My Story

JR in Los Angeles

JR in Los Angeles

MY HEART
My desire is to awaken people to see reality and join with God in helping to renovate the world in which we live. I write as one in need of much renovation myself. When I think about the city in which I live and the stuff that is happening in our world and my own life, I find myself getting cynical at times.

The only thing that really gives me hope for the future is Jesus. For he seems to be the only one who was able to live a life fully faithful to God. Jesus wasn’t like most people, he had a genuine concern for people’s lives. He was willing to confront the fraud and hypocrisy that he found in the religious and political institutions of his day for the sake of the oppressed. As a result, he faced the same punishment every other political dissident faced, death on a cross.

So if the best man who ever lived died trying to make the world a better place, what hope is there for us? Why bother doing any good?

Because God justified Jesus’ life and mission by raising him from the dead. So now we can experience new life and partner with him in his project to renovate the world. My hope is to pick up the LA Times and the Sacred Text, and figure out how to follow Jesus more fully in this world.

FORMAL BIO
JR is a dream awakener and co-founder of Kairos Los Angeles, a network of neighborhood churches in the Los Angeles area. He serves on the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council as well as on the board for the Ecclesia Network and GCM. He founded [nlcf] a church at Virginia Tech, and The Unembraced, a ministry to orphans in the Turkana region of Kenya. He is also the co-founder of the Solis Foundation that awards micro-grants to help start small businesses in Kenya. JR enjoys coaching and consulting with a number of churches and church planters. He is a sought out conference speaker, a writer, as well as an avid blogger.

JR is currently pursuing a Masters of Arts in Global Leadership at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. He loves to surf, travel, and have a glass of wine with old and new friends. He enjoys watching films as well as engaging in the art of photography. He currently resides in Hollywood, California.