Ignite UK

I guess you could say that I grew up in the common, rural American home.  I had two loving parents that always made sure we were taken care of.  We were encouraged to play sports, to better ourselves, and to be in church on Sunday.  However, there was not much spiritual guidance in my early years.  Making it to Sunday service, praying during our meal times, and making sure to not do certain things was the depth of my spiritualality.

Having not grown up in the admonition of the Lord and being a teenager who wasn’t concerned about the things of God left me seeking pleasure in all the wrong places.  I wanted to be popular, be part of the “in crowd”.  My goals were popularity, girls, and the label of being someone who was “cool”.  Having that mindset lead me to make sure I was where the parties were, doing what everyone else was doing.  That carried over into my college years where I became more heavily involved in drugs and alcohol.  This lifestyle was not beneficial to my studies and I quickly failed the courses I had enrolled in.  Having spent a couple of different times in jail I began to reflect on my life.

It was one summer when a friend, Travis Sizemore, would become part of my life.  He needed a place to live and happened to be friends with my best friend from high school.  He moved in with my friend and had the chance to minister to us boys as we would pre-party at this particular guy’s apartment.  During that time God used Travis to cause me to reflect upon my standing before Him.  Through different circumstances God broke me over my sin and saved me through His sovereign grace.

Not long after that I felt the Lord calling me into full-time vocational ministry.  I wanted to minister to others who struggled with the same issues that I dealt with.  I knew I needed to know what the Bible had to say, and for me that meant a theological education, which lead me to Boyce Bible College in Louisville, KY.  I am currently seeking my B.A in Biblical and Theological Studies and hope to earn my PhD in the future.  I love preaching and teaching and seek to honor the Lord as I strive to “rightly divide the word of truth.”

While seeking my education at Boyce, my wife and I began to pray about where the Lord would have us begin to minister.  We sent out résumé’s and looked at different churches and opportunities.  In the winter 2006, around the first of the year, the possibility of leading a church plant at the University of Kentucky presented itself.  This was something both my wife and I were extremely excited about.  Shortly thereafter, we moved to Lexington and began to plant Ignite UK.  We have enjoyed our time and look forward to what the Lord is going to do in the future.