First Church of Christ
Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan 49783
906-632-6511

• Education: ASL from Louisville (KY) Bible College; BS from Johnson University, Knoxville, TN. Additional graduate classes at Louisville.
• Experience: Served in single-staff ministries the first 25 years of my career. Preached in KY, IN, Alaska, & now Michigan. Had some "tent making ministries" along the way. Worked retail, newspaper circulation, drove school buses, & delivered rural mail in Alaska (where I encountered lots of ice, moose, & caribou!). Activley involved in Johnson University’s Alumni Association, member of the "Council of Seventy"; chaired the Student Relations Committee; served as a Eubanks Fellow in 2008.
• Sermon or series that made a difference: In 2005 I developed a series of messages with a theme based on the Wizard of Oz: If I Only Had a Brain: How to Know God (4 sermons); If I Only Had a Heart: How to Love God (5 sermons); and If I Only Had the Nerve: How to Live Courageously (6 sermons). These sermons were so well recieved that I added an addtional series titled "Homeward Bound," 5 messages pointing to Dorothy’s (and our) greatest need: to go Home.
• One of my favorite illustrations: John Wesley’s motto: "Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can."
• Family: Happily married to my first (& only!) wife since 1976, with two grown children, and three beautiful grandchildren.
• Best advice given to me about preaching: "Preach as a dying man to dying men."
• Books that have had an impact: The Bible! "Too Busy Not to Pray" by Bill Hybels; the writings of C. S. Lewis (particularly "Mere Christianity" and "The Screwtape Letters"); various titles by Max Lucado & Rick Warren; "They Smell Like Sheep" by Lynn Anderson; and "How Shall We Then Live" By Francis Schaeffer. Sermons by Chuck Swindoll, Max Lucado, Bob Russell, and C.H. Spurgeon have challanged and blessed me.
• Hobbies: I write "An Encouraging Word" (a bi-weekly column) for the "Sault Sunday" newspaper in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. I enjoy antiques and have collected too many things. I also enjoy hiking and bicycling, and need to do more of both!
• If I could Preach one more time, I would say...: "God is not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentace" (2 Peter 3:9)
• Something funny that happened while preaching: I asked the congregation to repeat from memory the best known verse in the Bible, John 3:16. As I lead them in reciting the verse, I promptly forgot it!