I was "initially" saved at age 10 in the Southern Baptist church my family attended.  At age 20, I began to live in the ways of the world and "sow my wild oats."  I was a custom woodworker and antique furniture restorer at the time.  I worked hard and played hard.  But at age 30 the Lord began dealing with me.  I was miserable in the way I was living and knew there had to be more to God than what I had previously known.  I needed to know He was real and that He (and His Word) was for today.  The day came that I finally fell to my knees and told Him I wanted to know and serve him, but I had to know that He was real, and that everything in the Bible was real and was for today.  I told Him I would give Him 100 percent of my life, but in return I wanted everything He had to offer me as a believer and disciple.  At that very moment, something like a fire came through the top of my head down to my feet and then back up and out.  When that happened, a tremendous weight was lifted from me.  The small, dark room I was in suddenly lit up in a bright whiteness of light.  I knew I was in the presence of God.  I don't know how long I was there but I do know He saved me, filled me with His Spirit, and proved Himself real to me.

     The weeks after that encounter were awesome.  I began to study the Word and seek Him like I never had before.  Scriptures began to come into my spirit that I had learned many years before as a child.  I started having visions and dreams of the mission field and preaching His Word.  The faces I saw were all foreign.  One evening He spoke to me and directed me to read   2Corinthians 4:5-10.  I then sought counsel from close Christian friends.  I knew He was calling me in to the ministry. 

     I started out ministering at a Youth Corrections Center.  I got involved in a Non-denominational church I was attending.  That is where I met my future wife Bonnie.  We were married a year later.  Shortly after our marriage, I became Youth Pastor at Life Christian Assembly in N. Charleston, SC.  Later, I accepted a call as Associate Pastor at Glad Tidings Assembly of God in Charleston, SC.  They were both good experiences for me but my heart still yearned for something more  --  a burning desire and burden for the mission field  --  not a particular country, but the whole world.  The opportunity finally came for my wife, our one year daughter Marybeth, and I to go to the Philippines.  We stayed for 3 full years.  I was blessed to be able to evangelize, teach, help plant new churches, and engage in various humanitarian projects to help the people.  While there, I was able to travel to Thailand, Korea, and Singapore on ministry endeavors.  Before we returned to the U.S., we were blessed by adopting a 4 day old Filipina girl.  Veronica is now 22 years old, married for 2 years, and pregnant with her first child (due in May, 2011).  At the same time we were adopting her, our son David was born.  So we left home with one child and came back with three.  PTL!

     During the years following our return to the States, we have pastored 3 churches, planted 2 Christian Schools, and 2 adult Bible Schools.  I have led numerous short term trips around the world.  My area of interest is and always has been in leadership development and preparing people for ministry.  I follow this motto:  "Believers Are Born, Disciples Are Made."

     I participated in an AIM trip to Haiti in February, 2010 and was smitten.  I then attended the Project Leader Training at AIM in May and was decimated.  God plainly messed me up!  Then I began leading trips for AIM this past Summer of 2010 in the Appalachia of the U.S.  It was tremendous times in God as people from all over the U.S. and Canada came together for the purpose of Hearing His Voice and Doing His Will for that moment in time.  What life-changing encounters we had!  I joined the AIM staff in September 2010 as Setup Coordinator over the Appalachia.  In October and November of 2010 I led 3 teams in Haiti.  God broke my heart for the precious Haitian people and gave me vision for their country.  In January of 2011 I became Setup Coordinator for Haiti.  I have since been working to expand our work in Haiti and the Appalachia.   I consider it a privilege and an honor to serve my LORD, my brothers and sisters at AIM, and the precious people of this world.  I desire nothing less than His Will and His Best for my life.  To quote a statement I heard Dr. Mark Rutland say years ago:  "I'm not afraid of not getting my own way, but I am afraid of being outside of God's Will."  I live by Philippians 3:8-10 and Psalm 46:10.  Nothing else matters.