I
grew up in East Detroit , Michigan , and graduated from East Detroit High
School . I was a small guy and got picked on a lot, so
to have friends I got involved in drugs, drinking, and street gangs. In 1973, I
moved with my family to California wanting to have a new start on life. Well, I started drinking and
hanging out with the wrong crowd and began doing drugs again. I met
my wife and we got married - having a pretty rough start. Then,
we had our first daughter, Crystal. The drinking and the drugs didn't stop. I had
guys from motorcycle gangs looking for me because of what I had gotten into and
my wife hated me. I ended up the last six months before I gave my life to
Christ having a bad Cocaine habit. In the middle of the night I would have guys trying
to bust down my garage door to get to my 1955 panhead Harley
Davidson and my guns. I was dealing drugs with people that I shouldn't have been around.
I was all messed up and my wife was threatening to leave me even though
I told her that if she ever did I would kill her.
One night I came home from the bar,
sat in my chair, put my gun on the table, had a Seagram's and Seven Up while
smoking a joint, and started channel surfing the TV. I switched to channel 40
and thought that they must have had better drugs then me because they looked so
happy. I listened to a guy named Dwight Thompson and it seemed like he was
speaking right to me. He asked if we would like to receive Christ. My wife and I
prayed with him. It was April 4th,1981, on a Saturday night at 10:35 p.m. I will
never forget it! After getting rid of all my drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes the
following Sunday I went to a church in West Covina called Calvary Chapel West
Covina (Raul Ries) A month later I got involved in the Usher Ministry because I
wanted to help and be a part of what God was doing. My wife and I also had two
more daughters, Shannon and Heather. Later I was asked into leadership, and was
in leadership in almost every ministry possible until I bought a house in
Hesperia and moved. But before we bought the house we found a Calvary first then
we moved! I plugged in with Dennis (Calvary Chapel of the High Desert )and was
with him for 14 years, 7 of those years on staff full time. I oversaw the Men's
Study for those 14 years. God then moved on my heart to start a Bible study in
Adelanto , California ! What an awesome God we serve! After confirmation through
the Word, prayer, and fasting, the Lord sent my family and I out to Pastor full
time the fellowship now in Adelanto! My wife and I are really excited about what
God has done and is continuing to do! Praise His Holy Name!