Aaron--When I first met Aaron, I thought he was a self-absorbed musician hoping to make it big in the music industry just so he could be famous.  Boy was I wrong.  After    

                                                                            spending four years on a traveling ministry

                                                                            team that led youth rallys and D-NOW

                                                                            weekends, I watched Aaron grow by leaps

                                                                            and bounds.  He became one of my best

                                                                             friends.  Although he might have made a

                                                                             great famous musician, God has led him in

                                                                              another direction.  He has become a

                                                                              wicked sick marketing genius and is the

                                                                              president of Kyros Creative.  He married

                                                                               the woman of his dreams and moved to

                                                                              Woodstock, one of the suburban ripple

effects of ATL.  We’ve stayed in touch all these years, and I imagine that we will

actually work together for many years to come on U R B A N G L O R Y.  I don’t know of anyone more gifted than Aaron.  He’s a music genius, a rhetoric genius, a marketing genius, a graphic design genius, and is fluent in abstract theological lingo and logic. 

Daniel--Daniel and I met at a party hosted by Greg and Cassi.  As soon as we engaged in conversation, we spent almost the rest of the party off in the kitchen discussing everything from our personal experiences with charismatic churches and self-acclaimed prophets to more abstract theological convictions.  We knew right away we would become good friends.  It just so happens that when I was in the greatest trial of my post-Christian life in the summer of 07, Daniel was there for me more than anyone else.  He didn’t try to solve my problems or give me some verse in the Bible, he was just there for me, and that was just what I needed.

Ricky--When Ricky started his A+ tutoring business, he started trying to go by Richard.  It never worked.  LoL.  Ricky is one my best friends.

We go all the way back to 2000 when I first

moved to Lynchburg.  We lived on the same

dorm in college (5-2 baby).  Really, we became

close through a combination of theological debate

and ministry.  We both ended up at the same

seminary in Louisville, so we live together now.

Ricky has a gift for thinking practically and

economically, and that’s part of what

makes him such a good business man.

Katie--Katie is one my favorite friends.  Although she lives in Indy, we keep in touch on a regular basis.  Our conversations are always very engaging.  Katie makes more money

                                                                                       than I probably ever will.  She’s very

                                                                                       “marketable” because she has a

                                                                                        very impressive set of skills.  If nothing

                                                                                        else, she’s just very intelligent and

                                                                                        good with people.  I’ve been to Indy

                                                                                        several times to see her and she’s

                                                                                        been to Louisville several times to see

                                                                                        me, Ricky, Adam & Mary (and Katie).

                                                                                        My favorite phrase for Katie is this: “It’s

                                                                                        OK, I love to be used.”  I say this

                                                                                        because sometimes she calls me and

                                                                                        “borrows me” for a while to get my

                                                                                        thoughts on something.  She also knows that whenever she can’t sleep, I’m up, and so she calls me.  When this happens, we usually stay on the phone until about 2 in the morning just talking about life.  Katie has a ____ yr old daughter named Peyton and works as a club manager.  

Anthony Dunn--Dunny reminds me a lot of myself when I was his age.  He’s into a lot of stuff.  He has a daughter named McKinzy. 

Anthony likes to hustle, but lately he’s been

on a new hustle: a legit one.  He used to work

at UPS, then he worked @ Kroger’s on

Bardstown strip, but now he works at Domino’s.  He bounces around a lot.  Anthony is very intelligent, even if he’s never really applied himself academically.  I encourage him to stay on this new hustle, and try to help him however I can.  I’ve had several talks with him about God, the gospel, and I try to help him understand what causes him to stumble.

He listens well even if he still hasn’t really had

a conversion experience like I did.  I pray one

day he will.     

Charles--Charles is a wicked smart UofL student who I work out with from time to time.  We used to run together for about 30 minutes then sit down and talk for a few hours.  We have the most intense conversations.  I feel like Charles “gets it” when I share real deep stuff with him.  He’s an engineer major and helps out one of the professors @ UofL.  Charles used to be skinny, but he’s been beefin’ up (as perhaps you can tell by the picture).  In his own words, Charles feels like he’s a child of God who has lost his way, so I try to understand what he’s goin’ through, and do my best to help him do what he knows is right.    

Michele--It took me a while after being friends with Daniel before I ever met Michele (his younger sister).  The first time we met she was mean to me because she had come over to my house for a Bible Study and I had to cancel it.  She said she was bored, so we went to BW3’s on Bardstown strip, and she still wasn’t happy.  She was mean to me that whole night, although she swears she doesn’t remember being mean to me. Somehow over the course of two years, we’ve become friends. She’s got a lot of youthful energy, but when we get into serious conversations her intelligence comes out

and I realize that she is far from shallow. Because she’s a mixture of fun and serious, she’s really fun to be around.  She’s also a student at UofL.  Michele and I have had some very interesting conversations.  But I can’t tell you about them or she would kill me!    

Just one of the hundred or so kids that come to our activities building at my church.  Meequa is so cute, and she smiles a lot too!

Ricky Love

Although we knew each other from Liberty University in Virginia, me and Ricky didn’t really become good friends until we both wound up in Louisville together as new students at SBTS.  Ricky and I have similar pagan backgrounds before we came to know Christ, so we connected immediately and I knew he would eventually become a close friend.  He’s now my accountability partner and will be moving in with me soon.  We also happen to do similar ministries.  I run an outreach program for at-risk inner-city middle school students and used to work with abused and neglected delinquent juveniles. Ricky used to work at the Seminary in the computer lab, but he now works with the troubled youth at Brooklawn.  

Charles Griffin

* Katie Murphy *

----Aaron Skinner---_-_-_-_-

Louisville, KY 

Louisville--Louisville is where I’ve spent the last four years of my better youth.  When I first moved to this city, I could see downtown from my bedroom window.  I could hardly sleep.  I wanted to explore the city, meet people, and ultimately be used by God to impact the city for the sake of the gospel.  I’ll never forget sleeping that first night in a sleeping bag (I didn’t have a bed yet), and praying to God as I lay down that he would let me make a difference in the city.  Over the past four years, I’ve seen God answer my prayer.

             ... appreciating life, one person at a time ...                                 

___---__--__---_---_Jonathan Ignacio

Jonathan Ignacio, otherwise known as J-Rocka Iggyfella, also went to Liberty University, but I didn’t really get to know him until I enrolled at school in Louisville and started hanging out with his roomate, Ricky Love.  When I first started hanging out with Ricky and J-Rocka, we used to have sweet times of prayer in their dorm room, especially when were praying for all the Tsunami victims.  Jonathan is incredibly Philippino.  I watched him go through some serious relationship drama during his seminary days, but now, as he approaches graduation, he is euphorically married to Jessica Kan Ignacio.  He is a top notch ladies man, the very definition of studliness.  Jonathan has an awesome family too, and he is an avid blogger at The Crimson Window.

:::::::M’Shelly Shell Payne:::::::