I grew up in Southeast Alaska.  My family and I lived in the little town of Craig and in big city of Juneau.  The wild Alaskan back country was my backyard!  Growing up I spent a lot of time outside fishing, camping, hiking, boating, kayaking, cycling, and so on.  After I graduated from Juneau Douglas High School I left home for the "lower 48."

I enrolled as a student at Pacific Lutheran University.  My time at PLU was fantastic.  I studied and worked hard, but also found time to play hard too.  I was a guide and a trip leader for the outdoor recreation program and spent a lot of time exploring the Cascade and Olympic mountains.  I studied physics at PLU and graduated with a B.S. in Physics with a minor in Recreation.  I'm not sure anyone has repeated that course of study.  I can throw a Frisbee and tell you why it's flying!  When I graduated from PLU I had the best intentions to pursue further studies in physics and eventually seek a career in the field.  Despite my best plans and ideas, I felt this strange call to ministry.  Unsure how to best answer that call I took a year off to discern what it was I really wanted to do with my life.  After a lot of prayer, some fear and trepidation I answered this call and went to seminary.  My adventure took me to Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa.  Now I'm not sure what was the greater leap; an Alaskan moving to Iowa, or a physicist studying religion.

I spent four years in Iowa working on my Masters of Divinity.  While I had a great time in Iowa and made some amazing life long friends there, I am happy to be back in the Pacific Northwest.  I was ordained in Juneau, AK on July 15th, 2007.  Shorty after that I began my life as a Pastor in Shelton, WA at Faith Lutheran Church.  I served as an Associate Pastor for two years in that congregation.  After a wonderful two years in Shelton my wife was accepted to the UW Law school and we felt to keep a happy marriage happy a move would be in our best interest.  That's when I accepted the call to be the Pastor at Mt. Si Lutheran Church.  As I have grown to know this congregation more and more I have found them to be a people of deep faith, committed to one another, and the gospel that has so formed them. They are rooted in the confessions of the Lutheran tradition and are a gracious and graceful people.  It has been my honor to be their pastor.  I look forward to serving this congregation and the community of North Bend.  I would love to share more of my story with you and hear more of yours.  Please get in touch with me and let's get together!