My Journey

I was raised, the oldest son in a family of seven children, in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch Country – Lancaster, PA.  I can’t remember a time when “going to church” wasn’t just part of the “Sunday morning ritual.”  However, at 18, I came to a personal crisis of faith and surrender to Christ.  This watershed experience made such a profound impact on my own life and perspective that I determined to share it with as many other people as possible.  My formal education began in Eastern Pennsylvania, progressed through Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon and culminated in San Diego.

After a couple years of college, I was drafted into the US Army, at the height of the Vietnam Conflict.  I served as a Chaplain’s Assistant in Saigon and I Corps, near the DMZ.  It was a time of intense self-discovery.  It was also a time of wonder, that God could use me in someone else’s life as a counselor, consultant and friend.

Most of my vocational experiences have been in Christian ministry, both as a volunteer and in church related ministry positions.  However, while in graduate school, I had a job resolving conflicts between moving companies and their clients over broken and damaged furniture.  I honed my skills of making peace and honoring both parties in the conflict, utilizing a winsome reasonableness and ability to see potential “third alternatives.”

I have led a campus ministry to high school and college students and served in church ministries to students and their parents, young married couples, senior adults and provided pastoral leadership to congregations in Colorado and Wyoming.  For the past 18 years, I have served a denominational district fellowship of self-governing churches.  It required a leadership style that depended upon relational equity and mutual trust between lay-leaders and pastors and me.  In that time, we doubled the number of constituents and increased the number of churches by nearly 65%.

I have demonstrated capabilities in pastoral placement, training and coaching, as well as church consulting, problem solving, strategic planning and team building.

For the past 28 years, Pam and I have lived in the Rocky Mountain West – both in Colorado and Wyoming.  We have three sons, two daughters-in-law and three grandchildren, all of whom live near us in the Rockies.

My Philosophy

I have experienced enough success in life and ministry to give me confidence, first of all in the principles of Scripture as a guide for Leadership and Organization and secondly in my own practical wisdom and insights in leading, resolving problems and conflicts.  I’ve experienced enough failure to keep me aware of my own short-comings and to remain dependent upon the One who is the real problem-solver and need-provider.  In many ways, the “failures” have proven to be of greater value to me personally than the “successes.”

Obviously, success and effectiveness is important to us in our Western culture.  However, I believe that God is even more interested in our success and fruitfulness than we are.  He has built it into us to grow and produce, whether as individuals or organizations.  If we can discover how to remove the hindrances that prevent our success and align with God’s purposes for us, then success, fulfillment and effectiveness will be the natural results.

God has gifted me with the ability to listen and process with a person or group, naturally order and prioritize the issues at stake and then discover, with them, the solutions and clarify a new direction.  I would welcome the opportunity to serve you and your organization in this way.