I am the pastor of First Baptist Church in Petoskey, Michigan. I grew up in this church and in this city. I attended Grand Rapids Baptist College and Seminary, where I met and married my wife Sharon. After working at Steelcase Office Furniture Manufacturers in Grand Rapids for ten years, I spent five years with Continental Baptist Missions in Wakefield, Michigan. I left the mission and Wakefield and went to McBain Baptist Church for three years in McBain, Michigan. From there I went to Petoskey, where I have been since 1997.
My wife Sharon and I have 5 children. Nathan is the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Allegan in Michigan. He and his wife Cheyenne have four boys. Virginia has two children with Andy her husband, and live close to Nathan. Derek and his wife Naomi have one boy, born in 2014. Gwynevere and Jacob are unmarried, as yet. They spend quite a bit of time at home, keeping us from too much solitude!
Our church building is 105 years old, with stained glass windows that are works of art. We are selling it, though, so we can put up a multi-use building on the edge of town next to the parsonage. We hope to incorporate more family-oriented activities in the new building. We want to feature Polish volleyball (which is the best kind), basketball, whiffle ball, and wild game banquets.
Our church building is 105 years old, with stained glass windows that are works of art. We are selling it, though, so we can put up a multi-use building on the edge of town next to the parsonage. We hope to incorporate more family-oriented activities in the new building. We want to feature Polish volleyball (which is the best kind), basketball, whiffle ball, and wild game banquets.
My focus in my ministry has been to help small, hurting churches recover from their wounds. To do this I have followed Acts 2:42. "And they continued in the apostles' doctrine, and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayer." For the last 5 years I have explored the big idea of God's friendship for us, since it is one of the great unifying concepts of the Bible that explains all His actions, commands, principles, axioms, and ministry to us. This idea is transformative once we understand it. It is the actual basis for the Bible. God created us to be His friends; we rejected Him; so in an act of friendship He joined us, and has made us His friends. This concept, and all its related ideas, have sustained Sharon and me through the last few difficult years.