Rick grew up as the third of four – a farmer’s son, in the Canadian mid-west, in a very churched upbringing, now an unending source of sermon material. His first real surrender to Christ as forgiver and leader came at a camp when he was 15, which lead to a passion for getting this good news out to as many as possible.
Bible college followed, (now Ambrose University) and that’s where he met his lovely wife, Johnna. They moved to Johnna’s home state to serve in youth ministry and creative arts at a church in Arlington, WA. When that church went through a series of transitions, the irresistible pull to start a church in Marysville that was crazy about people who don’t go to church, was planted in their hearts. That was 1995. So with their two children, Joren and Jadan (ages 3 and 1 at the time) and 15 courageous souls, AC3 was born.
Rick likes to paint, and to be active, playing basketball at the Y weekly, and trying without much success to keep his handicap under 30. He’s mostly assimilated into his adoptive homeland, but when Olympic hockey comes around, he only sees maple leafs and Red and White. Which may explain his strange obsession with the color red.
Rick loves non-fiction and science fiction; has read most of his CS Lewis library, with Problem of Pain being his favorite. Rick’s passion for reaching seekers and skeptics with the reality of Jesus explains his interest in topics related to defending the faith (apologetics). Sexuality & Faith and Science & Faith (Creation/Evolution) are two areas of concentrated study. Our Investigations Class is one of his favorite things and he enjoys responding to questioners on our Ask Anything blog.
Creativity abounds around him, with both his sons and their wives active on AC3’s artistic teams as actors, singers, and writers. He became “papa” for the first time last year with the arrival of beautiful Rose.
In the last 10 years, Johnna and Rick felt another unmistakeable leading to leverage the margin in their lives for extending compassion. So they entered the foster system, welcoming several little girls into their home who had come from very hard places. The last two of these they adopted, Laila and Marley who fill up Rick’s life to the brim.
