Teaching/Missions Pastor
We are blessed with three children, a son-in-law, daughter-in-law, and six grandchildren. We love family times together in all types of outdoor activities. I’ll have to admit that Jan has consistently out-fished me through the years!
Jan and I are also blessed to have been able to serve together in a variety of ministry settings. After a combined nine years working with students in Young Life and in church student roles, we moved into the pastoral ministry. We have served churches in Texas, Arkansas, and now in Oklahoma.
I had the privilege of growing up in a family who attended church regularly. As a child I heard the gospel story that I was a sinner and that Jesus Christ died for sinners like me. One day my heart was stirred, and I walked down the aisle at church and “asked Jesus into my heart.” Unfortunately, I struggled in my faith as a teenager and walked away from the church, living for myself and the moment. It wasn’t that I didn’t try to live the Christian life. I did try. But I usually failed and fell into the very sin and rebellion I knew wasn’t pleasing to God.
Throughout those years of rebellion, the Holy Spirit was gracious to take the Word that I had heard through faithful preaching and teaching as a child and bring it to bear on my mind and heart. My senior year in college I repented of my sin and rebellion and cried out to God for forgiveness and for the power to overcome the sin that had dogged me for years. I found that when I tried to live the Christian life on my own I failed miserably, but when I trusted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, He was more than faithful to grow me increasingly (not perfectly!) to be like Christ. I felt like the apostle Paul wrote these verses just for me: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:8-10. It was a little later that same year that I met Jan, the woman who would become my life partner. We met in church, submitted ourselves to follow the Lord, and have had a wonderful 43 years of marriage. Mind you, those years in ministry and life have not been without challenges, but God has been more than faithful. I have served this wonderful body of Christ as Teaching and Missions Pastor for the past twelve years.
Our church’s mission statement captures my heart’s desire: To develop people who delight in God and declare His glory, from our neighborhoods to the nations. I love discipling men, preaching God’s word, and leading mission trips, especially to unreached people groups in the “hard” places in the world. I also have a passion to serve in some small way as a catalyst for missions mobilization as part of the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement teaching team. Several years ago I formulated a personal mission statement: Living only and always to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ so that He will be known and worshipped among all peoples. I purpose to allow the Holy Spirit to transform me daily so that I might experience, enjoy and express the love of the Father as I passionately serve Him from our neighborhoods to the nations.
