At the age of 8, I was walking home from school beside the railroad tracks with a few friends, when a guy approached us and showed us how to know for sure that we would go to Heaven when we died.  I bowed my head and trusted Christ to save me.  After graduating from high school, I joined the Marine Corps.  It was during this time that I met a missionary named Joe Rymer who was reaching out to the Marines and getting them in church.  He had a group of guys in a ministry called Souls for the Saviour, who would go out on Friday nights and share the gospel with folks on the street.  I had the privilege of joining these guys for 2 1/2 years.  It was there that I learned to become a soul winner.  Also, while stationed at Camp Pendleton, I went and heard Jack Hyles preach for the first time.  He preached that night on the Fullness of the Holy Spirit, and the night before he preached on Prayer.  I bought both sermons on a cassette tape and listened to them over and over.  Shortly after getting out of the Marines, I surrendered my life to serve God full time and enrolled in Hyles-Anderson College.  After graduating, my wife and I got married, then in September of 1996 I became pastor of the Bible Baptist Church in Carbondale, IL.  After serving there nine years, my wife and I, and our 3 kids moved to Hartford City, Indiana where I taught in a Christian school.  Three years later God led us to join Team Ghana in West Africa. It was there that I had the opportunity to win a multitude of people to Christ, primarily in schools and villages.  After six years, God called our family back to America.  A year later, I was hired to work as an assistant pastor in the evangelism department at First Baptist Church.  During this time, I also had the opportunity to teach personal evangelism in our Bible institute and at Hyles Anderson College.

My wife, Tammy (Sober), was 12 years old, when the Holy Spirit began to work in her heart and convict her of the fact that she was a sinner and was on her way to Hell.  She had already heard the Gospel but had never been saved.  After several sleepless nights of wondering if she would die and wake up in Hell, she, alone, went to the backroom of her house, knelt beside the chair and received Christ as her Saviour.  After graduation from high school, Tammy attended, graduated, and worked as an Assistant Dorm Supervisor at Hyles-Anderson College where we met and were married.  Our children, Charity, Joshua, and Angela are all grown, graduated from Hyles-Anderson College, married, and are all serving the Lord in various capacities along with their spouses. We now have three grandchildren and one on the way.