Movies on the field at the Lake Nona YMCA!
Pastor John grew up in Southern California. Originally intending to enter electrical engineering, he worked at Ford Aerospace in the industrial engineering department after graduating from the University of California, Irvine. After struggling against God's call into ministry for some time, John finally gave in an went to seminary at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, where he received his Master of Divinity in 1995.
Pastor John spent one year of his seminary time in Cambridge, England. He met his wife, Kelly, while on his internship in upstate New York. He was first called to pastor St. Stephen Lutheran Church in Fullerton, California, where he served for 5 years. In 2000, John and his family moved to Orlando, Florida, to serve as Associate Pastor at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church.
In 2003, Prince of Peace began the process of starting a "daughter church" in the Lake Nona area of Orlando. Pastor John was chosen to lead this new congregation and has been there ever since.
Pastor John's own spiritual journey has been quite a roller-coaster ride of both clear God-events and times of deep doubt and skepticism. He is very comfortable with people wherever they are on the their spiritual journey and strongly believes in building a community where love and acceptance are core values.