Being transparent is not something that comes easy to me. However, with the work that God is doing in my life, He demands total transparency. I know that after I share this I will have some critics, some who doubt what I say and hopefully some encourager’s. There was a time in my life that I walked away from God and ultimately walked away from my family and marriage. I was only concerned about Kris and what he wanted. In doing so, I found myself in an affair. I didn’t care how it affected my marriage or my family, I was simply living in the moment. I deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan 3 times and had decided that I could take care of myself and did not need God. In the end, I lost my marriage and my family. It was then that I realized how important God was needed in my life. I moved from Greenwood to Fort Smith after arriving home from Afghanistan. I started a new chapter in my life and began to seek Gods plan and will for my life. My relationship with my kids was restored and I love daddy weekends with my babies. I met a very Godly woman and just recently started a new chapter together with her in marriage. I moved out of my apartment in Fort Smith and we have a house in Van Buren The Lord has been stirring my heart for something great for Him. It has kept me up at night and at times made it hard not to shout it out. The Lord has been burdening and stirring my heart about the number who people who have given up on church or been burned by church or who simply think they are to “bad” for church. They are over 22,000 people in Van Buren and an estimated 40% who are unchurched. That equates to around 8,000 unchurched people. This passion and vision that I truly believe the Lord has placed on my life is to plant a new church here in Van Buren: “Mosaic Van Buren”. A mosaic is a piece of art made up of broken pieces of glass and ceramic of different colors and shapes, and we are just like that…….a bunch of broken people of different cultures and backgrounds and different stories brought together to create God’s perfect art. It is my prayer and desire for God to use me as He wishes. We are in the prenatal stages of Mosaic Van Buren. There was a message at church a few weeks back that was a convicting one for me in that I must allow God to use me regardless of what I have done. God has a plan to use me and if I tell God NO and do not allow Him to use me then He will find someone else who says YES.

I have since learned that ALL I have is God and I seek to serve Him with my whole being. I have always known that God has called me to ministry but everyone around me told me that I was no longer fit because of my actions and the decisions that I made, especially after my affair and divorce. Some critics are even worse now that I am married again.

I have this passion and vision to to reach the unchurched. Many churches today are content with who they are reaching. Many churches dont want the “trash” that come with lots in the community. I have this passion and vision to plant a church here in Van Buren that operates to seek out those who have given up on church, have to much “garbage” to come to church, who are broken, hurting and an outcast. Mosaic Van Buren would be a place made up of shattered, broken people who come together and serve an amazing God creating a beautiful thing for Jesus. Just as the word Mosaic is defined.