Those who knew me in high school and college might be
a bit suprised to discover that I am pursuing a writing ministry. Until my graduation, I was known primarily as
a performer. After my name, the very first description someone would give of me was that I was a singer. Though
I engaged in a variety of styles, my favorite was musical theater.
While I was attending Heidelberg, I sang in
a group outside of the college called Blendz. The four of us comprising the quartet met in high school and continued
throughout our higher education (originally we were called After Six). After I graduated from Heidelberg, I was determined
to pursue a career in music. Instead of performing solely our own a capella arrangements of cover songs, Blendz started
to perform original music composed by some of the members of the group. Eventually, my future wife's brother, Kyle Smith,
became our agent, setting up a good number of gigs for us throughout the Midwest.
When I was still in college,
one day I had a powerful spiritual experience where I realized the Lord's blessings on my life, and also my negligence
of Him and His will for me. After my roommate played a song for me by Michael W. Smith called "I miss the
Way," I realized that I had not been living for Him. This was the first time, as an adult, that I made a conscious
effort to start aligning my life with God's will.
After that experience with the Lord, I began to write
Christian song lyrics that dealt with the lessons I was being taught by the Holy Spirit. I went to my friend, Rob
Hall, who was the primary writer of the music for Blendz, and asked if he would like to start collaborating with me on Christian
music. Even though we were still trying to pursue a career with Blendz, I saw nothing wrong with doing Christian music
on the side.
A problem arose when I started to feel an increasingly greater pull toward the Christian music.
As every week passed I not only found myself closer to the Lord, but also with more of a desire toward ministering with
music. These feelings finally climaxed when I discovered that Rob, too, wanted to start pursuing Christian music.
Rob and I split from Blendz and began to organize our music ministry called V. I. P.: Victorious In Praise. It
was during this process of starting a music ministry that I was wed to my college girlfriend, Kari Smith.
When
Rob and I first began planning what we would do with the ministry, I felt it imperitive to leave people with more than simply
good, entertaining music. I began writing messages in a format that incorportated passages from the Bible as well
as the songs that we had written. So, those listening to our program, would hear a passage followed by part
of the message, which would lead into one of our songs. Then, another verse would be read along with the next part
of the message, the next song, and so on. By the time we were done, five to seven songs would be sung, as well as an
entire message given, that blended into one cohesive whole.
Kari was eventually added to the group, giving the
music fuller harmonies, but V. I. P. was unfortunately disbanded when Rob had to move away for personal reasons.
It was at this point in my life when I experienced the greatest amount of confusion, but also some of the greatest joys.
On the one hand, I did not know what the Lord wanted me to do with my life. After all, I had always been a
music man, and now I seemed to had run out of options. I also experienced some of the greatest joys of my life
as Kari and I had a son and a daughter. It was their births in particular that pushed me forward, rather than sitting
back and wallowing on what I considered at that time to be a failed career.
My son was born about nine months
or so after V. I. P. stopped ministering in churches. I had a stable job at the post office (and still do), so
providing for my family was not really an issue. I still had the strong desire, though, to be involved in some kind
of ministry for God. Looking at some of the messages I had written for V. I. P. I realized that much
of the satisfaction I felt when we finished ministering in a church was how positively that particular message was received.
Shortly after birth, I began concentrating solely on the writing part of my ministry.
I was still not
sure what I wanted to do, specifically, but I began writing Christian articles for practice, as well as studying the
various aspects of writing to make mine better. I had originally toyed with the idea of a newsletter or magazine of
some kind, so I continued to write articles. Also, I had some ideas of books that I wished to someday undertake.
It wasn't until my daughter was born, just fifteen months after my son, that my focus fell on one particular book idea.
That concept was outlined, given content, and expanded until two years later, December 2007, I finished the first draft of
Six Steps to Prepare for Combat: Utylizing the Armor of God in our Daily Struggles.
Much of what
it takes to look at my writing as a business I learned from being a part of V. I. P. In fact, I learned more from being
in V. I. P. than any other group that I had previously been a part. All other performing, both in and out
of college, taught me everything I needed to know about the art of singing in front of audiences. In V. I. P. I discovered
what it takes to organize the other behind-the-scenes activities that are often not considered. I owe
a debt of gratitude to Rob for all that he taught me, as he was a natural in business and organization. I look
at writing as a ministry, of course, but also as a business that I can concentrate increasingly more on as time
goes on.
When I really think about it, it is not all that surprising that I would be pursuing a career/ministry
of writing. Reading has always been a passion of mine as far back into my childhood as I can remember, due to the fact
that my mother read to my sisters and me quite frequently. I also have a background in writing aside from V.
I. P. I wrote for the Heidelberg newspaper, the Kilikilik, while in college, and I took a number of writing courses.
I just never concentrated much on writing due to the pursuit of my other passion, Music.
I still sing in my local
church, which has a very talented choir and music ministry. But I am amazed at how the Lord has worked in my life so
far to bring me to the point where I am pursuing a writing ministry. These past couple years I have not only been editing
the book, but I have also been educating myself on the next steps that are to be taken. I am also working to get published
in magazines. Whatever happens, I know that as long as I go to the Lord for guidance, He will lead me down the path
I should go.
