I began preaching after graduating from Briercrest Bible Institute and Columbia Bible College. I was 25 years old, and my first congregation was a small rural church in upstate New York. I was a weekly preacher, not a pastor.
In 1975, I moved to Park City, Utah, where I pastored a Methodist Community Church. It was also there that I met and married my wife, Carrol—a divorced woman with two children. That decision ended my tenure as pastor of the church; members of the congregation predicted the end of my ministry. God had other ideas.
Carrol, the kids, and I moved to Heber City, Utah, where we joined a small, struggling mission church called Heber Baptist Chapel. After several months, the pastor resigned and recommended me as his replacement. I was approved and ordained by Holladay Baptist Church in Salt Lake City. There was no salary with this pastorate, so while Carrol worked in a local doctor’s office, I started a janitorial service with contracts in both Park City and Heber City. I was now considered a bi-vocational pastor.
Heber Baptist Chapel grew and eventually became independent as Heber Christian Fellowship. Due to doctrinal differences, we left the Southern Baptist Convention—one step ahead of being asked to leave. After ten years, and following significant differences with the congregation, we moved to Salt Lake City. I enrolled at Salt Lake Community College with plans to become a software engineer. Again, God had other ideas.
Meanwhile, Carrol pursued a nursing degree at a local university. In early 1993, I was forced to drop out of SLCC due to incessant headaches. At the same time, a door for ministry opened in Mayer, Arizona. In April 1993, we moved there, and I pastored the church until the end of 2004—and the end of my formal ministry.
I had entered into an online affair. I was fired, lost everything, divorced, and ended up working in a local casino. It was truly a “fall from grace.” No one was paying attention to Hebrews 12:15—least of all me: “See to it that no one misses grace…” (my translation). I never preached again; however, I did continue to minister. I simply changed my audience and my message.
By God’s grace, Carrol and I were reconciled and remarried in 2006. I returned to school at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, earned a Master of Education in 2010, and taught high school math. I retired from teaching in 2023 to care for Carrol, who had developed dementia. She died on January 9, 2024.
At the beginning of my preaching career, I recorded every sermon. These are what survived!
These sermons were messages brought to the congregations in Heber City, Utah and Mayer, Arizona. God has promised that His word would not return void (Isaiah 55:11). I trust that these messages will help you to “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” ~2 Peter 3:18.