First Baptist Church of Chester
Chester, Illinois 62233
618-826-3918

• Education: 2005 Doctor of Ministry, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY 1996 Masters of Divinity, New Orleasn Baptist Theological Seminary, New Orleans, LA 1991 B.A., Southwest Baptist University, Bolivar, MO
• Experience: I have been in the ministry since 1987. In that year, my senior year of high school, I began pastoring a small Baptist church in Sandoval, Illinois. I have served in the pastoral ministry since that time. During my college and seminary years, I pastored small churches. In 2000, I was called to pastor FBC Chester, Illinois. We have grown from 52 in Sunday school to 125, and from 130 in worship to 200+. God has blessed this church and we have experienced revival. Sweet!
• Comment to those looking at my sermons: Nothing in my pages is original. Its all been said before and better. I need no credit, do not cite me because I probably didn’t cite who I got the idea from:) Use this material to grow the Kingdom and when we get to glory, there we’ll be given our reward.
• Sermon or series that made a difference: I found the series, "You Might Be A Healthy Christian If . . ." to be good.
• One of my favorite illustrations: The one where the scientists challenge God to a man-making contest & God accepts the challenge. The scientist bends down to pick up some dirt and God says, "You’ve got to use your own dirt."
• Family: My wife, Pam, and I have two small boys under the age of seven. Pray for us! We also have two girls in heaven; Kaylea and Madalyn. Pam and I have been married for 15 years in December 2006. We were high school sweethearts and are still very deeply in love with one another.
• What my parents think of my sermons: My mother thought I was the best preacher since Spurgeon and my dad seems to think I am best pulpiteer in the land and way above the average. After all, he’s my daddy!
• What my spouse (really) thinks of my sermons: She thinks some are better than others. So do I!
• Best advice given to me about preaching: Preach two points, keep it simple, keep it short, and take your text and run as quick as you can to the Cross of Christ.
• Books that have had an impact: Fire Fall (McDow & Reid) The Works of Jonathan Edwards (Vol. 1 & 2) Effective Evangelistic Churches (Rainer) Membership Matters (Lawless) Failing Forward (Maxwell) Purpose Driven Church (Warren) Soul Winner (Spurgeon) Experiencing Revival (Finney)
• Hobbies: I bowhunt whitetail deer, fish (bass, crappie, bluegill, catfish), and hunt. If God didn’t want us to shoot animals, He wouldn’t have made them out of meat.
• If I could Preach one more time, I would say...: The only thing that matters the second after you die is what you did for God’s Kingdom while you were alive.
• Something funny that happened while preaching: One word: unzipped.
• What I want on my tombstone: Fear God and you need not fear anything else.