I was raised in Waterloo Iowa where our family attended a prominent Presbyterian church that in the early 70’s experienced a wonderful Godly revival. I was under 10 years old, but clearly remember my Dad sharing from the “4 Spiritual Laws” pamphlet the truth of the gospel and praying to accept Christ on my parents’ bed. I grew in my knowledge of God and my faith through Sunday school, AWANA, youth group, witness training (the “I found it” campaign), and of course getting involved with the music ministries at church. My parents also made sure I got a good music education with 10 years of piano and 5 years of violin lessons. My love for music and God was often demonstrated through service in church bands and being the VBS song leader.
I also love math, science, and computers. I attended Iowa State University where I received a BS degree in Computer Engineering. I was hired directly out of college by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) and have worked there ever since on the F-15’s Mission Systems Software team, initially coding displays used by the aircrew, and then leading in customer coordination and software delivery. Shortly after arriving in St Louis, my newly married best friend introduced me to this small but loving church called Hazelwood Baptist. At the time, my primary prayer was for God to “find me a wife”, but the singles group at HBC was so small.
Despite the odds, and in obedience to His call, I joined HBC in 1986 trusting God with my future. Shortly afterwards I met my beautiful wife Cathy who mostly served in the nursery while caring for her adorable son Keith. And well, I was smitten. We were married in 1987, I adopted Keith, and God gave us three beautiful girls (Jessica, Stephanie, and Angela) who were all raised here at HBC. All four of our children are now married and we have 5 wonderful grandchildren.
As long as I’ve been a member of HBC I’ve been active in worship ministry – band, choir, solos, car show, and occasionally being interim worship leader between Worship Pastors. Along the way, I often wondered if I was doing what God wanted me to with my career choices. In December 2018 God gave me a wonderful affirmation of my calling. My calling has always been to be a loving husband and father, God fearing and faithful Engineer at Boeing, and to minister to the church through music. Exactly what I had been doing. What was new was a clear call to change my call to church ministry from a volunteer role to a vocation. In Aug 2019 HBC called me to be their part-time Minister of Worship. I’m so excited to be in this new “bi-vocational” phase of my life, but still being faithful to my call.
