Pastor Chris grew up just outside of Wichita, KS, in the small community of Rose Hill. He graduated from Washburn University with a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy, then traveled across the globe to England, where he earned a Master’s degree in Philosophy and Law from the University of Bristol. Chris completed his formal education here in Chicago, receiving a Master’s of Divinity from Moody Theological Seminary.

Chris and his beautiful wife Michele are parents to five children: Isaac (19), Barach (17), Adonai (15), Shiloh (13,) and Asher (4). In his free time, Chris enjoys studying God’s Word (for real!), good food with friends and family, swimming, biking, running, paddling, camping, fishing, and getting happily lost in the North Woods. Chris is also a Connect 4 champion who’s never lost a game. (Challenges accepted!)

With a God-given passion for families, kids, family discipleship, and His church, Chris serves our church tirelessly in multiple capacities.  One of the many things we appreciate about Chris is his passion for seeing our modern faith community living out the early church’s patterns and values.

At Fox Valley, Chris is responsible for making Journey Land a safe, fun, and highly-relational environment for kids to encounter Jesus. In Journey Land, he invites children to engage in the “Big God story” (which is Chris’ way of conveying that the Bible is not a huge book of disconnected stories, but the progression of telling one big story, God’s story).  Chris encourages parents to influence their kids to know and follow Jesus. He also serves as the pastoral liaison for the Men’s Ministry and Young at Heart.

Upon retirement, Chris is likely to be found captaining a “no-shirts-allowed” charter-fishing vessel off the coast of New Zealand.