Passion Missions

My journey into full-time support raised ministry is not what I had planned for or even ever imagined. As a matter of fact, when the Lord began calling me, like Jonah, I began to run the other way.  God's faithfulness and mercy has gently brought me to embrace that my life is not my own and to run towards that which the Lord has set before me.

In 1998, I sensed that the Lord was asking me to give up a great paying job, and to go serve Him at a local inner-city church in Denver. After seeking some counsel, I followed the Lord and began to volunteer at the church. Six months later, I was offered a part-time job as a janitor and I cleaned toilets as unto the Lord. Another few months past and I became a Pastoral Assistant. A little while later, I found myself running a prison ministry. I was so ill-equipped, but God was faithful. I was learning to allow God to put opportunities before me and to allow Him to work through me to accomplish His purposes.

By 2004, the Lord made it clear that He was moving me on. Weary and exhausted I wanted to move back into a 9-5 job. However, God had other plans for me. Following a three month long rest, God began to bring different kinds of ministry opportunities before me.  One of these opportunities entailed accepting a position as a full-time missionary that required me to raise my own support. This opportunity quickly moved to the bottom of my list of ideal employment options.  But guess which one was first on the "Lord's list"?

My journey of faith continued as the Lord began to grow me and prepare me to live a life fully dependant upon Him. I accepted the position with a short-term missions organization out of Gainesville, GA and began to raise support. Through my two and a half years at this organization, I learned to seek God in a deeper way, to hear His voice, and to follow Him.

In January of 2006, during my quiet time, I heard the Lord say to me, "Go to the land that I will show you." I began to search the scriptures to study the lives of those that the Lord had said similar things. I wanted a plan, I sought to know the Lord's vision and to know the final destination of this journey that I was about to embark on at His request. As I began to read the story of Abraham, I realized that God had told him to go and he followed without knowing where he would end up. Noah, began building the ark without knowing exactly what was coming. And Esther became a queen, not knowing that for such a time as this the Lord had brought her into the favor of the King to save God's people.

In the fall of 2006, I took a giant leap of faith and changed my direction as a full-time missionary to encompass moving forward to the land that God would show me. Throughout the summer, the Lord had been taking me time and time again to Matthew chapter 10.  I had a revelation that the Lord was sending me out to be a mouthpiece for His church and for the nations. God would provide the opportunities and the path to accomplish His purposes.  I soon would learn that the wisdom of God is foolishness to man.  God began to place vehicles in front of me to accomplish His purposes.  The road has been steep and windy, but God has never let go of the steering wheel, and I have learned to look for new opportunities for Him to move and take control because He already knows what lies ahead.  And thus my journey of faith continues...

Photo courtesy of Reflexio Images, www.reflexioimages.com

At the age of five I began playing the piano. Although I was very reluctant to practice, I loved to play my own creations. My piano teacher was certain that I was "tone deaf" and would not amount to much. However, my parents insisted I continue to take lessons.

Once in school, I joined the band and learned to play the flute. For years I played both the piano and flute. I entered a singing contest my junior year of High School which was a disaster and reinforced to me that I could not carry a tune. But I loved to sing so I continued to do so in my "basement" where no one could hear.

On my 16^th birthday, I begged my parents to buy me a guitar. It then sat in it's case for nine years as I never learned to play. But somehow, I just could not part with it. I pawned it several times along with my flute but just could not let it go. Eventually I had to let my flute go due to lack of funds.

Then one day, a Flamingo guitarist that I worked with invited me to come hear him play at a gig. I asked him that night if he would teach me to play. He agreed to give me lessons once a week. After nine years, I finally learned the basics of playing guitar.

Only knowing four basic chords, I wrote my first song. I have never "labored" to write a song. They have all just come to me. The majority of songs have generally come in one sitting but a few of them have taken many sittings or even years to come to fruition. I never force them but just continue to play and sing what I had and wait for the completion to come. Most of the songs that I have written are really a reflection of what the Lord has done for me, in me and through me. Every song I have written has its own history. For more info: About the songs

In the beginning of my song writing, I felt that God was using my music to speak to me and to heal my heart. I never had a thought or dream of sharing my music with my friends, not to mention recording it on CD.

In 2002, on a mission trip in Peru, a Pastor's wife spoke a Word to me from Psalm 33. Due to the fact that she was not aware of any of my musical background she was a little cautious about sharing this with me but felt compelled to do so. She believed that the Lord was in the process of making a new way for me to share His love with others:

As she read, I remembered a prayer that I had recently began to pray; "Lord if you want me to share my music you are going to have to make a way to get it out of my basement." I believed either this was a very strange coincidence or the Lord wanted to let me know that He was in the process of making a way.

Soon after this I made a very "rough" recording of myself after church one Sunday. I then handed it to a few musicians on the praise team and asked them if they would listen to it and see if they would be interested in working on a recording project-- I was just helping God along a little. But these doors shut! I decided that the word must not be true and that at least for now the Lord was pleased with me just praising Him with all my might in my "basement."

Approximately a year after this pastor's wife spoke this word to me, I was in Peru on vacation and to seek the Lord's will for my life. I was invited the first day I was there to sing at an evening outreach in a Colonia. Although, I could not sing in Spanish after the first song, the people wanted me to keep singing. I just began to play my own stuff because that is what I knew best. After five songs I came down from the stage marveling at the Lord. This was the first time I had truly come out of the "basement" and shared my songs in a public place. What a great and faithful God that would take me so far away from home and to the very place that the word had been spoken. I also realized that God may not be bringing the word to pass in the way that I originally thought, but none-the-less, He was faithful.

Then one summer day in 2004 my phone rang, Steve introduced himself and said that a mutual friend had given him a CD and he wanted to offer me some recording time and asked me to work on recording a CD. To read more about the history of the first CD, Free Indeed click on: About the CD

In 2006, I approached Steve to do a fundraising concert for the ministry. He shared with me that we needed a few more songs. In an attempt to lay just a few more songs, the CD, Hold Me Daddy was produced and released in the Spring of 2007.

My hope is that through these CD's and the music that God has given to me that others would be able to enter His presence and experience His healing as I have through these songs. I pray that you will enjoy not only listening but entering into the Presence of our King!

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