Hello

My Story

I retired from engineering management from the Boeing Company after over 30 years in 2014 in order to serve Jesus in ministry and to enjoy life with my family which now includes three grandchildren. 

In 2015 I attended a Spiritual Warfare workshop taught by Dr. Charles Kraft and Judy Taber at Hearts Set Free Ministries.  I recognized that Jesus’ mission was to establish his Kingdom here on this material world, but that His Kingdom was spiritual - not of this world.  Although I was a Christian for 30 plus years, I recognized that I knew little about the authority we have in Christ and very little of the transformative process (inner healing – spiritual maturity and wholeness in becoming more like Jesus) available through discipleship.

In Dr. Kraft, I found someone who was both biblically sound but also experienced in that invisible space between heaven and earth.  I found that faith requires stepping out into that invisible space and needed to learn and experience as much as possible.  Fortunately for me, Dr. Kraft and Judy Taber were very graciously, and I was accepted into a partnership in learning what it means to be yoked with Jesus in my own healing journey and doing His ministry. 

Since 2015, I have been doing inner healing and deliverance ministry as part of Hearts Set Free Ministries (virtually) and also at local ministries in the Southern California area.  I enjoy teaching and have done multiple workshops for Hearts Set Free (virtually) as well local churches on the subject of Spiritual Warfare, Inner Healing and Deliverance.

My Testimonial

I grew up in a safe environment, but not nurturing or affectionate.  I never heard the words “I love you” from either parent - ever.  It was very much a performance-based environment but even then, very little encouragement when I did well.  Nevertheless, I was self-motivated to perform well – it gave me a sense of self-worth, and I generally did well in school.  I did well enough to gain admittance into UCLA where I studied engineering and graduated with honors. 

In my senior year at UCLA, I became a Christian.  I had been a Christian for multiple decades throughout my working career and never thought of myself as being broken.  I knew I was a sinner in need of forgiveness, but broken?  I had heard testimonies of folks who had suffered through severe emotional trauma: physical, emotional or sexual abuse, drug or other addictions and/or other oppressive situations and circumstances.  By comparison, I never had any experience that was close to what these folks were sharing and how Jesus delivered them from their pit of despair and hopelessness.  For me that is what it meant to be broken.

In my performance-based orientation, my goal was to be above average.  A top ten percent achiever or at least in the upper quartile of my peers.  And for the most part I was successfully achieving my goals in my work career and in serving the Lord.  I was content – financially comfortable and doing well spiritually by comparison.  I felt like I was doing better than the average Christian; of course, that was my performance-based perception and very subjective self-evaluation.  But there was a problem.  I recognized that early in my Christian experience, I had a hunger and thirst to learn more and become a “good” Christian.  I started serving immediately - serving on Church boards, teaching Sunday School, tithing faithfully etc.  But I feared and avoided “discipleship”.  I thought to become like Jesus meant giving up my career, my life aspirations and goals, maybe even not getting married.  It meant possibly living a life of poverty and becoming a pastor or missionary and getting sent to the remotest parts of the world.  Those would be the one percenters. I was settling for less, much less. 

My problem was that I was broken and didn’t know it.  My sin was in looking at and judging others by my standards and feeling good about myself in comparison.  But the day came when the Spirit of the Lord came upon me and impressed upon my heart to take my eyes off of people and onto Jesus.  I saw Jesus on the cross, looking down upon humanity – the very people he came to save but had mocked, humiliated and tortured him to death.  From the cross in his last moments, he said “Father, forgive them.  They do not know what they are doing”.  I felt the Spirit say to me “Can you do that?”  At that point I knew I was broken.  Jesus is the model of perfection and everyone else falls short. I fall way short.  I had not equated my sin with brokenness.  I did not understand that my sin was keeping me from becoming like Jesus.  My brokenness was manifesting in fears about what it meant to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and becoming like him.  Since the day I received this revelation from the Lord I stopped judging and comparing myself to others and set my eyes upon Jesus.  I have learned how the enemy has seeded doubts about Jesus’ goodness and that I could not trust that what Jesus wants for me is better than what I want for myself.  I have learned to recognize the lies of the enemy that I have accepted about myself and about Jesus and about the Father. I have started the journey of healing and found a community of believers to join with in fighting the battle against the powers and principalities, the spiritual forces of evil in the invisible dimensions of God’s creation.

I recognize that I am still a work in progress.  There are still broken places buried within me that I am not aware of but affect the way I think and behave.  But I know that Jesus is good.  I know the Father is good.  I know that the Holy Spirit will continue the work of grace - growing me up to become more like Jesus.  The degree of intimacy with Jesus, his peace and joy fill me more than I have known previously.  I am so grateful for what he has done and what he continues to do.  If any of this resonates with you consider joining our community at Isaiah 61 Life Ministries International.