My background is varied. Shortly after graduating from high school in Tampa, FL in 1962, I joined the U.S. Air Force during the “Cuban Missile Crisis.” I served as an air policeman from 1962 to 1966 at Keesler Air Force Base, Biloxi, MS and Kadena Air Force Base, Okinawa, Japan. After returning to Tampa, I joined the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office as a patrol deputy. At 23, I became the youngest detective the department had ever promoted up to that time. After leaving public law enforcement, which spanned some 12 years, I worked as a private detective, lie-detection examiner, and security consultant. During this time, I served various churches of Christ as a deacon and part-time evangelist.
In 1981, I began preaching full-time in Louisville, KY. Since that time, I have preached the gospel in fourteen states, Great Britain, India, and Kenya, East Africa, living in Kenya for a total of four and a half years. Since then, I’ve preached regularly in North Carolina and Ohio.
In August 2010, I was diagnosed with stage-4 large B-cell lymphoma of the bone (“Richter syndrome” or “transformation,” which is quite rare). Before completing all my “chemo” treatments, my heart’s aortic valve, probably due in large part to chemo, began to fail significantly. Weakened by cancer treatments, my doctor tried to push the open-heart surgery out as long as he could. After waiting as long as my doctor thought possible, in April of 2011, I had the faulty valve replaced with one that had been harvested from a bovine. I did very well after surgery but took a tumble down the stairs that resulted in 14 staples to close a significant head wound. I call all this my “Lazarus” experience, viewing each day as a gift to be used wisely in service to Him who’s name is above all names.
I presently live and work in Roswell, GA, where I serve as an elder of the Alpharetta church of Christ. My son and his wife and four children live 4.5 miles from the wife and me in one direction, and my daughter, her husband, and two children live 4.5 miles in the other direction. I am blessed, indeed!