About
Us: Who We Are
My friends and I sometimes laugh about the amount of writing on this website.
Who’s got time to read it all? Of course, no one really needs to. Anyone can do
the type of studying we’ve done on this website. Some of the research and survey
work can be painstaking and exhausting. And it does take a lot of time. This website
is for people that are looking for some help getting started or who have trouble
finding the time to do the studies themselves. And for people who are already
doing their own studies, our articles might be useful for comparing notes. The
important thing is that every Christian should live as a diligent disciple of
Jesus Christ. And we hope that this website can be a way to help bring those kinds
of Christians together.
I grew up in Valencia, Spain. I was able to visit the U.S. off and on several
times after I graduated from college. At the time, I was part of a few different
churches in Spain and here in America. I've met some really great people in them.
But real fellowship around the Word of God has been harder to find. And even though
I miss my family sometimes (not to mention Valencia's awesome weather), in this
small church community I feel at home. It's good to finally be around people who
share my understanding of the Bible.
I first became a Christian several years ago. But, after a while, I didn't find
much substance at church. I got disinterested and eventually I went back to basically
living like a non-Christian. A few years ago, John got hired where I worked and
we started going out to lunch. John naturally started talking about his home church
and the kinds of things they were learning. I was curious, so I started checking
things out and asking a lot of questions. Once I figured out that there was some
actual substance behind the basic Christian message - real apologetics and thorough
explanations - I started coming every week. I've been involved for two years now.
I still ask a lot of questions and take a lot of notes but for me it was a straightforward
issue. If Christianity was real and someone could back that up, I wanted to be
a part.
I have seven kids. So, it's no big surprise that sometimes balancing my time at
work and my time at home can be a bit of a challenge. And since my kids range
from 17 to less than 2 years old, there are a lot of other influences I sometimes
have to contend with. A few years ago, Scott and Brian and I put together a "Gospel
Overview" study to help show my kids some of the common themes that come
up over and over again from Genesis to Revelation. It was also a really good way
to introduce my kids to basic biblical history. Having other Christian guys to
study the Word of God with makes things a lot easier.
I grew up going to church and thinking I was just lucky. My church got everything
right. Why couldn't other churches see it? It was so easy. When people asked what
my church believed, I would say things like, "We just go by what the Bible
says" or "just what's in the New Testament." Then, after college,
I realized something. First, I did some reading and found out that my church didn't
just "get lucky" after all. Turns out they didn't have everything right.
Second, I realized that lots of churches and lots of Christians just go through
most of their lives thinking "We just go by what the Bible says" - even
when they haven't even really studied what the Bible says. That was a major turning
point for me. Basically, I realized that we're not called to assume we're right
or to be great guessers. Jesus wants us to actually study, to be students of His
teaching, and to be real disciples. Now when I say, "I follow the New Testament,"
it's no longer because I'm just guessing or assuming.
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