I was raised in the Mid-west and was a part of the Southern Baptist church. At the age of 19 my father was tragically killed in a car accident. After his death I lost my way and direction in life. I went to where most of my old high-school buddies were hanging out and that was in the bars. I began a life of drinking, smoking pot and everything else that one finds in that way of life. Frustrated with a factory job, and with a desire to play college football I enrolled in a small private college in Kansas. After a year of going into debt and taking my licks in football I dropped out of school and started working in Olathe, Kansas.

It was in Kansas that I joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church. At the time I was still drinking and smoking and once again found myself terribly frustrated with my life. So, one evening I asked God simply to reveal Himself to me if He was really out there, and He did, in a very marked way. After that, I knew that I needed to go back to church, so I asked my employer for Sundays off;however, they flatly refused my request.

While I wanted to go back to church, I didn’t know which one to attend. I knew; however, that I longed for a church that taught the truth, that wasn’t afraid of my questions, and that would allow me to put my trust in all of God’s Word. Too often in the past I found that Sunday School teachers and even pastors were uncomfortable with basic Bible questions.

So, when I was 21 years of age, to make a long story short, I made acquaintance with an older couple that invited me to church. I told them that I would love to go but I could not because I worked on Sundays. They said that this would not be a problem because they went to church on Saturdays. “Great!” I said. “I was off work every Saturday!”

When I became acquainted with the Adventist church I found that they were not afraid of my Bible questions, and if they did not have an answer they would take the time to look one up for me. I also found it to be a loving and inclusive church that reflected the love and regard that Jesus had for me. It is this model that I have taken with me wherever I have pastored.

It was at this church that I met my dear wife-to-be, Jerelyn, who had moved from the Northwest to work at an Adventist hospital in Kansas. Today we have two children, Krysta, who is currently attending Southern Adventist University in Tennessee, and Brian who is currently attending Auburn Adventist Academy in Washington.