I am a follower of Jesus, the husband of the most amazing woman, father of three beautiful girls, and a seminary professor. In that order, by God’s grace. I grew up in the great state of Pennsylvania, about 20 miles from historic Gettysburg. I am a child of American revivalist fundamentalism, raised by parents who loved God’s Word and the gospel. In God’s good providence, I have changed – well, quite a bit – since then, and I will sometimes refer to myself as a recovering fundamentalist (“Hi, my name is Andy, and I’m an independent Baptist…”). I hope this means that I love Jesus more than rules, and that I understand that the gospel is not just a get-out-of-hell-free card but the great story of God’s grace and holiness that he has written and in which I am currently playing a part.

As I said, I’m a professor at The Master’s Seminary in the greater Los Angeles area. I teach systematic and biblical theology – although if you ask me to clearly describe the difference between the two, I’ll get confused, and you’ll wonder if I’m really all that qualified to teach fifth graders much less graduate students. But that’s a subject for a blog post sometime.

Here are my favorite people: Ben, Emily, Kendall, Abby, and Pam.

My wife, Pam, is an accomplished pianist, but she has devoted most of the last 20 years to taking care of me and our daughters. She teaches piano lessons in our home, disciples other women individually and in groups, does some music ministry, and just serves Jesus like crazy. Man, what a woman.

Emily is my oldest daughter, and she’s married to Ben, the punk – uh, sweet, upstanding, gracious young man who took her away from me. I really do like him a lot, and I’m so thankful that God has brought them together. (And yes, I AM old enough to have a married daughter – just ask my aches & pains.) Kendall is my middle child, the one we called “wild woman” when she was a toddler. Some things have changed, others have not. Get to know her and you’ll see what I mean. She is a creative soul who loves to sing and be with her friends, but is generally less excited about school. I would be anxious about that last bit, but that describes most 18-year-olds, I suppose. Abby is my baby, the guitarist of the family and another great singer. As 15-year-olds go, she’s pretty awesome, although she does like certain kinds of music that kinda frighten me.

We are all involved with a group of God’s people at a church called Cornerstone SCV, where we’re trying hard to live out the gospel with one another and the world around us. If you’re in town sometime, stop in and worship with us on a Sunday.

So, that’s a quick snapshot of my life. But enough about me…