Salt Creek Bible Church
Wood Dale, Illinois 60191
630-594-1213

• Education: I have a Masters Degree (M-Div) from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (now Trinity International University) and an undergraduate degree (BA in History)from Southern Illinois University.
• Experience: My church ministry experience began as Pastor of the Pleasant Point Baptist Church of Greenfield, IL. I served Youth Pastor East Alton (IL) Baptist Church. Following seminary I served as Senior Pastor of Maple Ridge Evangelical Free Church - Stanchfield, MN, Calvary Evangelical Free Church of Stoughton, WS, Associate Pastor of Addison Bible Church, Addison,IL, Brookfield Evangelical Free Church - Willits, CA, Bethany Church in Itasca, IL, and Salt Creek Bible Church - Wood Dale, IL
• Comment to those looking at my sermons: If you are willing to be smarter tomorrow than you are today, God will be able to touch your heart as you are confronted with his Word. I will try to faithfully share with you what it says, what it meant to those who received it, what it means to us today and what we should do about it.
• Sermon or series that made a difference: A 36 week series of sermons out of the Book of Ephesians that I shared with the Maple Ridge Evangelical Free Church. The impact was two fold: First of all, I discovered that the first three chapters are what we are in Christ. And the last three are the challenge to live like out what we are in practical ways. The second impact involved having to stand on the truth of God’s Word when it is unpopular or when the truth hurts. That is where I learned to stand firm with God in adversity.
• One of my favorite illustrations: A little boy was acting up in the morning service one Sunday and finally his father had had enough. He got up out of the pew and grabbed his son to take him out of the sanctuary. But when he got hold of him he wound up with the boys feet out in front and the little boy looking back at the people in the pews as the went up the aisle. As they proceeded up the aisle the little boy said, "Ya’all pray now, you hear!"
• Family: My wife, RuthAnn, and I have been happily married since 1968. We have two married sons. Both just happen to be attorneys. Our older son Tim and his wife Cheryl have a six month old daughter named Riley and they live in Schaumburg which is a nearby suburb. Our younger son Drew and his wife Katherine have a three year old daughter, Danielle and a five month old son named Will. They are in Phoenix, Arizona.
• What my parents think of my sermons: My parents are now deceased. However, my dad was Catholic and my mother was raised as a Baptist. Dad never heard me preach and while my mother did hear me on a number of occasions, she never really told me what she thought about my preaching.
• What my spouse (really) thinks of my sermons: Well, she is my best encourager and critic. She thinks that I am always great. She consistently tells me that my sermon was a good one. I know she is a truthful person, so I have to accept that.
• Best advice given to me about preaching: My preaching Professor constantly reminded us that a text out of context is a pretext and that we would understand (anything) it better by and by.
• Books that have had an impact: My Utmost for His Highest - Oswald Chambers - really tough but he is on the mark. The NIV New Testament I was given when the translation first came out in 1973. And anything written by G. Campbell Morgan...but Studies in the Four Gospels particularly.
• Hobbies: I enjoy traveling around the US, golf, cycling, N guage model trains, reading and getting out with my metal detector.
• If I could Preach one more time, I would say...: Jesus understands you and your situation. He loves you. He died so that you could be set free from all the destructiveness of sin in your life. And it is always only one step back. Let today be the day you take that step. Your place in eternity will be determined by the choice you make. Choose wisely.
• Something funny that happened while preaching: I was preaching about the transfiguration of Jesus one Sunday. At some point about mid-way through the sermon I started to say that Jesus was transfigured before his disciples. However, I said that Jesus was transmogrified ( right out of Calvin and Hobbes). As soon as I said transmogrified, I realized the goof and thought what do I do now? No one seemed to notice it until one guy in the back of the church started laughing. That caused me to start laughing too. And of course, I had to admit my goof!
• What I want on my tombstone: He believed God, first, last and always.