Laura & I were married in 1988 and our daughter was born in 1991 while we were living and working in Atlanta.  In 1994 I was asked to lead the youth at Bayshore Baptist temporarily and by the time our son Josh was born in October, I was their youth pastor.  Four years later, I was temporarily filling in for the summer at Braden River Baptist when I was called as their youth pastor.  A few months later Caleb was born.  After 12 years of summer camps, DNow, lock-ins, camping trips, concerts, tubing, skiing, missions trips, service projects (and one more son), I was ordained and later installed as co-pastor and finally senior pastor, ultimately serving Braden River Baptist for 23 years.  I arrived at Bethany in June of 2025.

Growing up, we moved a lot as my father was called to new ministries or finished an existing project (he built many recording studios and production facilities to record bible teaching (or the Bible itself) in many languages).  We were always deeply involved in the local church and I grew up in a variety of Conservative Evangelical denominations.  This gave me the opportunity to be involved in Awana, Boys Brigade, and Royal Ambassadors, children’s and youth choirs, children’s and youth camps, bible drills, church training (training union), evangelism training, revivals, missions conferences, “camp meetings” and so much more than I could even begin to name.  Each experience continued to infuse me with a love for God’s people - the church.

Laura & I love the outdoors.  We hike, run, cycle, walk, camp, kayak and generally enjoy being outside.  She LOVES the beach!  So do I - I just don’t like the sun, sand or salt water.  She is heavily invested in all things healthy from food and nutrition to exercise and fitness.  I fix things, build things, bake things and grow things.  As we enter the final ⅓ of our lives, we just want to stay healthy and active, spend a lot of time with grandkids and finish the race well.