I grew up in a Christian home in Fayetteville, North Carolina. I attribute my walk with God today to my dad and mom, and also my paternal grandmother. At age nine, I walked the aisle of my church during a revival service and was baptized a short while later. However, I did not live the Christian life during junior high, high school, and the first three years of college. At the age of twenty-one, the Holy Spirit began dealing with me. I got serious about reading the Bible, praying, and attending church once again on a regular basis. During this time I prayed and asked God to forgive me for all the years I had lived a lie and I asked Jesus Christ to come into my heart and not just be my Savior, but be the Lord of my life as well. Afterwards, I was baptized with meaning. Because of my own spiritual struggle, it has been my goal to help others who have gone down a similar path. At the very beginning of my pastoral ministry, God gave me the vision of helping others to stay ON TRACK in their walk with Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

While a student at Campbell University, I met my wife Nancy while doing mission work in the Grand Canyon. After graduating from Campbell in 1979 with a B.A. in Religion and Philosophy, I moved to Texas (Nancy is from Dallas) where I received both the Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth. In 1981 Nancy and I were married; we just celebrated our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. We stayed in Texas, serving in three different churches over fiften years, before moving back to North Carolina in 1992 where we have served two different churches.

I love to spend time with Nancy, my son Trent - who is a student at UNC Chapel Hill - and my daughter Hannah - who is a sophmore at Northwest High School. Nancy is very involved with the youth of our church, the adult choir, and our women's ministry; together, she and I lead our church's annual marriage retreats. I feel my number one responsibility is to my family; just as I do for myself, I pray that they will stay ON TRACK with our Savior.