Pastor Brian was born in Arizona and has lived here for most of his life. He went to high school at Brophy College Preparatory in Phoenix, while being an active student volunteer in his high school youth group at Northwest Community Church in Phoenix. He achieved his BA in Music at Northern Arizona University in 1999, while volunteering with Campus Crusade for Christ as a student leader and working as an intern in two Flagstaff churches. After graduation, he started serving in full-time ministry as the youth pastor and worship leader at Desert Springs Christian Fellowship in Glendale. He was ordained at Desert Springs and also earned his M.Div. in Leadership Development at Phoenix Seminary in 2004.
Sensing God's call for further academic study, Brian and his wife, Melissa, moved to Aberdeen, Scotland, in 2005. Over a period of three years, studying at the University of Aberdeen, he earned a M.Th. in Biblical Theology in 2006 and engaged in two years of Ph.D. study in New Testament before returning to Phoenix in 2008. He came on staff at GCC as the Worship Pastor in October of 2008 and at that time also began serving as a part-time adjunct instructor of Biblical Studies at Arizona Christian University in Phoenix. In November 2010, he stepped in as the interim Senior Pastor and officially became the Senior Pastor in August 2011.
Brian and Melissa have been married since 1999 and have two children. In addition to studying and teaching the Bible, Pastor Brian enjoys the hobbies of reading (especially science fiction and fantasy), martial arts, hiking and riding bicycles with his family, shooting, and playing an occasional video game with his son.
