the foot of a high, white mountain. Just imagine the prettiest place you’ve ever seen, and imagine meeting a guy who was raised there. You might be in awe of the place, overwhelmed by it, but if you asked the young man who had never known any other life what it was like to grow up in a place so beautiful and isolated, you might hear words in his response like “stifling,” or “boring.” He certainly would not be as enchanted with the place as you are. It might seem to you that the beauty of his home is lost on him.

This is what it was like to grow up in the faith. The unfortunate truth is that the novelty of the Gospel, despite being the greatest truth of them all and the sole reason anything exists - no hyperbole - wears off. The only paths, then, for one raised in the faith are this: idle in your boredom and confinement for the sake of ease, or community; leave the faith of your youth in search of greener pastures and philosophies more novel and exotic; or remain in the faith not as an idler, but as a seeker. Claim the faith of your father as your own. Seek for yourself whatever it is that has changed the lives of every humdrum honorary aunt and uncle that helped raise you; the thing that makes them so much more joyful and so much less bitter than the other grownups you know.

By the grace of God I stumbled along the path that is the third option, and in doing so discovered my life’s three Great Loves. I attended Northwest University and took my first steps towards owning my faith, and getting to know my Lord and my God (Great Love number one) for myself. I met the sweetest, loveliest woman on campus and found in her my second Great Love. She agreed to marry me and has continued to be my greatest source of gratitude and laughter. At NU I also studied journalism to hone my writing and court my third Great Love: the craft of storytelling.

I have never left the green valley, with the mountain above it. I have been at points closer to disenchantment with it, and at others very much excited about it, but as I look at my life in the valley, behind me and before me, I see that I have sought and found a true love of the place. I have taken to studying its flora, fauna, geography, history, and have found it is so much more lovely and nourishing and Holy than anyone could have explained to me. I had to lean into it myself. I had to taste its fruits and see that they are good. To end the metaphor, I had to approach my Heavenly Father through the gate opened by the Blood and find him to be gentle, loving, and so impossibly patient.