About the Author
I have been writing and playing music for as long as I can remember. When I was young, Jesus began to move in my heart and draw my affections toward him, which meant that my love for writing and music was turned towards him as well. As a songwriter I try to write songs that challenge people to engage God. With writing, I hope to do the same.
Almost 5 years ago, I met my wonderful wife, Lauren, and have been married for almost 3 years now. After about a year of marriage, Lauren and I moved from Austin to Dallas to attend Dallas Theological Seminary. Along with being a seminary student, I also work as the worship pastor of Fellowship White Rock. Probably the biggest surprise over the last year was the birth of our son Kyler, who has been rocking our world and pushing us closer to God’s grace every day.
Along with writing this blog and all the above-mentioned involvements, I also speak with my Dad’s parenting ministry, Family Matters. I enjoy writing music, reading, learning, but even more than that, I love hanging out with my wonderful family and drawing closer to my Rock and Salvation, Jesus Christ.
Why Shouts From the Wilderness?
I was once told by a friend that the measure of an artist is not his capacity to create, but rather his capacity to think. We artistic types like to say things like that. Then we can have what we perceive as a brilliant thought, pat ourselves on the back, and continue throughout our day thinking we are brilliant artists. But art is a bit more complicated than that. Art is not merely about thinking great thoughts, nor is it about creating large amounts of content. Great art is when brilliant thoughts are combined with exceptional content in such a way that the synthesis is something greater than its parts.
So, as an artist, the challenge to create art is extremely daunting. Somehow I have to combine words with music or paper to create something bigger than me. On every allusion and simile, on every chord progression, every melody and cadence, hangs the potential to be something timeless or something worthless.
Most of what is on this blog is worthless. This is my vain attempt to marry my thoughts with my actions and produce something of value through the only media I don’t completely suck at. However, my hope is that in spite of my feeble thoughts, God might be praised and you might be challenged.
I started this blog originally to practice writing. Over the last two years, by the grace of God, it has grown into a platform to challenge the church, deepen my faith, and draw people closer to Christ.
The name “Shouts From the Wilderness” is an allusion to two biblical references. The first and more obvious is the reference to John the Baptist. John, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” If there is an overarching mission of this blog, it is a cry for the church to repent. The second reference is to the shouts of anger and despair of the nation of Israel as they wandered through the wilderness. We as Christians are caught in the strange limbo between redemption and heaven, much like Israel in the wilderness. If the mission of this blog is to unabashedly preach repentance, the position is one of humble longing. This blog is both a prophetic shout and a despairing cry from a broken man living solely by the undeserved grace of the Mighty Savior.
