THE WESLEYAN QUADRILATERAL I accepted Christ into my life at age 7.

My dad led me in the salvation prayer in our front yard. I was raised in a Christian home and taught to honor God in all of my decision-making. I was very eager to memorize scripture at a young age. In fact, I remember earning a Bible from my Sunday school group as a reward for scripture memorization. I was very eager to learn Gods word, and as a young man, I listened to the voice of The Lord and made decisions based on the truths of scripture. In that early phase of life, I do not recall being faced with any difficult decisions that I could not find the answer to in scripture. As I grew older, I did face many crucial decisions that I could not find an easy answer to by just reading Gods word. In addition to reading scripture, I needed to use reason, common sense, and wait upon the Lord to speak to me and lead my down the correct path. I am a Christian and I desire to live my life to honor my Lord and savior. My Christian worldview affects every area of my life. My marriage is based on biblical principles. I raise my children based on the word of God. We attend church and worship The Lord in church and community related activities. I practice morality and ethics in my job, and I work hard as unto The Lord. I pray before making decisions, no matter how large or small that they may be. It is my strong desire to take all 4 aspects of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral into account whenever I make difficult decisions. As a matter of fact, even when I make smaller, less significant decisions, I hope that my choices reflect Christ like character and holiness. In addition, I desire to be a witness to the people around me. I first met my wife in the winter of 1998. What first attracted me to her was her strong moral character. We based our relationship on God and desired to honor him with our marriage. For those are looking to get married and for those who want to remain single, giving God control of your relationships is the best way for you to have success. Our faith should absolutely impact the relationships that we have with others. My family attends church twice per week. We do this to show our worship to God and to learn about him. Let me be clear, you dont need to be at church to worship God. Church just provides an environment that is conducive to worshiping The Lord. We also have a regular once-a-week family time, where we read a bible-

based story and find things to pray about as a family. We also take time during these sessions to discuss spiritual issues and help our children handle moral dilemmas. We do this to model to our children how important it is to spend time with God. We also use these times together as a family to show our kids how important it is to present our requests to God, and to commit issues to Him in prayer. Whenever we are going through a difficult time as a family, or when we have decisions to make, we commit those decisions to The Lord in prayer, with our children participating in that process 100%. We do not have much free time in our family; our lives are very busy. But our decision to spend some of our free time in church shows that our commitment to follow God affects the way we spend our leisure time. As a married man, I make all major decisions together with my wife. In many cases, our children are also included in that process. I read Gods word to look for clear direction and to be sure that any decision that I make would be in accordance with Biblical truths. Sometimes it is difficult to discern Gods will for me and for my family. However, there are times where scripture is very clear about what Gods would want me to do. God has blessed me with a wife who is a Christian and who is a very wise woman. Together, we use reason and common sense to make correct decisions for our family. Christian tradition is very important. In fact, many of our traditions are based on biblical events. Some of our church traditions are holidays, like Easter and Christmas. The birth of Christ was an actual event, but the actual Christmas holiday was a religious tradition that came about many years after His death. Christs death and resurrection are very important and significant holidays to celebrate, but they were not celebrated in the bible. Some of other church traditions include the way that we conduct a church service, the types of worship songs that we sing, the formal clothing that we wear in church, and the length and style of our hair. All of those traditions can be important to the denominations that follow them. Some traditions hold a very high place in our worship. For example, the issue of baptism, and predestination are issues that certain Christian denominations have been arguing over for many years. As long as church traditions dont contradict the word

of God, they can use useful in bringing a community of believers together. Christians should obey scripture, but they dont necessarily need to obey traditions.Scripture though, needs to hold a higher value to us than tradition alone. Scripture is powerful and life changing. Scripture can convict us of sin and is used to communicate Gods will for our lives. Whereas church tradition can enhance our lives, scripture can transform our lives. 2Timothy 3:16, All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. I probably use Tradition the least in my decision-making. I grew up in a nondenominational Christian church. So, maybe there were less doctrinal traditions that we followed. In any case, I did not consider church tradition in my decisionmaking process. I do read scripture every day and I make decisions based on what God has spoken to me about through his word. My spiritual timeline is full of important, life-changing events that shaped the person that I would become and the direction that my life would take. Several of those events required me to make an important decision that would affect the direction of my life from that point forward. I would like to list a few of those events and discuss the decision making process that I used at that time. 5/15/90: The day that I chose the mission field over the baseball field and gave up a potential college scholarship to move to Sweden and attend Bible College. As a high school senior, I was quite an accomplished baseball player and I had the opportunity to play baseball in college. I was actually considering attending APU in the fall of 1990. I decided instead to attend a Discipleship Training School with Youth with a Mission and then travel to East Germany and Poland on a mission trip. I received quite a bit of advice from my parents in order to make this decision. I also received a lot of encouragement from others friends and family members who felt that God was telling me to go to Europe. In addition to reading Gods word and praying constantly, I also put out a fleece to see if this decision was Gods will for me. God showed me that moving to Sweden was the right choice for

me by opening all of the doors and allowing no roadblocks to slow me down. I received my passport and all of the visas and permits that I needed. I was also accepted to school in Sweden. I felt a complete peace about delaying my college education. I ended up living in Europe for almost 4 years. I learned several languages and saw the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the fall of communism. I was able to share the gospel in countries that had been previously closed off to Christians. It was an amazing, life-changing decision, and looking back on that decision, I made the correct choice. My college education would be waiting for me when I returned. 6/20/99: The day that I said, I do and became the spiritual leader of my household. I used experience and reason to make this decision. I was inlove and I believed that I had met the right person for me. Even though we had only been dating for a short period of time, I knew that my wife was a much better person for me than anyone else that I had dated previously. I used my past experience in life to help me see that getting married was the wisest course of action. I did not specifically hear from The Lord or get his approval to get married. I did not find any scripture that instructed me to go ahead with this. 4/1/11: The day that I went back to school at APU to pursue a teaching credential which would allow me to accept a higher paying job at a public charter school. I read the Bible, prayed constantly, waited on The Lord, sought the advise and counsel of my parents and in-laws, and thoroughly thought through this issue for many months before making the decision. I relied on experience, on reason and common sense, and on my wifes encouragement as well. Other than my decision to get married, this decision was the most significant decision of my life. I do feel that God spoke to me and opened the doors for me to leave my old job, enroll in the credential program at APU, and step out in faith and begin working at a new school. It was a very exciting, scary choice to make, but God was faithful and guided my though that.

I have worked in the secular job market as well as in a Christian school. Obviously the environment is quite different in both of those situations. However, my attitude and work ethic should remain the same. My Christian faith should be evident in how I conduct myself, what speech comes out of my mouth, and how hard I work as an employee. My decision-making is this context is based on past experience, scriptural truths, and God-given wisdom. In my job, I want to be known as a high quality individual and a dependable, loyal employee. That way, Christ is glorified and a good witness is made of Him. As an athletic director and teacher, I am counted on to make important decisions that effect many people. It is my responsibility to hire and fire coaches. I also interact with parents and solve disagreements between athletes, coaches, and parents. I have developed a habit of praying before I go to bed. I get very stressed out at night when I am alone with my thoughts. Praying and reading Gods word is a great way to help me calm down and commit my decisions to The Lord. IMPACT ON STUDENTS In the classroom of a public school, a teachers faith needs to be seen and not heard. We are not allowed to preach to our students or even discuss our faith, but we are allowed to show by our actions and our words that we are set apart from the world. 2 Timothy 2:15 says, Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. There is a fine line between not being ashamed and preaching, and you have to be extremely careful to walk the line. I have taught history for over 7 years. History cannot be taught accurately without some discussion of religion; religion has played such an integral part of world history. As I plan my lessons, I incorporate religion into the lesson plan, and I try to stimulate interesting discussion about how religion has affected the growth and success of many groups of people throughout history. My faith is a part of every facet of my life; I never leave it at home. I sincerely hope that the people I work with and those with whom I interact know that there is something different about me. I hope that I show myself as set apart and as a workman approved.

Even if I cant overtly discuss my Christian faith in the classroom, I can demonstrate a Christian worldview living out my faith for colleagues and students to see. I can make choices, which demonstrate moral behavior, character, and ethics, and represent Christian behavior. I can impact students lives by my kindness, fairness, compassion, mercy, and integrity. If I seek Gods word and His truths, and rely upon His guidance to make wise decisions, I will feel confident that God will guide my path. Proverbs 3:5-6, Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and he will direct your path.