Our Elders

My family and I moved to Lexington in the summer of 2006 to pursue God’s call on our lives to start a new local church in this city. God has been faithful to guide us and to grow us every step of this journey, and we are grateful for His grace and excited about His plans for us in the days to come. I thoroughly enjoy leading and serving Christ’s church at Providence through preaching, teaching, personal discipleship, and prayer.  My greatest joy as a pastor is preaching Christ and Him crucified, and seeing God transform lives by the hope and power of the gospel.  I love our faith family and I pray God continues to grow us and to use us for His Kingdom and glory.

 

I have been married to my wife, Carrie, for 18 years and we have four children ranging from age 17 down to 10. In addition to hanging out with my family, I enjoy coaching soccer, playing golf, and rooting for the University of Kentucky and the New England Patriots.

I count it a wonderful privilege to serve as an elder at Providence, helping with teaching and preaching, discipling, and administration and planning.

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I’ve been married to Helen for 22 years and we have 3 daughters, 12 grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren (and counting). We moved to Lexington from Beaver, Pennsylvania where I served as pastor of Beaver Baptist Church from 2004 to 2012. These days I work in the field of health care finance as a decision support analyst. I studied economics at the University of California at Berkeley (B.A.), international business at George Washington University (M.B.A.), and biblical and theological studies at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (M.Div.).

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In my spare time I enjoy reading, mostly biblical theology, but also fiction: spy, crime, legal and historical novels. I occasionally blog at Eutychus. I also enjoy playing chess and watching University of California Golden Bears football.

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But most basically, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, that is, I seek to know Christ and follow him, and to help others know and follow him as well.

As a part of Providence Community Church since 2008, I assist in giving direction to our teaching ministry, work with the other elders in shepherding, and help in areas of counseling. In all areas of ministry, I am continually amazed at the sufficiency of Christ and the gospel to be sustaining and bringing us each to the place God would have us.

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As a native of the Volunteer State, I am a fan and graduate of the University of Tennessee. I also studied at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville where I received an M.Div in Theology.

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God has given my wife, Christi, and me five wonderful girls to raise and shepherd. Together we enjoy hiking, kids’ sports, and lots of reading, as well as wasting lots of time trying to fix up an old house.

It’s a bit of an unexpected privilege to serve as an elder at Providence alongside 3 seminary trained men and one respected and accomplished ENT doctor.  I am the more layman of the five pastors.  My current responsibilities are in teaching, community group leading, deacon board oversight, and Swahili church integration.

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I am married to Debbie, my wife since 1984.  We have 7 daughters, 3 sons, 6 grandchildren (and counting… we hope). I was born in WV until age 9, lived in Puerto Rico for 4 years, Houston, TX for 4 years, Ridgefield, CT one year. I then attended Texas A&M University and got my BSME (Mechanical Engineering), then a Masters degree at the University of Illinois.  I began work with IBM in 1983 in Charlotte, NC, met and married Debbie there and then moved to KY in 1989 and now work for Lexmark Int’l Inc. as an engineer.  We began attending Providence in the Fall of 2013.

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In my spare time I enjoy woodworking and bicycle riding.  I also enjoy reading or listening to books on doctrine and the church, as well as miscellaneous fiction.  Much of my time is spent just helping keeping the house, yard, cars and appliances running.

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I love God, His word, the church and am a product of His tender mercy and abundant grace extended to me daily.

Providence Community Church has played a vital role in my life since 2006. As a chartering member, it was an immense honor to be a part of the planning and planting of this vibrant church from the beginning. Medical training brought me to Lexington in 2003, during which, I found great purpose and passion to serve others as a result of being a member at Providence. I have been an elder since 2014 and contribute to the teaching and general oversight within this church with a special focus on domestic and foreign mission endeavors and teen ministry.

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I completed undergraduate training in Premedicine (B.S.) at Bob Jones University, medical school at Marshall University School of Medicine (M.D.), residency at the University of Kentucky in Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery (ENT surgery), fellowship in Otology and Neurotology (Ear surgery) at The Ohio State University, and doctoral work at the University of Kentucky (Ph.D.).

 

My wife, Karyn, and our children (4 boys and 1 girl) have faithfully and graciously endured these educational adventures. I am currently a faculty member at the University of Kentucky in the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery where I am afforded the immense privilege to care for patients, teach residents and students, and conduct research related to hearing loss.

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Being an academic physician has opened doors of opportunity to serve others internationally and I travel frequently to Nairobi, Kenya to teach in the University of Nairobi and engage in medical mission work. I love spending time with my family and we have developed quite an interest in attending live sporting events of all kinds (including NASCAR, NFL, and NCAA basketball).