Overview

Our last day at General Assembly was a long, long day. Thankfully it was also held in a very, very beautiful place. Because of the sheer number of attendees, we moved the conference from Cherry Creek EPC to Cherry Hills* EPC just across town in Denver (yes it is confusing). Cherry Hills sits directly across from the mountains and, through massive windows, the mountains are constantly visible from almost anywhere in their church.

To keep a long story short, we discussed and voted on some very precise issues related to Same Sex Attraction. What was encouraging: everyone was committed to the historic Christian and Biblical understanding of marriage.

So, a major part of the debate concerned the doctrine of sanctification: that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Christians experience increasing levels of maturity, holiness, and victory over temptation over the course of their life. Everyone agreed on this. The question is whether or not a Christian should expect to achieve total victory over any area of temptation in this life. The Reformed position is no, a Christian typically will not. In rare cases yes, but this is a miracle that should not typically be expected.

Westminster Confession of Faith 13.2 says, "This sanctification is throughout in the whole person, yet imperfect in this life: there abides still some remnants of corruption in every part, whence arises a continual and irreconcilable war, the flesh lusting against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh."

For example, in Scripture Paul says, "So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me" - Romans 7:21-25.

Theological debate is very important; we want to "seek the mind of Christ." We want to think the thoughts of God after him, to align our heart, minds, and hands with what is true about the Lord and his will for our lives.

Sometimes debates like this can become ugly. When pride and suspicion arises, people begin to insult and belittle one another. This is not a right and reverent way to talk about God and his Word. Thankfully, I was again so encouraged that the majority of our debate was polite, loving, and focused.

Fun Stuff

1. The best part of the day was the worship service in the morning. At that service, we celebrated The Lord's Supper together. There, I saw elders coming together - setting aside the debate - and brining their hurts and hopes. People hugged and prayed for each other. People wept and comforted each other.

Overview

Today's events were marked by special conversations with old friends and important discussion about our education requirements for pastors in the EPC.

The EPC, like many denominations, is struggling to find the next generation of pastors (also called Teaching Elders in the EPC). One problem is the rising cost of college. For our entire history, the EPC has required a Master of Divinity (MDiv) as the minimum standard to be made a pastor, with some exceptions. A Master of Divinity can be anywhere from 72 - 100+ credit hours. For example, a typical High School diploma in the US is about 40 credit hours.

Today, the General Assembly voted to affirm that the minimum requirement is 72 credit hours. It doesn't have to be an MDiv, just some combination of graduate level theological studies. The EPC also passed a document outlining which classes need to be included in that study. Bottom line: this makes the education requirements of the EPC more attainable for more people.

Why is this important?

What do you need your pastor to know? How do you know that he or she is qualified to teach the Bible, to give wise advice about problems in life, and be a good leader? In a time when more are more people are going to YouTube, or even AI, with all sorts of questions - what makes your pastor better or different?

The expectation in the EPC is that the pastor is a "subject matter expert," can read the Bible in Greek or Hebrew, and has wrestled with difficult Bible passages. Just as important - your pastor is someone who knows you. You don't get that with YouTube, and definitely not with AI. A pastor is not only someone who knows God's Word, but knows you and can support and understand you personally.

Fun Stuff

• Today I was able to catch up with my Middle School youth pastor, 
• We had In-N-Out Burger AGAIN, 
• Traveled to Golden, CO - a little mountain town. There, I met up with my old friend Nathan from college.

Being in Colorado, I was so excited to go for a run. I was pretty out of breath, but that was probably more to due with being out of shape than the elevation! After two miles, I rejoined our friends from Warsaw EPC for breakfast and we headed to Cherry Creek EPC for the Assembly.

This General Assembly is the most attended of any GA in the history of the EPC. Over 1,000 elders have attended, not including their families and guests. Why? Well, it is in a beautiful place. BUT, we also have several important decisions to make as a denomination.

First, adjustments are being made to the education requirements for pastors. The hope is that it will enable more people to meet the rigorous education requirements necessary to be a pastor in the EPC.

Second, we will be discussing a Pastoral Paper and Pastoral Letter regarding Same Sex Attraction and its relation to pastoral ministry. These conversations have resulted in important, complex, and encouraging discussions about the nature of temptation, sanctification, and the Christian life in general. Our first conversation about these documents was today - I was so encouraged to see how smart, how kind, how humble, and how faithful the pastors and elders of the EPC are. The vote whether or not to approve them is on Thursday. If approved, they will represent what the EPC in general believes about these issues.

Grandpa once told me the story of how our family started going to church: when he was a young man, he heard the church down the street held a dance every week. He wanted to meet girls, so he started going to Southport Presbyterian Church (SPC), on the South Side of Indianapolis - amazing, huh?! Little did he know that God would use this (moderately silly) decision to impact our family for generations.

My grandpa, and so my mom, actually didn't end up attending regularly. Jesus and church were important on Christmas and Easter, but that was it. However, when I was born, it was very important to her that my sister and I go to the Christian school at SPC. On my dad's side, my aunt was a strong Christian and taught us about Jesus. God used these two inputs to teach me about Jesus as a child and I'd say from a very young age, I believed.

For 6th grade, I left my little Christian school at SPC and started going to public school. Eventually I would grow to like public school, but the first several years were very hard. I didn't have any friends and was actually made fun of for being a Christian (ironic since my family still did not go to church at the time). I knew and loved Jesus, but was not prepared to survive on my own. My family also began to have critical problems at home. Life became very dark. I asked God why he was giving me so much when he knew I couldn't handle it...in actuality, he was carrying me and preparing to bring me back to himself.

In 8th grade, my dad told me two things: 1.) Blaise you should start doing track, like your sister and 2.) you should start going to youth group at SPC. My dad is not the kind of person to compel me or anyone else to go to church and so, though I resisted at first, I knew I should listen. He knew that our family needed help, and maybe the church was a place he could find it. Thankfully, he was right. God also used track and cross country to give me some friends and something to work toward; they became life-long tools in God's hand to shape me.

At youth group, I felt the love of God and of his people for the first time in years. My dad, sister, and I started going to church on Sundays. I soaked up as much as I could. I went on every mission trip, to every Bible study, to every Sunday School class, and helped lead our chapter of Fellowship of Christian Athletes at school.

At home, the Lord brought a police officer who gave us the exact piece of advice that my parents needed to get custody of my niece, Kaiya. My older sister Krista, Kaiya's mom, was making very dangerous choices. She had already lost custody of her son, Corey, when he was an infant. He was adopted by my grandparents (the same grandpa who got connected to SPC because of the dances). My other older sister, Erika, also had two children with her husband Jonathan: Katelyn and Jeremiah. Erika adopted Corey after our grandparents passed away. After Krista lost custody of Kaiya, we made the hard choice to cut off communication with her for several years.

Late in high school, some of my upper classmen friends returned from their first year at Bible College at Columbia International University. They said they liked it, so that was good enough for me (not a great way to pick a college). But, by God's direction, it was the perfect place for me to go. They had an accelerated BA to Master of Divinity program with a concentration in chaplaincy. Besides that, they had a new track team and I was able to continue running in college, something I never dreamed of. My experience in athletics shaped my leadership philosophy and still impacts me today.

I like to say that seminary is like manure - not because it is a load of cr*p - but because it is meant to make young men and women grow in their faith, knowledge, and ministry skills very quickly, and it did that for me. Mentorship, practical skills, and hard-learned lessons from athletics and volunteering at my church in Columbia prepared me for life. At some point, my pastor at SPC called me and asked, "Blaise, what are you doing down there by the way?" I told him I wanted to become a pastor and he said, "Well, you could have told me!" And he began preparing me for the particular requirements of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. At the same time, I was preparing to become a Navy Chaplain and commissioned in 2020.

During one particularly stressful and hard semester, I found myself again asking "God, where are you, why aren't you helping me...I feel so alone." On a walk to class, I heard the Lord tell me, "Blaise, you need my grace too - you aren't so perfect. You are hurting yourself and others with expectations that even I don't have." Slowly but surely, I began to heal.

During the summer of 2020, I was a hospital chaplain in Muncie, IN. Being so close to the sick and dying changed my life. It also gave me a window into the healthcare system that most people don't ever get. A friend of mine was living in the same city and, through his family, I met Alexis who was on her way to work as a nurse at the same hospital. We went on a few dates that summer and the Lord gave us a very strong connection. My time as a hospital chaplain continues to help me understand the unique struggles of her work and I'm so thankful for it.

During winter break of 2020, I visited Auburn for a week as a kind of interview. Alexis wanted to come see me and, awkwardly, I told Pastor Adam that I needed to know a good place to take Alexis on a date (while I was supposed to be working). Incredibly, he and Sarah invited me and Alexis to dinner at their house! I knew then that St. Andrew Church was a special place.

To make a long story short, I moved to Auburn and began as the Assistant Pastor in June, 2021. Alexis and I got married in June of 2022. St. Andrew Church has been an amazing, and challenging, place for me to grow as a pastor. It is filled with people of incredible character, warmth, and faith. At the same time, I was still interested in the Navy. In 2023, I attended Officer Development School (boot camp) in Rhode Island and it taught me a lot about leadership and endurance. In October of 2024, while I was at Chaplain Basic School, I received news that Krista had died by suicide. To say the least, I was very sad; we had reconnected the prior year. I take comfort that she died knowing that I loved her and forgave her and that Jesus loved her and forgave her.

In March of 2025, my son Atticus was born, on Ash Wednesday. That was the best day of my life so far. Yet, later that year, I received news that my nephew, Krista's son, had also died by suicide. I was crushed in a way that I had never been before...our church and our denomination did such a good job supporting me and my family. Suicide is a very serious problem in our world, people need the hope and truth of the good news about Jesus (and medical help as necessary). If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal ideas, get professional help. I also chose to exit the Navy that year and commit my full attention to my family and our church.

I'm so thankful for everything the Lord has done in my life, and there is a lot more that I could say. I hope this summary of my life story and testimony has given you the opportunity to know me better.

Here I'd like to share some principles that guide my life, ministry, and leadership philosophy.

• Friendship is an important ministry. Just being a good friend will lead to loving people like Jesus loves, and toward being a good pastor. It is important to note that friendship is loving and kind, but also includes correction (Proverbs 27:6).
• Rest is part of the plan. If you look at a training plan, it shows everything you should be doing. But, the blank space includes something very important: rest. Rest is part of God's training plan and if we refuse it we will find ourselves broken physically, mentally, spiritually, relationally, and emotionally. Rest should be a regular part of our plan for life on a weekly, monthly, and annual basis. In my life, this includes committing at least one day a week to rest and my family. Also, using taking some time off each year. Pastor Adam pointed out that music is a good example of this. A song without rest is just an ugly scream. (Isaiah 58)
• Children and youth ministry is extremely important. My youth pastor at SPC is retiring after 40 years of youth ministry, at the same church. This is an exceptional case for sure. But, his example showed me that ministering to children and youth is a worthy life-long calling. All pastors are called to do this, actually. But, in my case, my job is focused on them, and I'm glad for it. (Luke 18:16).
• The most effective ministry to children and teens is to their family. This proposition is supported by research done by the Fuller Youth Institute. Also, by common observation. Families have the greatest impact on their children and so one of the most important ways to impact them is to love their families well. (2 Timothy 1:5).
• The purpose of youth group is to help children and teens become adult Christians. There is no such thing as graduation from the church. Following Jesus isn't just for when we are kids and teens. Instead, I try to help our students have a vision for themselves as the future leaders of the church. To think about what it will be like when, one day, they are taking my job (hopefully long from now, lol!). This process starts by giving them leadership and responsibility in the church now, as appropriate. (2 Timothy 2:2).
• The work of the Church is about people not programs. Programs are very important, they are the organized way we plan how to minister to people, usually to multiple people at once. Ultimately though, the work of the church is to people, not to build programs, especially if those programs don't work for the people. Ministry that is people centered meets them where they are, often in less organized ways. (Acts 2:46-47).
• Semper Gumby. A well known phrase of the Marines is "semper fi." Yet, in my short military experience, I found a different latin phrase was used just as if not more often: semper gumby. It means, "always flexible." Things change, plans change, people change, and so my goal is to provide opportunities that help people grow in their faith according to their availability. One thing that does not change, however, is the Word of God. That said, the method of my ministry might change, but ultimately the content does not. (Psalm 102:25-28). 
• God's Primary Instrument is the Church. The Church ("big C") is the wife of Jesus Christ. God's intent has always been to use a people, a community, to reveal himself and change the world. Therefore, participation in the local church is a big part of the Christian life. You read my story - I wouldn't be here if it weren't for my local church. I was not prepared to survive on my own as a Christian, not only because I was young, but also because none of us are meant to, at least not for long. The church, universal and local, is messy. There is a lot of church hurt. But, there is also a lot of church healing. By leaning on the grace of God alone for healing, and on right policies for accountability, people find in the church, the family of God, a place of healing, hope, purpose, and faith. (1 Peter 2:9).