Elder
Since 2011
Who I am:
I am a blessed man. God has given me a wonderful wife, Cynthia, whom I married in 1968, four Christ-loving adult children who all have Christian mates and 15 grandchildren who are all growing up in loving homes where Christ is lifted up. I had a successful career in the environmental industry leaving it in 2003 to start an executive search firm focused exclusively on recruiting senior level engineers and scientists within that industry. I continue to work in that business today. I came to Christ in the 1970s and have grown in my faith ever since. God has used a significant number of people to influence and lead me over the years but the most significant influence has been my wife whom God has used to challenge my spiritual growth as well as my growth as a husband, parent, grandparent and all other roles in my life.
What I do:
Cynthia and I were part of the group that started Bridgeway (formerly called Edmond Fellowship). The vision for our church then, as now, was that deep Reformed theology would serve as a foundation for the active working of all the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This was a vision Cynthia and I had prayed for many years prior to the forming of Bridgeway. To see that vision come to fruition from Bridgeway's inception until now has been "more than we could have ever thought or imagined". I am so grateful to the Lord for our entire staff and for His work in each of them as they have led us in this direction. I am especially grateful to the Lord for His gift of Sam and Michael Rowntree to our body and for their unwavering commitment to this vision and for the biblical foundation they have laid for each of us as we have walked together on this journey. I will be forever grateful for the small part the Lord has allowed me to play as a layman and as an Elder in the evolution and direction of Bridgeway and for the growth I have experienced here in my own personal faith. Praise be to God!
What God did:
There was a time when I thought my heart was good and I could do no wrong. I was somewhat like the Pharisee who said, "God, thank you that I am not like...this tax collector." Then God gave me my first business and proceeded to let it slide to the brink of near failure. When I found myself under extreme business pressure, the truth of who I really was began to bubble to the top. I realized that I was capable of doing "whatever it took" in the name of saving my business and providing for my family. As God began to burn the dross out of my life under the pressure of business, He led me for the first time to Jer. 17:9: "The heart is deceitful above all else and is desperately wicked, who can understand it?" That truth sank in deep. Jeremiah didn't say some hearts are desperately wicked, he said "the" heart...all hearts...are desperately wicked...even mine! All of a sudden I realized I wasn't just LIKE the tax collector, I WAS the tax collector! Jeremiah was saying we ALL need heart surgery...we all need to have our hearts of stone replaced with hearts of flesh. I already knew the TRUTH intellectually but that day God made it clear I needed heart surgery and that there was only One Surgeon who could heal my heart disease. At that moment I fell to my knees and asked God to forgive me for my Pharisaical heart and to take control of my life. I asked Him to help me "learn how to be content in plenty and in want". That experience was the beginning of my life-changing walk with Jesus that has only gotten sweeter as the years have gone by.