About
I am the Lead Pastor at the Living Hope Church – Maryville Campus in Maryville, Missouri, a former staff member with the Northwest Missouri Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and a former chaplain and player for the Division 2 National Champion Northwest Missouri State Bearcat football team.
This is my personal blog. It is focused on helping ordinary people, like you and I, connect with our extraordinary God. My aim is to help you lead and disciple with greater intentionality so that you can turn everyday life into an extraordinary legacy of influence and impact.
I write about doctrine, theology, leadership, discipleship, culture and the church. My goal is to create relevant content that you can put to practical use in your daily life as you devote yourself to Jesus and his mission.
To make sure you don’t miss my newest posts you can subscribe to my blog via RSS (at the top right hand corner of the home page) or via email (on the right hand side of the home page).
Top Posts
If you’re new to my site, you may find it helpful to start with the my most viewed posts. Here are my top two per category.
Church
–Dear Christian Part 1: What you need to know about the world we live in.
–Dear Christian Part 2: What you need to know about the Christianity you grew up with.
Culture
–Justice for Daisy (A Biblical Response to the Daisy Coleman Rape Case)
Discipleship
Doctrine
–The Cross: God’s Wrath Satisfied or His Love Magnified?
Leadership
Miscellaneous
–Reflections from a National Champion: An Interview with Bearcat Quarterback Trevor Adams
Theology
–Starting Spiritual Conversations Part 1
My Biography
I grew up in a suburb of Omaha, Nebraska in a family of four. My father was a hardworking computer salesman who was present, but not always there. My mother was a work at home mom who spent her days laboring to raise my younger brother and I and her nights taking care of the house and the bills.
Our neighborhood was filled with boys our age. We spent most of our time running around with the neighbor kids. Unfortunately, I was the black sheep on the block. I wasn’t good at sports, wore thick glasses and nerdy clothes and always managed to be the one who got the group in trouble. As a result, I got beat up and left out a lot.
Over time, I muscled up, developed some talent and got descent at football. By God’s grace, I started seeing success on the field and slowly gained the respect of my peers. I quickly became the stereotypical jock. By the time I was a high school junior, I became your typical insecure, troubled, arrogant, womanizing athlete.
At age 17, however, the Lord took hold of my life in a radical way. Life changed quickly and I soon found myself desperate to make Jesus known to my peers at any cost. I preached my first sermon to my high school youth group at age 18 and then left to play college football at Northwest Missouri State.
While at Northwest I, by God’s grace, helped revitalize a dying ministry on the Bearcat football team with two of my teammates. Over the course of five years that ministry grew from three guys to over sixty on a team of one hundred, most of them unchurched. I then had the privilege of co-founding another ministry in 2012 called EXCELeration Leadership to help athletes at Northwest start similar ministries on their teams.
In 2009, I joined the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the largest Christian sports ministry in the world, as a staff member and served six counties until July of 2014. While serving with FCA, my supervisor, Wes Simmons and I had the privilege of spearheading the country’s first EXCELeration Leadership Camp, designed to empower coaches and their student-athlete leaders to impact their specific teams for Jesus Christ through team specific ministry.
I am now the lead pastor of the Living Hope Church Maryville Campus in Maryville, MO where I live and do ministry with my wife Tierney, whom I met in college. I have preached more than 400 times in the last nine years, written more than 200 articles and am in the process of co-authoring my first book. Most of my writing comes from the lessons I have learned as a chaplain for the Bearcat football team and a member at Living Hope Church.
In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my wife, reading, eating, sports and working out. My ambition is to glorify God by planting churches, preaching the Bible, making disciples, developing leaders and saving the lost. I have worked as a mechanics assistant at a tire shop, as a battery handler at Energizer/Everready and as a Youth Counselor at a juvenile delinquent facility. I am an ordinary dude helping ordinary people lead and disciple with greater intentionality.
Additional Content
You can view my sermons from Living Hope here.
View additional content related to Living Hope and FCA here.
I am exited to read what you write, bro!
Thanks bro, I’m excited to snatch and repost what you write! (with proper credit of course)
Rock on mate, this world and even church age needs leaders, both theological & pastoral! 🙂
Thanks for your visit and like at my blog.
Irene
Thanks, Trevor, for your blog – and thanks also for liking the post, “Do not be conformed ,,, Be transformed … ” (Romans 12:2), at my blog, Learning From God’s Word. God bless you and make you a blessing to many.
Thanks for checking out my post on neurogenesis and redemption – Maybe I”ll post something that will help you in your work making spirit-filled disciples and leaders! Peace.
No problem. Anything that communicates how Jesus redeems his people, our culture, the world or anything in it is helpful for what I’m doing. I appreciate your thoughts.
Thank you for visiting the site Indasharonjesus. I really appreciate the”like” and grateful for your heart for our Lord. May God bless your ministry and you as you endeavor to fulfill His plan for you. God bless. Continually seeking Him, Sharon
Sounds like you have a great ministry. The best to you on your blog, and thank you for liking “Hours, Days, Moments” at “As I Come Singing.”
Oh, and also thank you for liking “A Thin Line:” on :”On Aging Gracelessly.”
Thank you for taking the time to like my post. I have a book that will be released soon. I would like to insert it into a discipleship or new Christians program within your church. I believe in the message and would like to partner with different organizations and offer the book as a tool to help with discipleship. Please let me know if you are interested.
Thanks for taking the time to like my post. I have the first book coming out in a couple of months entitled My Dog Gets it. 11 Reflections of Humbleness. I would like to partner with organizations to use the book as tool in their discipleship and new Christian programs. If you are interested, please contact me. My email is parleypioneers@gmail.com. There is more information at Mydoggetsit.blogspot.com.
Thanks again,
GE Williams
Thank you for stopping by http://homespunhappenings.wordpress.com/. I write from my personal experiences in an effort to encourage and inspire others to see God and seek Him daily.
Trevor:
I served a church near Maryville a few years ago, and so I remember Maryville with fondness. Send me your email and I will put you on my list. river
It’s always cool to find people who are even familiar with Maryville. What church did you serve?
Hi there! Thanks for stopping by our blog http://www.lifeistoughbutgodalwaysmakesaway.wordpress.com and liking our post on following Jesus and being His disciple. Look forward to your return visits and comments.
Thanks for visiting Daughters of Sarah blog. Please feel free to visit often.
“I teach people to be disciples and disciple-makers.” <—-this I like.
Hi Trevor, thanks for visiting my blog! I’m liking yours already. Blessings.
Hi Trevor. Good for you and your fellowship! Discipleship is so critical, and so few seem to be intentionally going after it. Looks like you and I are in the same “neighborhood”. I look forward to reading what you have to say. God bless!
Oh yeah, thanks for stopping in to my fledgling blog.
Laurie
Laurie, I absolutely agree with you. Jesus’ final command to his disciples was to “go and make disciples.” Going requires intentional action. Disciple-making requires discipleship. The command is so straightforward, but we some how find a way to dance around it. Making disciples means intentionally working the truth of Jesus into people’s lives through relationship.
I’m glad to hear you’re committed to Christ’s cause! And I love the title of your blog. Happy disciple-making.
Hi Trevor,
Thanks for stopping by my blog http://rosarioedieleyne.wordpress.com/ and liking my post “Don’t quit”
You can also like me on FB https://www.facebook.com/RosarioEdieleyne
and follow me on https://twitter.com/Edieleyne
So, keep in touch!
Thank you for your visit to my blog. May the vessel of your anointing never go dry in the name of Jesus Christ.
Hi Trevor…so happy you stopped by…now I will have to have a look at what you have going on here. From the first peek it looks like I need to see more!! Blessitude…Lorrie
Hello there, thank you for liking my post. God bless you!
Hi! Thanks for stopping by my blog and reading my most recent post. I’m glad you stopped by and admire your acceptance of a powerful calling. Blessings!
Bless you Brother. thank you for liking my post. although I have been a preacher for 25 years i am new to doing this blog thing. For 9 years we broadcast on Christian TV every Sunday morning and now that we have stopped broadcasting we get so many requests from viewers that I need to do something. If you have any advice or comments that will help me make my blog better or more accessible, you will be welcome
Thanks so much for visiting my blog, Trevor. It’s given me the opportunity to pay a return visit. Yours is so very good! God bless your ministries! I recently started reading Proverbs again, and I really appreciate your wise words on how to approach that book.
You’re welcome and thank you! Happy blogging and reading!
Thank you so much for “liking” my newest post “Look Up!” I am a fairly new blogger, a later-in-life endeavor, and totally appreciate the encouragement from a fellow believer. I look forward to reading your blog also. Blessings to you in your ministry!
You’re welcome. Writing can be such a challenge, but it is so rewarding. Keep your focus on Jesus and let his glory be your motivation and joy!
Hi Trevor. Thanks for taking your time to visit my blog. You also have a wonderful blog here and some of the issues you have addressed are quite serious, particularly on leadership. May the Lord bless you..
Thanks. Blessings to you as well!
Hi, Trevor. Thanks for the recent visit! Just curious if your church has any denominational affiliation.
We do not. We are a part of a worldwide family of churches called Newfrontiers. As a movement we are committed to planting reproducing churches in America’s top 100 histories in a way that makes disciples and reflects the New Testament. You can read up about Newfrontiers at http://www.newfrontiersusa.org
I love the name of the church you pastor: Living Hope. There is a church by the same name close to where I live. I have always been drawn to that name for it is a wonderful reminder of why we put our faith in Jesus Christ!
Good to connect, Trevor! The “real” Bearcats are located here at the University of Cincinnati, btw. ;>)
Trevor,
This is late response, but here it goes anyway: thanks for stopping by my blog a couple of months ago. It means a lot to me that you would spend some of your precious time on my site. I look forward to (virtually) interacting with you in the near future.
Blessings!
Thanks much for your “like” on my Jehovah-Shalom. I invite you to read all my Jehovah names. The next will be Jehovah-Rohi, My Guide. They are under the heading God’s Provision. It is my thesis that God created man with needs that He, Himself, wants to fill.http://onetahayes.com/gods-provision/