Raised in a Christian home.  At the age of nine God convinced me that I was a sinner in need of salvation.  I asked my older sister to show me how to be saved.  She led me to the Lord on August 13, 1973. 

     After marrying Julie, on July 23, 1983, we moved from Denver, Colorado, to Missouri.  We began attending Faith Baptist Church in Sedalia, Mo, and I grew in the Lord.  God began to deal with my heart in the mid 1980’s about serving Him in a more full-time manner.  In 1986 God led me away from a farming career.  In October of 1988, at a men’s retreat, God called me to preach His Word.  God then led us to prepare for His service at Oklahoma Baptist College, which started for me in January of 1990.

     In the back of my mind, as I pondered and prayed over many fields of service, New York City was not a place for us.  God placed that thought in my mind early in our college days.  God began in the latter part of 1992 to lead us to come to New York City.  It started with friends from New York.  Later I spoke to a teacher who substituted a class, who really stirred my thoughts.  Speaking to him following the class, he shared his burden for New York City.  As I continued to pray God spoke to my heart through Psalms 43:3, “O send out thy light and thy truth:  let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles”.  In April of 1993, in a chapel message, God convinced me of His calling on my life to start churches in New York City.  Rick Martin, a missionary to the Philippines, spoke about the great need of the Gospel in Haiti, where two preachers were that he trained.  God used that message to lead us to New York City.