All my years growing up, I wanted to be like my dad. He was my hero. A pastor, a leader in the community, a friend, a father, a husband, and a disciple of Christ. Well I think it’s fair to say, growing up, I fell pretty short of that.

When I was 5 years old, my older sister helped lead me to accept Christ. However, as a 5-year-old, I had no idea what that was supposed to mean or look like. I grew up in a Christian household, so it was easy to see from my parent’s examples what a Christian looked like. However, as I grew older, I started to drift away from that lifestyle. I began to live a double life, acting like the “good Christian boy” at church, youth group, and home, but at school and with my friends I was a totally different person. I did what I wanted, said what I wanted, and didn’t care about anything else other than myself. That kind of behaviour and attitude carried on with me into high school as well.

Even though I was leading this double life I still had a desire to go to Bible school and wanted to be a pastor (probably because you didn’t need good grades to get into Bible college). After I graduated high school, I took a year off to work and save up some money so I could pay for school. I had applied at Millar College of the Bible and was soon after accepted. I told my best friend at the time that I was going to be going to Bible school in the fall and he was surprised. So where his parents. Apparently I had left a pretty bad impression on his parents, to the point that they were shocked to hear I would be attending a BIBLE school. After all, I swore like a sailor and didn’t ever mention my faith to them at all. Hearing that stung a little and I made a choice to start getting my act together and clean up my language.

That fall I attended Millar, and it was there, in my first year, that I truly decided I wanted to follow Christ and be a Christian. I was convicted of many things, and so I followed through on my convictions and got rid of a bunch of trash in my life and restored relationships I had abused in the past. People began to see a real change in my life, and so did I. I finally had a real passion for Christ and his kingdom.
During my second year in Bible college my older brother had suddenly passed away in a car accident. Him and I were very close, and so this event was devastating to me and my family. Shortly after his death, I became very depressed and sank into a low time in my life. I was diagnosed with clinical depression and anxiety and was prescribed medication to help me with it. I finished my time at Millar, struggling through the later half of my time there, but I did graduate with a bachelor of biblical studies which I no longer had any desire to put to use.

The next 8 years of my life were a slow and painful trudge through depression. My goals, motivations and ambitions in life were all gone. I had no desire to do anything and was in a low spot for a long time. Slowly but surely God began to heal me and restore my spirit and heart and mind. I was finally starting to come out of that dark funk I had been in for so long and I moved to a new city and found a new job. Then Covid hit.

I was laid off and in a new city where I didn’t know many people yet and we weren’t supposed to leave or go out because of this new pandemic sweeping the globe. I slunk back into a depression and realized that where I was and what I was doing wasn’t helping. I packed up and moved again. I moved in with some really good friends of mine, but I couldn’t find a job anywhere in the city.

Eventually I heard Rock Solid was hiring and so I applied there, desiring a job in ministry. I got called to come for an informal interview and to check out the campus and shortly after I did that, I was offered the job.

I’ve been here at Rock Solid for over a year now, and I love working here. Seeing the students overcome the obstacles in their lives and working through their issues and being able to walk alongside them during that is very rewarding. I’m glad the Lord has brought me here, and I plan on being here for a while yet!

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