In November 1985, I married Carol Little here at FBC Whitesburg, where she grew up. We spent the next six months apart due to my military service. Carol graduated from Eastern Kentucky University with a degree in Special Education. She presently teaches at West Whitesburg Elementary School. We have two children: Robert (1988) and Bethany (1991).

I have served three full-time pastorates: Countryside Baptist Church, Morganfield, KY, New Hope Baptist Church, Cross Anchor, SC, and First Baptist Church of Whitesburg. I also served as interim pastor three times during my work with hospice. God has blessed me with a wonderful church family.

Presently I enjoy living here in these beautiful mountains where we have the nicest people and the best cooks. I love working in the yard, writing, traveling, and serving others. I presently serve as a volunteer hospital chaplain at Whitesburg ARH, on the Letcher County Food Pantry Board, Prayer coordinator for our association, and on various committees in the Kentucky Baptist Convention. I also continue to work PRN with Hospice as a chaplain.

My Personal Testimony
On the first Sunday in February 1973, I attended church in Union, SC at Fairview Baptist Church. My father retired from the U.S. Air Force on the 1st and we relocated to Union. This was the first time I ever remember hearing the gospel. My parents and older sister were already Christians and joined the church that day. My younger sister and I had never been saved. I remember this sinking feeling coming over me as they joined the church. I began to wonder, What am I missing in my life?

That sinking feeling, although I did not know it then, was conviction of the Holy Spirit. I did not make a decision that day to become a Christian. Through the next week, I remained under heavy conviction. I realized something was wrong with me. I felt empty and burdened. It seemed as if a ton of bricks were sitting on my shoulders. I determined that I would talk to the pastor next Sunday to see what I needed to do.

Thank God I did not have to wait until Sunday. The pastor came by my home on Thursday of that week and opened his Bible to share the plan of salvation with me. He shared how Jesus had died for my sins and that I was a sinner. After sharing this wonderful good news with me, I knelt to the floor and prayed in my own words asking Jesus to forgive me of my sins and to come into my life and save me. When I prayed that prayer, it felt as if that ton of bricks was lifted from me and I could breathe easily. I felt like a new person.

The next Sunday I went before the church and shared my decision to follow Christ. The following Sunday I was baptized by my pastor, the Rev. Clarence Crocker, to whom I am ever grateful for being sensitive to God's leadership and caring about my eternal destination. God had also used my parents and other friends and family to bring me to this point in my life. My parents had taken me to church and Vacation Bible School earlier in my life. For about a year as a small child, I was nurtured and cared for by the Feather River Baptist Church in Marysville, California. All these positive experiences brought me to this point in my life.

In retrospect, I can honestly affirm that God reached out and saved me. I did not go to church that February morning looking for God. Instead he drew me and touched my heart that day when becoming a Christian was the farthest thing from my mind. God truly enabled me to recognize that I was a sinner, lost and incomplete, and that He was the only answer for the emptiness in my life. I did not simply make a decision to follow Jesus because I had compared Christianity to other religions. That day, God saved me. He did it all. I simply received it by faith.