Although I was raised up regularly attending a Methodist Church, I was not always a follower of God. Early as a young man I developed agnostic views and became critical and cynical of those who believed in the God of the Bible. However, like Paul, I now bear the testimony that “ He who formerly persecuted us, now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy” (Gal. 1:23). I am thankful for God’s great mercy and longsuffering toward those of us who “although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God…”(Rom. 1:21). I became born again on “Good Friday”, April 16, 1976. I owe much to my wife who labored diligently in prayer for my soul. We were married in 1967. She became a believer long before I did, which means that she endured the conflict that occurs when one partner is light and the other darkness. I believe our love for one another brought us through. She loved me enough to fervently pray me into God’s marvelous light!

Prior to entering the ministry, I was a successful technical manager for Xerox Corporation. Looking back, I can see the value of those previous years in the business world as helping me in the ministry today. The world is filled with conflict and corruption and is a difficult place to be a Christian. What I have experienced functioning in that world has helped me to avoid “pie-in-the-sky theology” in the ministry. God’s people need to be taught how to “deny un-godliness, and live soberly, righteously and godly in this present age” as Titus 2:11-14 tells us is the purpose of the “Grace of God that brought salvation”. God is looking for DISCIPLES, not merely CONVERTS. Unless our preaching gives God’s people the whole counsel of God, there is a danger of remaining un-changed converts that cling to half the truth about the Grace of God. I seek to present both “SAVING GRACE” and “ENABLING GRACE”. If we are going to impact the world for Christ, we must demonstrate what God can make of us by His grace. The apostle Peter sums up my own feelings pertaining to how much of our lives we have wasted apart from Christ: