Mario joined our staff in 2021 as Associate Pastor, with an emphasis on Youth Ministry. He and his wife Jordan have been married since 2017 and have a son named Apollos. Mario loves books and climbing, and his favorite dish is chicken alfredo. He's not yet combined all three into one activity.

You can reach him at: mario@discovercommunity.org

The books I regularly find myself drawn to are Jude, Titus, and Habakkuk. Though each of these is quite different in themes and what they address, each of them encourages me in my faith in specific ways.

Jude encourages me to be alert and aware of how easily swayed I can be, and that if I'm going to be steadfast in Christ, Christ has to keep me anchored in Him. Titus encourages me as a pastor, to be faithful to teaching sound doctrine and dependant on God's grace in ministry. Habakkuk encourages me that God welcomes my questions and doubts, and desires to meet me in those moments to show me His good purposes even in hard times.

If there's one thing I've learned in my 11 years of walking with Christ, it's that we must be wholly dependent on God's grace for everything He is calling us to as His Church. We will continually be tempted to take things into our own hands, to do things in our strength and knowledge; Christ doesn't need us to try harder to be "better" Christians, He wants us to abide in the grace He provides and to remain anchored in the source of our fruitfulness.

Stay dependent on grace. Stay humble in Christ. Stay faithful to His Word.

Whatever your experience with Christianity, whether you grew up in church and walked away, or you never stepped into a Christian church before, know that the Jesus of the Bible isn't the same Jesus talked about in our culture. Don't assume you know Him because you've heard about Him; God invites you to know Him personally through His Word, and I'm confident that if you make a decision to seek Him and know Him yourself, you'll find Him, and He will look so much more beautiful than what you've simply heard about Him.