Family and Education

I was born in Searcy, AR., but my family migrated to Indiana when I was just a small child. Carol was born in Kokomo, IN. We are grateful for the faithful ministry of Bible Baptist Church [Kokomo] where we were saved at an early age, then baptized.

As children, we were active in Sunday school, AWANA, Christian Service Brigade and Pioneer Girls, Christian camping, and Youth Group. We also participated in the church music ministry. Our call to Bible college and full-time ministry came during our teen years.

Graduates of Kokomo High School, we were married August 20, 1966, between my sophomore and junior year of college. We were leaders of youth groups in Grand Rapids, MI the final two years of college.

Carol and I have six children, two of whom were adopted from the 50+ foster children we cared for through the years. We now have five grandchildren.

My undergraduate degree is from Grand Rapids Baptist Bible College ['68 - BRE]. Graduate studies were completed at Grace Theological Seminary ['82 - MA, Winona Lake, IN], with additional graduate work taken at Denver Baptist Theological Seminary [now Faith Baptist Theological Seminary, Ankeny, IA].

Ministry Experience

The Lord has seen fit to place us in a variety of ministry positions since 1968, all of which, in their own way, have helped shape our philosophy of ministry and prepare us for the responsibilities we now hold.

We have served in local church ministries in MI, IN, FL, IA, and MN. These ministries included serving as church planter, pastor, associate pastor, youth pastor, Christian School Administrator, and minister of music.

We have been involved in Christian camping, directing the FL State camp program when serving at Spurgeon Baptist Bible College. We also organized and ran a Christian Day Camp ministry in Evansville, IN.

In God's providence, we were invited to serve on the faculties of two Bible colleges: Denver Baptist Bible College [Broomfield, CO] and Spurgeon Baptist Bible College [Mulberry, FL]. I taught several courses and served, among other things, as Academic Dean for Spurgeon Baptist Bible College.

We surrendered to full-time Jewish ministry in the spring of 1996, becoming the Executive Director of Baptists for Israel, Inc., a position I held until March 14, 2002.

Organization

Our work with Baptists for Israel complete, and with a heightened awareness of the spiritual needs of the American Jewish population, we launched Jewish Ministry Institute on March 15, 2002.

“Evangelize” and “Disciple”

Dr. Paul Beals, my missions professor in Bible college [I really did listen...on occasion], once described missions as the work whereby we attempt to “...evangelize...edify...establish.”

Jewish Ministry Institute is missions, albeit not always in the traditional mode. We are committed to evangelizing the American Jewish population, and to helping others do the same.

We are involved in discipleship [edifying and equipping believers for service], and in training others to do the same, especially as relates to the Jewish population.

“Establishing” the church, to me, infers both the planting of new churches, but also the building up of established churches. This is an especially challenging aspect of Jewish ministry.

Our sending church is Calvary Baptist Church, Rochester, MN. We are accountable to a Board of Directors.