I came to faith in Jesus Christ as a young boy, around the age of seven. My dad was a pastor with the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church, serving several congregations in western Pennsylvania. As a high school student I enjoyed speech, band, drama, and literature. It was during my senior year in high school when I sensed a call to the gospel ministry. It wasn’t dramatic. I was observing my dad’s life and work and concluded that being a pastor would enable me to pursue a life of knowing God and loving His people. I went to Asbury College (now Asbury University) in Wilmore, KY, where my Lord directed my heart to Marcia Jewell, and my theological journey to the Reformed Faith. I received my M.Div. from Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, MO in May of 1990. The congregation of Auburn Road Presbyterian Church called me to be their pastor a few days before my graduation. We left St. Louis with a moving van heading to Florida. Marcia and I brought three children with us to Venice and the Lord added six more in the years following; three biological and three through adoption (our sixth biological child, Hope Bernadette, is with our Lord). Marcia home-schooled our children for several years before taking a teaching position at Venice Christian School where she has been teaching junior high math, science, history, and Bible since the fall of 2005.