I was born in Erie, Pa. in the heart of the snow belt along the shores of beautiful Lake Erie. I grew up in an American classic small town known as Harborcreek. It was the perfect place for a young boy to begin his life.  Harborcreek is surrounded on all sides by Welch’s concord grape vineyards, woods, fields.  In the spring and throughout the summer the area produces some of the finest fruits and vegetables anywhere, including tomatoes, cherries, peaches, sweet corn, strawberries, apples, and anything else you might find sold at the local five star fruit stands along route 20 and route 5.  As a young boy I picked everything except grapes, which got ripe during the school year.  I hunted, played every sport, and had one great upbringing.  My great regret was that although I heard about Jesus in Sunday School and Vacation Bible School, I never responded.

After graduating from high school, I went to Kentucky Wesleyan College in Owensboro, Ky.  I played baseball there and improved my grades academically, so that I could transfer to N.C. State University in Raleigh, N.C.  It was a great experience, but I really moved further away from God while I was there.  I graduated in 1967 and the next day was at  the U.S.M.C. Officers Candidate School in Quantico, Va.  I loved the Marine Corps and did well at O.C.S., but resigned my commission as  a 2nd Lt. at the end of T.B.S.  It was the lowest part of my life.  I felt that this was the end of the road for me.

Somehow, I bounced back.  I was determined to follow my Marine Corps buddies to Viet  Nam.  I joined the American Red Cross as an Assistant Field Director and emergency message handler.  I arrived in Viet Nam near the beginning of the second Tet offensive in August of 1968.  I was attached to the 101st Airborne Division, (known then as Air Calvary) and sent to a remote former French Foreign Legion base called Phuoc Vinh. It was not far from the Song Be river.  I later worked out of Bien Hoa Army base.  After numerous close call rocket attacks,  I returned to the U.S. in August of 1969.  I had not thought about God during my entire tour of Viet Nam.  It’s amazing how spiritually dark a person’s soul can remain even in a wartime situation.

I had gotten engaged to Betsy prior to leaving for Viet Nam, and we were married on November 1, 1969 just a few months after my return.  I worked at several jobs, but due to my lack of spiritual direction, I also lost several jobs.  At one time, I fell so low that I was delivering phone books in southeast D.C. for R.H. Donnelly Co.  So, after working for Prince William County, the City of Alexandria, and The Maryland National Capitol Park and Planning Commission, Betsy and I left the D.C. area for good, and I began working for the Winchester City School System.  Betsy left a lucrative job as an interior designer with Woodward and Lothrop, and we took a two third cut in salary to get back to the country.  It turned out to be the best decision I ever made.

After two years of teaching and coaching football and cross country, I woke up (spiritually) on a dirt road in Frederick County.  I was tired of the way I had been living and very ready and willing to turn from that way.  My past life had never been fruitful or fulfilling.  It had only been marked by discouragement and guilt.  I loved my new job and didn’t want to lose it.  God brought to my mind a verse from my Sunday School teacher when I was a little boy at the Presbyterian Church in Harborcreek.  “For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  I had gone to many churches over the years, and I knew I needed something more than a church building.  It dawned on me that I had missed out on Jesus.  I had never turned to Him.  So, on that spring day in 1972, not knowing how to pray, I cried out to God. “Jesus, if it’s you I need, you’ve got me. Please help me, I give up!”  I came to myself and the burden of guilt fell off my sin riddled soul that day.  The fugitive, the desperado, who had been running from God for 27 years turned himself in to the Saviour.  God removed the shackles and I was a free man.

I taught school and coached in the Winchester City schools for another four years.  In 1976, I resigned my position with the city schools.  I was paid up through the month of August.  By faith, I had committed to teach in a new Christian school that was to open it’s doors for the first time in September of 1976.  The Shenandoah Valley Christian Academy opened in September, and I remained there as a teacher and coach until 1984.  In February of 1984 I was called to be the Assistant Pastor at Shenandoah Valley Baptist Church.  Then, in 1988, when Pastor Grooms left to go to Michigan to become pastor of a church there, I was called by SVBC to be their new pastor. 

It has been a challenging, but blessed experience these past 20 years.  I do believe that the future is bright for Shenandoah Valley Baptist Church and that God has some marvelous things in store for the church.  I’m looking forward to seeing what God is going to do as we seek to follow His will and way in the years that are ahead.