I was first drawn towards counseling through my own transformative experience of receiving godly counsel. Since that time, God has continued to reveal in me a deep desire and gifting for walking with struggling people in one-on-one care settings. I have come to deeply value the kind of healing, clarity, and transformation that can happen when someone is met with compassion, patience, and truth in the context of a counseling relationship.

One of the things I enjoy most is watching people connect the truths of Scripture and the ever-present help of the Spirit with the everyday moments of feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or defeated. It is deeply fulfilling to watch people receive hope and experience healing in ways that touch their daily lives.

I try to recognize when I have been carrying something heavy and intentionally make space for things that are light-hearted and life-giving. There is something restorative about laughing with another person, typically my wife, that really grounds me.

I’m also refreshed by spending time outdoors, especially in the mornings. I really value quiet mornings. There is something about the stillness of the morning that helps me slow down, reflect, pray, and reconnect with God.

Whether in church or clinical mental health settings, I am especially passionate about counseling in areas that are connected to my personal experiences and past roles. These include marriage and relationship issues, spiritual formation and growth, and navigating neurodiversity and ADHD, feeling stuck, unhealthy patterns and addiction, sexual wholeness difficulties, eating disorder and body image struggles, and as well as struggles with performance, purpose, and faith. As a veteran and former firefighter, I also have a heart for working with veterans and first responders in navigating the unique
stressors that can come with those roles.

There have been many authors and resources throughout my life that have been meaningful to me in different seasons of growth. Early in my walk with God, authors like Francis Chan and Jerry Bridges helped enlarge my view of God, the gospel, grace, and transformation. In seasons of dating, engagement, and marriage, authors like Ben Stuart, Tim Keller, and Francis Chan helped shape how I think about relationships, marriage, and God’s larger purposes for those areas of life.

As I developed in counseling and ministry, authors like Paul Tripp, Judy Cha, Brad Hambrick, and Curt Thompson helped give me language for understanding people, their stories, their motives, and how to care for them with both truth and compassion. In the area of spiritual formation and walking with the Spirit, I have also appreciated Dallas Willard, Trevor Hudson, and James Bryan Smith. Their writings have helped give clarity to the ordinary, moment-by-moment life of walking with Christ.

My faith is central to how I understand my life, relationships, identity, and purpose. One of the truths that has deeply shaped me is that we are transformed from one degree of glory to the next as we behold God. I often think about John 15 and the call to abide in Christ, as well as Moses encountering God and reflecting His glory afterward. Those images have shaped the way I think about my personal life with God, and learning to be with him and behold him.

I love biking, being outside, and trying new restaurants with my wife. I have also learned that I am a naturally curious person, so I enjoy new and interesting things. That might mean watching a random YouTube video to learn about something or meeting someone new and hearing about their life.

One of the biggest experiences that shaped me was realizing that, although I had grown up around church and heard many sermons and Bible teachings, I often struggled to know how to apply those truths to my actual life. It was through sitting down with someone regularly, talking honestly, and working through the complexities of faith and life that I began to grow in a deeper way.

I am definitely still growing in this area. My natural tendency can be to try to do more, fix more, and carry more in order to push through challenges. Over time, though, I have been learning to slow down, create margin, and remember that many things are not as catastrophic as they may feel at the moment, and I am not called to manage life through my own efforts alone.

I try to return to a simple set of priorities: my relationship with God, my marriage, my family, and my community. When stress comes, I am learning to do my best, stay faithful to my primary responsibilities, and trust God with what I cannot control. He continues to show that He is faithful through it all.