Our Team

I am the third of four children, born in Chicago to believing parents who brought us up going to churches where they regularly attended and served. My dad, Steve, died in 1996 after a short battle with pancreatic cancer. God showed His care for us as my mom, Janice, homeschooled and raised us by herself. We continued going to church and Mom read the Bible to us every morning, but I still had not understood what it meant to “believe in Jesus.” I just knew a bunch of facts from the Bible.

As I entered my teen years, a moment of loneliness and heartbreak when I was 15 led me to realize just how much I missed my dad and wanted to talk to him--and that’s when God reached out and showed me that He had sent His Son from heaven to make me His own. I trusted in Him and finally realized what all those sermons and Bible verses meant, but now I had to make that faith my own. As I did, I started to see God’s hand on my life, leading me to go to Moody Bible Institute to learn about the Bible. I started serving in youth ministry at my church, and continued to help and teach teens for the next 17 years as a youth pastor, while also eventually getting a M.A. in Biblical Exegesis from Wheaton College.

I met my wonderful wife Cate while ministering in the city and we got married in 2015. After we moved out of Chicago, it became clear that we should find a church closer to where we lived. We visited Redemption in 2022 and have been immensely blessed to worship, serve, and grow in loving relationship with our brothers and sisters here. After years of fertility issues, we welcomed our first child, Elisha Atticus, in the world on Christmas Day of 2025. We live in Mount Prospect and both work at Trader Joe's. I love reading, playing Ultimate and basketball, and spending time with Cate, as well as all the joys and challenges of being new parents to Elisha.