It may sound trite, but my journey towards peace started with Sept 11.  Of course, I asked the same questions as everybody else; and I wanted to go bomb every other country in the world.  I was in my 2nd year at Southwestern Assemblies of God University at the time, and that made the difference.  I wanted to find the Christian response: what would Jesus have done?  To find the answers I started reading Stanley Hauerwas and Miroslav Volf (Looking back, I don't recommend starting with Volf).  From there, I went to Bonhoeffer, Barth, John Howard Yoder, Stassen, and Wink.  

Most people don't realize how serious you have to take Jesus to be committed to nonviolence.  It takes a shift in worldview.  Nonviolence, as taught by Jesus, effects how I understand God, my wife, my enemies, and the "end times" (though I'm still not sure what that fully means).  I understand my relationship to the government differently, and my view of the church has increased.  Every area of belief is affected.

As an Assemblies of God minister, this can be quite difficult.  As a youth pastor and worship leader, it can be scary (when pastors want the national anthem sung, or teaching the Sermon on the Mount).  But my shift in worldview has opened up doors of possibilities.  While working full time at an Assembly of God in Grand Prairie, Texas, I also attend the Univeristy of Texas at Arlington, studying biological chemistry to begin medical school.  This is very different from my B.S. in Biblical Studies and work on a Master’s. 

The goal of my wife, Jessica (to whom I've been married since June 2003, who also attends UTA as a senior Music Education major) and of me is to serve as medical missionaries.  Hence, my work in bio-chem. We hope to show the love of God through compassion ministry.  We're not sure where.  We could start/serve in an AIDS clinic on Cedar Springs in Dallas.  We could go to Hondorus or Cambodia.  We just know we want to minister through medical service. 

Still, I love biblical studies and theology; I love to "preach;" I love being a youth pastor.  Maybe it’s because I'm still young and naive, but I still want to change the world.  Check out my blog at comosaywhat.blogspot.com and our youth ministry at amplify.dallasfirstassembly.org