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© 2009 by D.W. Photography
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Chris has been traveling nationally, leading worship,
speaking, and giving concerts for youth and adults since 1992. He has
served in all aspects of pastoral ministry throughout his career. Chris has
had the joy of working with students, leading worship teams, teaching small group discipleship, and
serving a church plant as the lead pastor. But the full story
is much more...
In 1998, Chris' first CD "Simply What I Believe" was released
featuring nine cuts of acoustic and electric guitar driven music. All
the songs had been written by Chris and shared over time as he traveled.
In late 2000, the demo for Chris' second album, "Carpenter's
Son", was completed. Preparations were made for the recording
process to begin in the Spring of 2001 but life took an abrupt turn in
March of that year. After fighting headaches for months he began to lose vision in one eye. An MRI was
scheduled and 45 minutes after the test was completed, Chris received a
call notifying him of his diagnosis: an Astrocytoma brain tumor.
Surgery was daunting as the tumor was approximately the size of a golf
ball and resting on the right optic nerve of his eye. But with ongoing headaches
and his vision worsening, the only choice was to have surgery and
have the tumor removed. The surgery was
successful but the immediate post-op recovery was difficult. What was
supposed to be a five day hospital stay turned into a three week journey through
various hospital units. Chris was released
from the hospital to a rehabilitation center to work on strengthening his ability to walk as well as
his fine motor skills. God
was good and what one doctor anticipated would be a minimum four week stay in
rehab turned out to be only four days! With God walking the entire journey with him,
Chris spent the next few weeks recuperating at home. Six weeks
after surgery, Chris was back in the pulpit and four weeks after that was
on the road leading
worship for a mission conference.
Chris eventually returned to his ministry of music, though at a slightly slower
pace. While he had begun to learn to play guitar again, he found that he no longer had
much memory of the music he
had both listened to or written prior to the surgery. This was an
unexpected complication, but over time Chris re-learned both his instrumental and vocal skills. Throughout the journey
he chronicled the ups and downs through song. He then returned to the studio to begin working on a new project entitled,
"Pieces of Me". The CD would include music from his life-changing
battles during and beyond illness. He hoped that this project could
provide encouragement to those who serve and lead within ministry and may
be concurrently battling an illness or other serious hardship.
After recovering from the first surgery, Chris underwent two more surgeries
to replace his hip and part of his femur that had developed necrosis during
treatment. Chris returned to his church less then a week after the last
surgery, but it
would take daily rehabilitation to strengthen him
to where he was able to resume his normal routine of pastoral duties, touring, and worship
event leadership. Though at times it seemed as if the
trials may never end, in early 2004 Chris released his first project
since 1998; a five song special event CD entitled 'Just A Few Moments' for a major youth rally
at the Ocean City Convention Center in Maryland. A live worship project soon followed
featuring Chris and his worship team.
After serving as Lead Pastor of a church plant in eastern Pennsylvania
for over six years, and in pastoral ministry for over fifteen years, Chris
took a step to use his own journey of health struggles in an exciting
way. He accepted a position as a Resident Chaplain in the pastoral care
department of one of the largest Level One trauma centers in
Pennsylvania. It was a new way to utilize what he had gone through to help others.
Chris specialized in Pediatrics and Trauma, as well as the Oncology and
Neuroscience units.
Chris discovered that people who have themselves been patients can share compassion from a unique perspective. They too have
lain in a bed and felt the pain,
fear, and longing to be well. But his chaplaincy experience became
an in-depth one
when Chris was
again diagnosed with a brain tumor. But God as always had the plan covered. After visiting and
consulting with some of the top hospitals in the country, Chris realized
he was currently working at a top rated hospital. After an email from his neurologist shared that
the doctor felt
it was "God's blessing that this particular neurosurgeon is at the
hospital at this time", and having himself seen amazing things happen by
the surgeon's hands with other patients, Chris made the decision to have the
procedure done at his hospital. With his family at his
side, Chris once again underwent surgery. God's hand was at work
once more and Chris left the hospital four days later.
Chris' return to the hospital as a chaplain gave him amazing opportunities to interact
with other patients who were facing difficult diagnoses, as well as
to expand his ministry overall. Chris developed a
special affinity for children battling cancer as he met with children and their parents on a
regular basis to be both chaplain and friend, but more so to share hope. After undergoing
weeks of daily treatment, some days alongside the very patients he was
ministering to, Chris' oncologist gave him the 'all-clear'
sign and it was back to business as usual. As with the first surgery,
Chris journaled and wrote music throughout and is in the process of
laying new tracks down in the studio (check out the
Music Projects
page, MusicInMotion
page, or IndieHeaven
to listen to streaming music of current demos). Chris
feels his music is an
extension of who he is, where he has been, where he is going, and who
God has been throughout it all. As he would often share from the stage, this is not music with a lot
of answers, but if you want to
explore the questions together, than this is the music for you.
Chris has fully recovered
and
when not performing he serves as corporate chaplain to an international
company. He continues writing
and working on new music projects. The latest offering came
in May 2009 when Chris released a
special compilation CD to benefit the KHG
Brain Tumor Awareness Foundation.
Chris continues to work with KHG as well as serving as a national spokesperson for the National
Brain Tumor Society with their Get
Your Head In the Game movement. In addition to his
original writings, Chris released a
live worship project available in digital download format. Listen to
the tracks online OR download the entire project for FREE at the IndieHeaven
site!
Just click the REDEEM tab!
Chris is available to be booked for
your next worship or concert event, speaking engagement, youth, adult,
or family retreat, leadership training event, as well as pulpit
supply for your worship service. Throughout,
by the true grace of God, Chris continues to serve in
ministry and has found that what has
occurred has only strengthened his desire to see more people get the
chance to feel God's presence in their life. His prayer
for his music is that each song tell a story,
share a
question, and most importantly provide hope to the listener.
"This is not the music of someone who has it all figured out, but
one who is merely on a journey and invites his listeners to join
him."
~ pastor & recent event sponsor
Have Chris
lead your next worship event
or give his powerful testimony in a concert venue.
Submit your Booking/Info
Request Form today!
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