Ryan began a relationship with Jesus as a high school student in the backyard of a church in Central Oregon during the summer of 1995 with only a horse to witness the event. After graduating from Benson High School in Portland, Oregon, he went to Portland Community College not only to save money during his first several years of higher education, but also because he was a slacker and wasn’t able to get a portfolio put together in time for his application to the School of Architecture at the University of Oregon. He never made it to the U of O (but his non-slacker sister did).

While talking with a counselor at PCC, Ryan discovered that all the architecture credits he could earn there were non-transferable (lame), so architecture was soon out the window. But PCC was where Ryan got involved with the Baptist Collegiate Ministry and truly began growing in his faith. It seemed that teaching was in Ryan’s future, so after finishing his AA degree, he moved onto Western Oregon University taking all his transferable credits with him.

After several years at WOU, Ryan gained valuable ministry experience with the Baptist Collegiate Ministry at Western, a B.S. in Physical Education and best of all, a soon-to-be wife! Four years of serving in campus ministry led Ryan to pursue a call to ministry and he took his new feisty and fun-loving, red-headed wife, Renee, to Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary (now Gateway Seminary)  in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Upon graduating with his M.Div., Ryan and Renee returned to the Northwest, along with their new baby boy, and served for 3 years as a youth pastor and worship leader at a church plant in Ridgefield, Washington. Ryan now serves on the worship team at Faith Center Church in Vancouver, Washington; partners with his wife in their jewelry business; and works with families and their personal finances to get out of debt and on track for retirement.

Ryan and Renee have three children and live happily together in Vancouver, Washington.