When I was about 12 years old a neighbor invited me to church, I was friends with her son and she usually took him so I decided to go.

While sitting in Sunday School, I remember laughing and cutting up but don't particularly remember anything else that went on during that class. It was during the preaching that God arrested my attention.

I was still sitting with the same group of boys that I was with in Sunday School, but I knew that something was different when the preacher was preaching.  I couldn't tell you the points or sub-points of the message (if there were any) but the topic was Hell and the more he preached the more I realized that I was going there.

I sat there on the pew and was crying my eyes out and was under deep conviction realizing that I was lost and on my way to Hell.  The preacher gave the invitation and I sat there eyes full of tears holding onto my pride the best I could.

After the service was over I was on my way out the side door of the church and I had almost 'escaped'.  I had made it down the stairs and a few steps toward the parking lot.  The pastor called for me (and thank God he did) and asked me if I wanted to come and talk to him for a few minutes and I said I did.  He began to talk to me about my soul and where I was going to spend eternity.  He took me down the Romans road and I received the Lord as my Saviour.

The following week I was baptized and during that same service my stepfather was also saved.  We attended that church for a while but as my stepfather grew in the Lord he started seeing the doctrinal errors of the United Baptist church and we started attending the only church in the area that preached the Bible.  It was a small Missionary Baptist church with only a hand full of members and they were all old from the perspective of a young teen at this point. 

I gradually worked my way out of church and only went occasionally when badgered enough by my stepfather, and so it went through high school.  As I neared the end of high school I decided to go into the Air Force thinking that this would be a good way to get out on my own, to be my own man, to make my own decisions.

In 1986 basic training and technical school came and went and I finally arrived at my permanent duty station in early 1987.  I had hardly gotten settled in and unpacked when another Airman invited me to a Bible study off base at the Lighthouse Serviceman's Center.  I said sure because I thought it would be a good way to at least get to know some people and although I wasn't living right I did like to be around other Christians.

When we arrived at the Bible study I met Dennis Harry, whom had only a couple of years earlier started an outreach to the military in Charleston.  Brother Harry took me under his wing, as he did with a lot of other young men that arrived at the Air Force and Naval bases.  He invested his time in us with weekly Bible studies and having us in his home almost every Sunday for lunch and fellowship.  He and his family had a great impact on my life and the direction that the following years held for me.  As many know, that for a young man, the military can lead you down many paths but none of them are ever the paths of righteousness.  God's Grace and providence and brother Harry's obedience is undoubtedly the reason that I didn't take a whole other path during my time in the military.

In 1991 my term of enlistment was up and I separated from the Air Force and left the Charleston area.  In the years that followed I had put myself through a small technical college in West Virginia and then moved to Charlottesville, VA all the while trying to serve the Lord in the capacity that I could.

While in Virginia in 1995 I met my wife Tina and in 1996 we were married.  We attended Colonial Baptist Church where Ed Leake is Pastor, for over 9 years and where we served the Lord in the children's ministry for over 7 of those years.

We became close friends with Pastor and Mrs. Leake and they were a true blessing to us and helped us along in our walk with the Lord, but as the Lord sometimes does He was troubling our nest to prepare us for something, we just didn't know what.

In June 2005 we were visiting some acquaintances of ours in Greenville, SC at Pleasant View Baptist (Brother Doug Raynes and his family) and while sitting in the services the Lord began to reveal to us why we were here.  We now had three children and were seeking help/instruction in raising and training them for the Lord and realized that we had found what we were seeking.

The Lord blessed our visit and on the way home my wife and I had perfect peace that it was God's perfect will that we move our family to Greenville and become a part of the Pleasant View Baptist Church.

Upon arrival at home we began making preparations to sell our home and prepare for the move to South Carolina.  When we put our house on the market the Lord moved things along quickly and our house was on the market less than two days and we were offered full asking price.  This was a miracle in itself in that our house was over 70 years old and needed a lot of work.

I gave my notice at work and we closed on the sell of our house and moved to Greenville trusting the Lord to provide work for me and He has been so faithful to meet every need and has blessed our family above measure. 

God greatly helped us under the ministry of Pastor Larry Raynes and is continuing His work in our lives as we follow Pastor Stacy Shiflett, as he follows Christ.

To God be the Glory!