Like so many in the Southeast, I was reared in a church-going family by a dad who was a deacon and a mom who was a Sunday School teacher in a Southern Baptist church.  In other words, I spent most of my free time growing up going to church.  Fortunately, God was able to overcome a commitment to church-y things and get me to fall in love with him when I was almost 19 years old. 

Not long after that, I started school at Baptist College at Charleston (now Charleston Southern University) where I was lucky enough to out-maneuver the many guys vying for Marjorie McGrew's attention.  She tells me she liked me because I was intelligent and sincere.  I think she liked the car I was driving (a 1980 Pontiac 6000 with an inferiority complex).  But we were married on a beautiful, cloudless winter day in 1989. It was the second best day of my life!

Two beautful daughters followed.  Thankfully they have their mother's beauty and aren't saddled with my terrible choice in sporting teams (Braves, Panthers, & the Gamecocks).  Elizabeth, the oldest, is in 12th grade and likes the same music I do (Switchfoot, Reliant K, U2, Hazardous Pedestrians) and has a habit of showing up to root for Jeff Gordon with me on Sunday afternoons.  Victoria is in middle school and shares my taste in and love for movies (Pirates of the Caribbean, The Lion King, The Emperor's New Groove).  She also enjoys destroying me in a game of Disney SceneIt on Saturday evenings.  She's ruthless!  Both share my taste in authors (J.K. Rowling, Cornelia Funke, C.S. Lewis, Lois Lowry).  We also have a pet hedgehog, two cats and a guinea pig who is training for the next G-Force movie. 

My family has lived in Charlotte, NC and Greer, SC where I served as Minister to Students.  Now I have grown up and get to work with college students and young adults in their twenties.  It's an exciting ministry because I get to work with people who are excited about their relationship with the God of the universe and who want to actively be involved in His work.