Occupation: Pastor - Former Carpenter

      I am the second of three brothers.   My parents were both saved at early ages.  Both sets of my grandparents were also saved.  This was a great blessing, but I took a lot for granted.

     When I was six years old, our pastor was preaching on Sunday evenings about the Lord's coming.  I knew that I was not ready to meet the Lord, and that if He came, I would be left behind.  Our pastor would close every service with an invitation for people to be saved.  When he asked for a show of hands of those who would like to be saved, I would always raise my hand, but then was too afraid to go forward when he asked.

     This went on for some time.  Finally, one Sunday night after church, I lay in bed thinking about how I needed to be saved.  As I lay there in bed, I asked the Lord Jesus Christ to save me and to cleanse me from all my sins.  Some time later I was baptized.

     Many times young people raised in Christian homes take a lot for granted, and I was no exception.  I once stood at an invitation time to signify that I would do whatever the Lord wanted for my life, but when it came graduation time, I never gave the Lord the choice of my life's work.

     It was not until after graduation, and later, marriage, when we were expecting our first child, that I realized what a hypocrite I was.  I was listening to the wrong music, and my hair was too long.  I did not want any little baby to look at me and grow up to be like me.

     God had been working in my heart in many ways.  When I got engaged to my wife, I was in construction, and making a good wage.  But as the marriage date drew closer, the bottom fell out of the housing industry because of high interest rates.  Just before our wedding date, I hired in at a factory.  I had to take quite a cut in pay, and life was very hard trying to make ends meet.  Also, I hated my job.  The only bright thing in my life was my new wife, but then she got very sick when we were expecting our first child.  She was so sick, that the doctor put her into the hospital.  I was about at the end of my rope.

     It was then that I remembered the Scripture that my grandfather was always quoting.  I began to memorize Bible verses.  The first one that I memorized then was Isaiah 41:10, "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."  I needed that verse as I left my wife in the hospital and went home to a lonely house.

     It was during those days of sickness and praying to the Lord for a different job, and finding no answer from Him, that I realized what a hypocrite I was.   When I was willing to repent of my sin (the wrong music, the long hair, etc.) God suddenly answered my prayer, and made it known to me that He wanted me to be a pastor.

     All of this was quite a surprise to people, and quite a change for me.  I had always said that I did not want to go to college, but to work with my hands.  The Lord gave me new desires, and I began to go to college to prepare for the ministry.

     One big disappointment to me in that first year of college was the hypocrisy that I saw in other Christians.  I was thoroughly sick of it in my own life, and just assumed that all people that attended Bible College would be sold out for the Lord.  In both students and faculty, I saw the tendency to compromise.  I had grown up in the age that young people insisted that there were no absolutes (What is LONG hair?  Who are you to say that my hair is TOO LONG?  Who are you to say that my music is BAD? Etc.)  I was tired of making excuses for my sin, but I saw in that Bible College that a whole generation of Christian young people were being trained to have no absolutes in their lives.  The Lord then helped me to hear about a Bible College that trained young people in the authority of God's Word.  I was happy there, and learned a lot about God's Word.

     Upon graduation, the Lord led to start an Independent Baptist Church.  We have been there since, and thank the Lord for all that He has done.