Tim

I count it a gift from God that I was born into a Christian home, to parents who believe and live out God’s Word.  From the start of my childhood, Bible stories were part of my life. When I was four, one January morning at the breakfast table I asked Jesus to be my Savior.  God’s grace is evident as I look back.  He gave me a heart to know him, and from a young age I read my Bible and witnessed to friends.  In the times as a boy that I doubted my salvation, my mom shared with me from 1 John.  Her ministry helped me through times of doubt.  By God’s grace, and through the influence of my parents and youth leaders, in my years as a teenager I made good choices and grew in the Lord.  God’s grace, I think, is just as amazing for preservation as it is for reclamation!
In high school, through the influence of a youth pastor, I began considering full-time Christian service as an option for my life.  A missions trip to Mexico before my senior year of high school motivated me to go to college with a view towards being a missionary.  In college, the Lord used a church missions trip and a summer working with missionaries for a summer in Puebla, Mexico to direct me to service in Mexico.

After graduating from the University of Puget Sound I spent the next year working with missionaries in Mexico City.  It was a thrill to be involved with a church there, learning Spanish, teaching Sunday School and a Bible study, and becoming acquainted with Mexico.  Afterwards, I returned to Tacoma to attend Northwest Baptist Seminary.  God wasn’t finished with my preparation in Mexico, however.  In 1998, my employer sent me to work for five months at the Volkswagen plant in Puebla.  I gained Spanish proficiency, experienced “real life” in a Mexican office, and also had opportunities to witness and preach.  I have since married, and graduated from seminary.  Now Barbara-Lee and I are excited to serve God in Mexico!  Ephesians 2:8-10 was my favorite verse as a child and remains so today.  It is indeed by grace that I am saved and I am able to serve God and people in Mexico.