I grew up in Central Florida where my home life was very difficult and I did not attend church. My mother was an alcoholic single parent; very bitter due to my father leaving her for another woman. She withdrew and while she still managed to support me economically, provided very little parental support. I had no rules and no accountability. By the time I was a teenager, I lived the way you might expect a teenager without restrictions to live. I did very poorly in school, got involved with the wrong crowd, and did things I’m now too embarrassed to admit. By the time I reached my early 20’s, I was on the verge of imploding.

Shortly after coming to South Carolina to take a job, I met Sonya, the unbelievable woman who is now my wife. Early in our relationship, she invited me to visit her church. I was crazy about Sonya, so it was a “no-brainer.” After many months of dating her and visiting her church, I decided I wanted to become a member. When I met with the pastor, however, he first asked me if I had a personal relationship with Christ. It was at this moment, in December 1988, at 22 years old, I made the decision to receive the free gift of salvation available by admitting I am a sinner, repenting, and being saved from Hell by Jesus taking my place in death.

At that moment, when I first believed that Jesus was God, that he died for my sins, and that he lives so I can live, is the moment I truly became a new creation. While I’m hardly perfect, God has found ways to use me in the last 18 years that I would have never imagined. I cleaned up my life style, but more importantly I became involved in teaching God’s word and serving him boldly. I now teach college students in Bible Fellowship hoping to impress upon them the potential they have in Christ and not to waste it like I did when I was their age.