ZJK Faith Timeline

  • Born April 4th, 1986 in Grand Rapids, Michigan
  • Regularly attended church and Sunday School growing up
    • Never understood the gospel or who Jesus really was
    • Developed the a theology of 'believe whatever makes you feel good'
  • Diagnosed with childhood depression
    • Couldn't find any framework to understand my own identity, life and the world around me
  • Began to identify with depression as an identity
  • Graduated from Northview high school  (2004)

 

  • Accepted to Calvin College (2004-2005)
    • Failed out of Calvin College twice
  • Took two years off of life
    • Plunged my life into video games
      • With over 100 days of played time on just one game
    • Left the family business
    • Considered life meaningless
  • Was hired as a 3rd shift security guard at a zoo
    • Had nagging thoughts to read the bible
      • ignored those thoughts
    • Met a man around 2am in the morning
      • Told me to read the Bible, starting with the gospel of Matthew
      • Gave me his testimony of Christ in his life

 

  • Accepted and attended Trinity International University (2007)
    • Challenged the authority of Scripture
    • Debated with other students and professors about their faith in Christ
    • Eventually began seriously considering the possibility that Scripture could be true 
    • Professor introduced me to the Old Testament Book Ecclesiastes
      • It spoke to me like nothing ever had before
      • Re-ordered all of my life's priorities
      • Unlocked a never before experienced joy in me 
    • Became absolutely enthralled with the Bible
      • Began Scripture posters of every verse that stuck out to me in anyway
    • Highly resistant to contemporary worship music
      • I once said, "Worship music is a sin against music"
      • The Lord slowly broke down my pride, and warmed me toward Contemporary Worship Music

 

  • Freelance Musician (2011)
    • Serve as a worship musician for several churches
    • Participating in multiple bible studies/small groups
    • Began 'Feed me February'
      • Giving my monthly food budget to a non-profit dedicated to providing food to those who struggle with hunger live off of the unwanted food of others around me for the month of February
        • To date (2017) 'Feed me February' has raised over 20,000 meals 
    • Feel led to leave my music career and follow Jesus
  • Calvary Church (2014)
    • Join a program called the "Pastoral Residency' program
      • A 2-year full time position dedicated to providing hands on ministry experience to those God calls to participate
    • Taking time away from music and no longer considering 'musician' as part of my identity
      • Preached for the first time on a missions trip to Guyana (2014)
        • The Lord brought someone to faith through this message
    • Began substitute preaching and teaching for a variety of Calvary programs and bible studies
    • Led the next trip to Guyana (2015)
    • God began to resurrect music in my life
      • Showed me the value of music through Scripture
      • Brought a variety of younger musician to be trained and discipled
      • Opened up great needs for worship leaders 
        • To the point of leading 3-4 different individual groups in worship a week 
    • Served in the Refugee camps in Greece (2016)
    • Extended the residency in order to satisfy worship needs for a little longer
  • Married (2016)
    • There is a whole testimony of how God led and spoke through this process to both me and my wife as well but too much to record here.  Please ask me about it if you're interested!
  • Post-Calvary (2017)
    • Leading a small group
    • Continue discipling and training musicians