Born in Dallas, Texas. Lived in Oregon since 1967. One of five kids – three brothers and a sister. Lived in Portland, Oregon City, Gresham, Corvallis. Attended David Douglas High and graduated from Oregon City Senior High. Attended Mt. Hood Community College, studying journalism. Transferred to Oregon State University, where I earned a Bachelor’s degree in Technical Journalism.
I am married to Beth. Together we have five children and six grandchildren. I co-own a Texas Barbecue business with my older brother Jeff. I have worked as a cook, a journalist, a public relations coordinator, a nonprofit manager, an executive director, a construction and cabinet maker’s assistant. Right now I am working at the Gresham Borders Bookstore.
I have attended the Christian church all my life. I accepted Jesus as my Savior while in sixth grade. We attended Midway Christian Church and the Rev. Earl Hastings baptized me. I have also attended Kern Park Christian Church and Mountainview Christian Church before finding River Hills. At Kern Park I was a Deacon and Elder.
I am the Elder in charge of the Facilities Ministry. We bring together many people’s efforts and expertise to keep our facility in good shape. Thanks to the talents of many, we have a great little building to house our spiritual activities.

Want to get my fires going? Start me talking about Barbecue. I’m talking about the long, slow smoking of whatever critter was moving too slow. My brother Mark built us a traveling barbecue pit and I love filling it up with ribs, brisket, pork butt, etc. And then I love the smiles as people eat it.

Beth and I searched for quite a while for a church that was warm and loving, where we fit in and the church fit us. We knew really soon after attending River Hills that this was the one. I also love that all of our kids have attended. Several have been baptized here, several of our grandkids, too. And so far, one of the girls was married here. I also love talking with Dave Adams about the Bible. He is able to answer every question with fact, reference and explain the meaning clearly.

Besides BBQ, I enjoy reading and woodworking. I enjoy science fiction when I am reading for pleasure. Woodworking is most fun when I am rescuing an old piece of furniture and turning it into something new.

The Shack. A great novel that brings God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit into a new focus. Anything by Clive Cussler, who writes about two sea-going James Bond type characters. I also like anything by Anne MacAffrey who writes about another world inhabited by people and dragons. She is Irish and her word paint fantastic images in my head.
Favorite Movies – I like John Wayne westerns. I am also a Star Wars fan. Any of the six movies.

My music tastes are wide. I enjoy Chicago, the Beach Boys, Jimmy Buffet and Dave Brubeck. I usually listen to KMHD the Jazz station broadcast from Mt. Hood Community College.

A boss took me aside and chewed me out one day for behavior that I knew was negative. He said: “We all need a kick in the butt once in a while.” He is right. I also believe that we can all work together and accomplish more by cooperating than any one of us can accomplish alone. I really like teamwork.