PROVIDENCE

I grew up in a Christian home and, at an early age, prayed to receive Jesus Christ as my personal Savior and was baptized in the Baptist church where our family attended.  I knew who Jesus was and I knew I wanted Him in my life.  As I grew-up and faced various temptations along the way, I felt God’s conviction on my life and decided that I should obey Him.  In December of 1985 I received a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering and started my engineering career working on nuclear submarines.  
After seven years working in Engineering, I responded to God’s clear direction to move to Missouri to work with troubled boys at Christian residential home.  I worked and lived in close Christian community working to show troubled boys the difference that the Lord can make in broken lives.  After about one year, through a variety of circumstances, I felt that I had completed what God had sent me to there to do, and that the Lord was leading me to leave this ministry.  I decided to re-enter the field of engineering as the Lord provided a job tailor-made for my engineering experience.  During this time I was introduced to Straight Ahead Ministries and became a volunteer Bible study leader in a local juvenile detention center.  For 2-1/2 years this ministry was a great opportunity to present the gospel to boys and see the Lord begin to open young hearts to Him as well as being a tremendous growth opportunity for me.  
In the spring of 1997 I began to feel the Lord working in my heart to change my vocation and enter full-time ministry work again.  After much prayer and counsel, I felt the Lord’s calling to enter full-time ministry with troubled teens in northern Vermont.  It was a time of role modeling, teaching and one-on-one discipleship as the Lord provided opportunities to pray for, encourage and to just love troubled boys and girls.  During that time, I felt God’s prompting of my heart to be ministering more directly to people through relationships.  I decided to obtain formal training in the areas of Biblical studies and Pastoral Ministry.  I pursued this new direction in my life for Him who is my hope –  Psalm 73:25; “Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.”  As I studied theology at Gordon-Conwell, I began to sense an increasing call away from para-church ministry and toward pastoral or teaching ministry.  
In August of 2001 I re-met an acquaintance who worked as a teacher at the ministry in Vermont, while I was doing some volunteer work there.  As we began to talk about ministry and God’s calling on our lives, I was impressed with her obedience to God and willingness to serve Him wherever He called her (even as a missionary to Far East Russia).  As our friendship grew, we began to sense that God was ahead of us, working our lives together.  In January of 2002 Martha realized that God was not calling her to Russia, and after much prayer, I proposed.  We were married on June 1, 2002.  God has blessed our marriage with two daughters and a son, Aletheia (20 yrs), Erin (18 yrs), and Andrew (17 yrs).  
God has gifted me (much to my surprise) with an ability to preach and teach His word in a way that connects people with God’s written word and applies it to their lives.  And more and more, I have seen God’s preparing me for humble, servant leadership in His church, to love God’s people and stand for biblical truth in a relativistic culture.  God has confirmed His call to me through my wife, others in the church, and the guiding ministry of His Holy Spirit through prayer.  I firmly believe that God never wastes our trials when we allow Him to carry us through them, and that He will use mine in the ministry of His good news to others.  And as I have served God in various churches over the past 20 years, He has used me to draw others closer to Himself through faithfully teaching the word, proclaiming His love for His people.