I was recently told that my position at Crown Financial Ministries was going to be eliminated and I would have the option of staying with the ministry and taking on the Caribbean. While this was an incredibly attractive offer (especially during this unusually long and cold winter), it would also require taking my fund-raising efforts from $35,000/year to $120,000/year.

With much prayer and consideration for our new marriage, Rocio (my fiancee) and I both felt it was time to part ways with Crown. We don’t know what God has next for us, but your prayers for this transition are coveted.

I will miss my time with this great organization. Since college, it’s been all I’ve known. I leave behind a joint effort with hundreds of personal prayer and financial supporters. Together God has used us to do great things. Here’s a quick recap of some of my favorite memories during my time at Crown:

Interning with Dave Rae – The former President of Apple Canada housed me and poured his life into mine for a couple years, and I still root for the American’s against his Canucks. The ungrateful audacity of me. Smile.

Meeting Larry Burkett - I don’t think I’ve eaten Fruit Loops since.

FX03 – Our big plans were never fully realized but Chancy Burrell, Hope Welborn, Liz Hart (Kelley), Tim Krauss and Marianne Ramsey (Krauss), Megan Pawlos (Pacheco), Joanna Royal and I made for a heck of a summer experience for 8 college students, and a cool short-term missions program came out of it.

Traveling with and being mentored by Dr. Dick Wynn – This man still is my hero. It’s a goal of mine to make it to more countries with Rocio then I have been to with Dick Wynn. This will take some time.

Interns – Elicia Olsen, Ashlyn Ward (Bishop), Anna Soliven (Rosado), Michele Scott, Felix von Keyserlingk (Germany), Alex Morrison, and Christina Wolverton made a huge impact while they were here. They raised their own funds so they could serve people with God’s truth on stewardship. And there’s one more…Enkhtuya Purvee (Mongolia) is about to serve with Crown Taiwan.

Andrés Panasiuk’s call out for the nations to thank and pray for the United States in their language – We had just finished praying for the nations at the 2004 Crown Reunion. Following Andres’ lead, the nations then turned and thanked God for us. Humbling, unifying and awe-inspiring, I was right next to my friend Richard Samuel from India. The way he passionately cried out to God in Tamil made me weep.

12Stone’s Small Group’s round-the-clock prayer support for my Pakistan trip – For the first and only time I remember, I experienced fear before an international trip. I mentioned this to my co-leader, Jessica Roberts (Brothers). She recruited 24 people from a couple of the 12Stone Single’s Small Groups to pray for me 24-7 while I was there. This completely overwhelmed me.

Like-minded discussions with Chuck Bentley on how to help Crown serve the poor – We’d get so into it, he seemed to always have to postpone or cancel a meeting or two. His pressing has helped grow my passion for serving people in poverty. So grateful he would give his time so generously to me.

Dr. Suparno’s devotional on stewardship and the Cross – He patiently and powerfully pointed out why all stewardship ultimately points to the cross. His humility and passion for Jesus has marked me.

The intern from Hawaii that was my opposite – When Anna Soliven (Rosado) started her internship, she made a point of saying her gifting was to help make inefficient things become efficient (I might have said my gifting was to make efficient things become inefficient). She’s put up with countless tangents and “tools” of creativity over the past 4+ years, and she has given and sacrificed much for the people of Crown ignite! and our global field staff. As a brand new mother, her son and whatever else she lends her attention to will be blessed.

——————————————————————————–

Wow. And that was just a snippet. God has been incredibly generous.

If you’re one of my friends who have worked or volunteered at Crown over the last 9 years, I’d be honored to hear some of your favorite memories (or your perspective on mine above).

Leave a Comment >>

So I have a dear cousin who lives in Sudan. She’s actually my mom’s cousin’s daughter.

And she’s freaking awesome.

Just last week she posted about how she helped this victim of sex-trafficking escape Sudan and make it back to her home country. The young girl’s story is unbelievable. It’s definitely worth a look, a prayer, a pass-a-long to friends, and a donation to help her do even more.

Here’s how it starts:

——————————————————————–

Picture this.

You’re a fifteen year-old girl in a developed nation. You attend high school, practice piano, and participate in after-school sports. You’re dealing with all the drama of teenage relationships, having recently broken up with your first boyfriend, when your mother tells you she wants to take you to another country to visit some extended family…(click here to finish reading)

Leave a Comment >>



I had lunch with a good friend from Dubai yesterday. We had only met in person once before briefly, but have shared countless emails and Skype conversations.

Though we wouldn’t end up meeting for another year, we were in the same room (along 600 other people) in Mumbai, India in 2004 for Crown’s Business by the Book Conference. This gentleman was a junior consultant with Ernst and Young in India and had decided to attend the conference with a friend.

Inspired by the idea of running a business by biblical financial principles, these two friends moved to Dubai to launch their company. He reminisced on the early start to the business:

Early on it was incredibly rough going, my wife and I shared a house with a single gentleman and another couple, and only my wife was able to bring in income during the difficult beginning.

But start they did.

Today they are rolling. With already over $23 million in revenue, they just landed by far their biggest client yet. The most impressive thing about their business is that they are able to reach into places the outside world would never have access to. They reach in with business and they reach in with Truth.

This is all possible because they found their “value-add” niche through business. When they do business in a place, they leave it better than they found it. In other words, they contribute.

Pray for my friend and his business. Know that as their bottom line increases, so does the kingdom’s.

Leave a Comment >>

So if you haven’t yet heard, this past Wednesday changed my life.  Two days ago I asked my amazing girlfriend Rocio Quinones to marry me.
And she said yes.
Sweet.
Here’s how it all went down:
A little over a year ago Rocio and I had our third date at this little place in Decatur called Taqueria Del Sol. [...]

..Read the rest of this post

I met a tribe leader. Seth Godin would define a tribe leader as someone who is leading a group of people by serving their needs. In and around the geography of Kansas City, Bart Nill, and his assitant Kim, are tribe leaders for pastors in the area of stewardship.
How has Bart won over their trust? [...]

..Read the rest of this post