A calling
still unfolding.

A faith I had
to choose.

Adventism was no stranger to me growing up. As the son of two Adventist educators, I was on our church and school campus from 7:00 in the morning until 4:00 or 5:00 in the afternoon nearly every weekday. And, you guessed it, we were back on campus again Sabbath morning. But that rhythm of life became part of my formation. Through my family, my church, and Adventist Christian education, I saw faith and service modeled long before I understood them as a calling of my own. God was already setting the scene long before I sensed a call to pastoral ministry.

Long before ministry became a role, faith and service were already the rhythm of home.

My calling became
grounded.

During my time at Southern, God opened the door for a ministry experience that would shape the future of my calling. After much prayer, I accepted an internship with the Hawaii Conference and served as youth pastor at Aiea Seventh-day Adventist Church. Under the mentorship of Pastor James Mangum, I gained hands-on pastoral experience through Bible studies, prison ministry, funeral services, public evangelism, and church leadership. When Pastor James accepted another call, I served as interim senior pastor for approximately three months, leading responsibilities such as my first communion service while continuing Bible studies and ministry leadership. During that season, our young adult ministry grew from 3 to 15, I was studying the Bible with 16 individuals, and I eventually had the privilege of baptizing 7 of them. Hawaii became a defining season in my life—one that grounded my calling and continues to remind me that God truly called me to pastoral ministry.

When ministry gets difficult, I still look back to Hawaii. It reminds me that I am exactly where God has called me to be.

Faithfulness in
the everyday.

After seminary, Duluth became the place where so much of what I had been learning had to become lived ministry. Preaching, Bible studies, evangelism, baptisms, pastoral care, schools, administration, discipleship, and leadership were no longer categories in a classroom—they were people, decisions, conversations, and responsibilities woven into the life of one local church.

I began serving at Duluth as an associate pastor, learning the church and community through relationships. Over time, I was entrusted with greater responsibility and eventually called to serve as senior pastor. That transition has continued to reshape how I understand leadership. Pastoral ministry is not simply about preaching a sermon or making a decision; it is about helping create an environment where people can encounter Jesus, belong to one another, grow as disciples, and discover their place in God's mission.

Some of the moments I treasure most are the ones where those pieces come together: watching people step into baptism, seeing students respond to the gospel, creating spaces where relationships deepen, and working with leaders to move a church from ideas to action. Duluth continues to teach me that faithfulness is both deeply spiritual and deeply practical.

The local church is where calling becomes ordinary faithfulness—one sermon, one conversation, one decision, one person at a time.