You, as a fellow expositor, are very important to me because we are a rare bunch fulfilling a much needed role in the local church. Our goal is to allow the message of the text, and not our variegated frameworks, to speak through us. To accomplish this requires making observations. To help us do this, I employ a process that takes us from exegesis (micro observations) to biblical theology (macro observations) to systematic theology (application). This approach allows us to dig deep into the text of Scripture with confidence and proficiency.
While I use the original languages as my primary source of observations, I include English helps along the way for those not trained in Hebrew and Greek.
Concerning myself, I’ve been pastoring for 25 years, preaching and teaching week after week, month after month, year after year, and even decade after decade using this approach. There’s nothing flashy about it, but it does return a slow, but measurable, return on investment in the maturity of the saints (for, as you know, God’s word properly understood and applied is intended to do this).
I am a graduate of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois and was trained under some of the best biblical scholars at the time. While at Trinity, I simultaneously interned at College Church in Wheaton, thus melding my academic education with pastoral training in the local church.
Prior to attending seminary, I was a vice president as an industrial real estate specialist with the world’s largest commercial real estate company in Chicago. It was during that 12 year period of time that the Lord called me to himself and redirected me to pastoral ministry.
I am married with 6 children and currently pastoring at Christ Church of Dubuque in Dubuque, Iowa.