I accepted Christ as my Savior at 14, and soon after taught myself to play guitar and bass. I was very active in my home church's worship team until I joined the United States Navy at 21. I am a veteran of Lebanon and Persian Gulf conflicts, Operation Desert Shield/Storm, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Throughout my Navy career, I remained active in worship teams and songleading wherever God (and the Navy) planted me and my family. I retired from Active Duty after 24 years and began a singing/songwriting music outreach.

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A Community of Believers: I attend a church that has a primary focus in small groups. The staff says that small groups are not a PART of our ministry, it’s how we DO ministry. If you look at the example of Jesus, He had a very public ministry, but he spent over three years interacting with a small group of followers, mostly the twelve disciples. If you watch their development over time, first they followed, and then they began ministering to others. The early church followed the same pattern. This really is the biblical view of the community of believers. They grow by spending time with each other, getting to know and help meet each others’ needs. It’s not designed to tear each other down, but to build each ot

An Atheist's Observation: My pastor recently showed a Youtube video from Penn Jillette’s video blog. Penn, of the Vegas comedy/magic act Penn and Teller, is an outspoken atheist. In the video, he talks about a Christian who gave him a pocket New Testament following a show. Penn describes him as “good, kind, sane, and he looked me in the eyes” on three occasions in a few minutes. He then goes on to say that as an atheist, he firmly believes that if you truly believe in a Heaven and Hell, and you aren’t proselytizing, something is wrong. He asked how much must you hate someone to believe in Hell and not try to stop someone from going, even if it’s socially awkward. He made the comparison of if he believed that yo

Worshipping Before The Throne: As I'm working on a new CD, I've been spending a lot of time with the Book of Revelation lately. (All of the songs will be based from this book!) Most people think mostly about the heavy wrath of God poured out, or they think of the promise that God will win in the end. While those are important aspects, they are not the ones that jump out at me. As a musician, I see a constant picture of the worship surrounding the throne of God. You see it with the 4 living creatures, the 24 elders, the multitude that was slain for their testimony, etc. The picture I see is His people loving Him and worshipping Him. They are worshipping Him because they genuinely love the One who gave up heaven's th

Memorial Day Thoughts: This weekend is a special time in America, Memorial Day. While this is the unofficial start of summer filled with the Indy 500, sales, and so forth, it is also a time for reflection. Started in 1867, it was originally called “Decoration Day” as people went to decorate the graves of Union Soldiers who died during the Civil War. It is a time to remember our fallen service members. One of our traditions is the President lays a wreath at the Tomb of The Unknown Soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. Other people place flags and flowers on graves at national cemeteries. Whatever you do this weekend, please take the time to remember the sacrifices that paid for our freedom. Also, thank a

Thoughts of Easter: Easter is once again here. While we should be thinking daily about what the Lord’s death, burial, and resurrection mean, we tend to focus on it at this time of year. It is the very heart of the Christian faith and our whole reason for being. The empty grave is hope that we will be with loved ones in the very presence of the one who conquered death.

One of my favorite songs is “Grave Robber” by Petra. The theme of the song is taken from 1 Corinthians 15:50-57, which says, “I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed...

The True Message Of Jonah: Most people are familiar with part of the story of Jonah. The book is four chapters long in the Bible, but most people know a little about chapter 2, where he’s in the belly of a great fish. Most churches when they teach about Jonah talk about the first three chapters, as a lesson not to run when God calls. God told Jonah to go to Ninevah and preach that destruction was coming in 40 days. Jonah ran the other way. God intervened, and finally Jonah obeyed. He preached, the people repented, and God spared the city. But, that’s not the end.
The heart of the story is chapter 4. The reason Jonah ran was he knew that God was merciful and that He would spare the city if they repented. Jon...

The Day The Music Died: Don McLean’s 1971 classic ballad, “American Pie” is a history of Rock ’n Roll from 1959-1971, beginning with the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, J.P. “Big Bopper” Richardson, and Ritchie Valens on February 3, 1959 (the day the music died). That day impacted more than just the first verse and chorus of the song. It was a shock to the new world of Rock ‘n Roll music, and had a huge impact that is still felt as the 50th anniversary approaches.
Buddy Holly rented a 4-seat airplane to fly him and his band to his next concert from Clear Lake, Iowa, to Fargo, North Dakota. Richardson, who was nursing the flu, asked to fly instead of riding in the unheated bus. Buddy’s bass player was bumpe...

Merry Christmas!: I really love this time of year! I love decorating, watching the children as we decorate or open presents, and the whole celebration of the Lord’s birth. I try to keep things simple and not get overwhelmed by being too busy. I also love that this is the time of year when more people are open to the message of the Gospel, because they are somewhat familiar with the story. Sadly, it’s also a time where loneliness, depression, and suicide are higher. If ever there was a time to reach the hurting, this is it! We need to reach out with the hope He has given us with the message that God became man and paid the price so that we can come to Him! That message starts with a feeding trough in a

Barabbas: I just finished recording a song called “Barabbas.” The chorus says, “It should have been me to hang on that cross. It should have been me who suffered the loss of my life on that day. Those were my nails in his feet and his hands. He paid the price. I just don’t understand. It should have been me who died on that day.”

Barabbas is an interesting character in the Bible. All four Gospels give the brief account of this relatively-unknown man. Mark 15:6-15 says, “Now it was the custom at the Feast to release a prisoner whom the people requested. A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. The crowd came up and asked Pilate...

Living The Great Commission: I’ve been thinking about the parable of the Sheep and the Goats lately, and it’s a hard passage of scripture. Jesus separates everyone into two groups by what they did or didn’t do for the poor, the sick, prisoners, and widows. Those that did nothing were cast into the lake of fire. (Side thought: this was a major part of my song, “Where Have You Seen His Face”, using two real people I had met.) Ok, I know Jesus commanded us to preach the gospel and make disciples, but this seems harsh. Or, does it? This is the example Jesus showed in his own life. Look at who he hung out with. It was this very group of people! More importantly, these are the very peop

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