Mr.
Chris came kicking and screaming into this world on the
glorious evening of March 9th 1974 and the world would never
be the same. His childhood was average. He attended St James
Lutheran Church in Pitman, NJ with his family. As he grew
and matured, he believed he had matured himself right out
of the need to attend church, but fortunately God had other
plans.
A year or so after he stopped attending
church, a few of his high school compadres began to attend
another youth group that met in Pitman. Not one to be left
out, Mister Chris also began to attend this youth group
and it became a regular part of his life. Even though the
main reason for his attendance was the presence of the female
gender, God was in the mix and again had plans for our loveable
Mister Chris.
On the fateful night of a Newsboys concert,
sponsored by the church and held at the Pitman Broadway
Theatre, Mister Chris prayed for Christ to come into his
heart. It would be nice to say that his life did a 180 degree
turn, but that would make this a fictional story. The truth
is even though he decided to make Christ his Savior, he
did not allow Him to become his Lord. And then life happened.
After going through an obstacle course of bad choices and
bad relationships, our friend Mister Chris walked away from
church and essentially his walk with Christ. BUT praise
Jesus, He never gives up on us.
Two years and one breakup later, an older
and wiser Mister Chris realized there was something missing.
A few dead ends and one Sunday morning service later, he
discovered that the missing thing was Christ. On November
28th at 5:00am, he cried out to God that his life was now
in His hands. Then he found out how incredibly life can
change when you are in His hands.
Less than a year after making that decision,
Mister Chris became a volunteer in the very youth group
that God used to pull him back into the church. After 8
years of training, mentoring, wrestling, prayer and submission,
on July 1st 2004 he became the Pastor of that same ministry
here at the Gloucester County Community Church.
In the midst of all this, he married the
most wonderful woman in the world. Mister Chris met Karen
when he was thirteen years old. What began as a crush grew
into something much much more. On May 29th 1999 Chris and
Karen were married amidst great rejoicing. Soon after, they
decided to have little people of their very own. Chris and
Karen are the proud parents of Michaela Ann, born December
31st 2000 and Isabella Marie, born June 12th 2003.
Karen is a “preacher’s kid”
and has walked closely with the Lord for years; she has
been a tremendous asset to Mister Chris as he ministers
to the youth. She works by his side and smacks him back
in line when he gets out of hand. Overall, life is good.
And God is very, very good.
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