Why I am in Princeton, NJ

"That in all things Christ may have the preeminence"

 (Colossians 1:18)

I come from a rich and very conservative heritage, deeply rooted in the very bosom of the Evangelical Christian faith. I make no apologies about where I come from and what I believe. My Calvinist and Bible believing Evangelicalism is very precious to me. I am also proud to have come out of the Calvary Chapel movement in Southern California. For me to deny my roots in the Calvary Chapel movement would be for me to deny myself.

In my heart I will always be that same beach bum evangelist who used to share the gospel down at Newport Beach Pier in Orange County every Friday and Saturday Night and then attend services at Calvary Chapel every Sunday Morning and Sunday evening.

With this rich conservative and Evangelical Christian heritage, many may ask why I have left everything to go back east to attend Princeton Theological Seminary, one of the most prestigious academic institutions in the world? I have come to Princeton, NJ on a mission.

 I want to study the great ideas of Christian history from great scholars and in a rigorous academic atmosphere. I also want to take classes and study at Princeton University and study political science with some of the greatest scholars in the world. Princeton New Jersey is like very few places on earth, it is a center of unbelievable academic excellence and I count in the greatest honor of my life just to be here.

I know that not everyone here shares my same belief system and staunch conservatism. That is ok because I love meeting people from various backgrounds and cultures. I am challenged by the fact that most of the people around me are a lot smarter than me and came from more prestigious colleges and universities than the small Evangelical schools I attended. That is also ok, because I love the challenge.

I am a conservative Evangelical in Princeton and there is no other place on earth I would rather be. I am challenged by the diversity of thought and culture I encounter here. I want to be a scholar for Jesus Christ and as Abraham Lincoln once wrote in his journal years before he was President, "I will study and prepare, perhaps my time will come." As for me, I am in Princeton, I will study and I will prepare with great rigor, and perhaps my time will come! I do all this for the glory of God and to be the best Christian I possibly can be.