"But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him” (John 4:23)

Wow! It's hard to believe that it's been 7 years since I graduated from Shiloh Ministries one year bible school. God has done so much in my life since then it takes my breath away at times. I remember the trip from the airport to Shiloh like it was yesterday. I was telling Pastor Rocky & Sister Debbie how much I knew about God, HOW GREAT A bible SCHOLAR I was & that my sister was a famous Christian Musician. The only truth was about my sister. Truth be known, I was scared about what the next year at Shiloh was going to be like. I quickly found out how little I knew about the bible & really had no assurance of salvation.

After several months of living on holy ground & having my mind protected from outside worldly influences, & sitting under some mighty men & women of God being blasted with the un-compromised "Word of Truth", an amazing thing happened. My mind began to clear! I was seeing that & was a wreck & bound to spend an eternity separated from God in a real devils hell. But then God! He began to melt away the scales over my eyes & soften my heart & then one day I broke like a piece of cheap glass & cried for what seemed like days. I had a very real encounter with God that changed my life forever. After that I loved to hear the Bible being taught because God began to give me little nuggets of spiritual insight of the Holy Scripture. I was catching on to the spiritual meaning behind the words. I also was learning how the old & new testaments were tied together, & began to see Jesus all in the old testament. like I SAID BEFORE, I was learning how little I really new. The year at Shiloh was life giving & changing for me. I was even honored by being able to serve Pastor Rocky as resident counselor for several years. I fell in love with my Pastor & his wife Sister Debbie. They are awesome! They have laid down their lives to serve our Lord by giving ALL they have by giving men like me a place to sit at the feet of Jesus for a year. (To all Shiloh Alumni: These are your spiritual parents, HONOR THEM!)

After leaving Shiloh I went to work at 'The Foundry', a one year residential facility for men & women with a history of drug & alcohol abuse. The Foundry is funded mostly by taking in donated household items & then selling them at their thrift store, which is staffed by many of the 200 plus students that are in their program. They also have a large Automotive repair shop that repairs the donated cars. I was privileged to manage this department for 4 years. I had many fine young men that worked for me while they were in the program. I was not a counselor, but I did quite a bit of counseling while working on a car with a student. It's a wonderful feeling you get when God uses you to impact the life of another. After managing the Auto repair shop during the day, I would go home & manage a "halfway house". There were about 30 men that lived there full time. Some of these men were Foundry employees like myself, but most were graduates & men in the prison reentry program. As you can imagine I had my hands full monitoring behavior, assigning chores, drug testing, & making sure that everyone was home at night. The Foundry bought & restored an old church in Bessemer, Alabama. Using mostly students as the main labor force, they transformed an old rundown building into a beautiful house of worship! I still attend services there from time to time. I am a mechanic. I have been all my life. My grandfather was a tool & die maker, so I guess 'fixing things' just came natural to me. When my grandfather passed away he left many fine instruments, & tools to my father who kept them 'enshrined". On occasion I would have the need to measure something with a micrometer & I would go to my dad's house & use these tools with his supervision. Several years ago I was given these tools as a birthday gift! To me this said, "Son, I love you & forgive you". These are more than just tools to me. They are my heritage, & I have been given the honor of caring for them.

I don't have a family of my own, but I LOVE MOTORCYCLES! I am a proud member of The Christian Motorcycle Association & I will be on the mechanical ministry team as soon as I find one. Since leaving Shiloh I have 'fixed up' & sold quite a few bikes. This enabled me to purchase a nearly new bike which I rode on a trip through the Blue Ridge Mountains last year with some friends. I remember one morning on our trip noticing how beautiful the mountains were. I was listening to my iPod & worshiping & began to weep as I reflected on how far God has brought me in such a short time. God has restored to me much much more than the enemy took from me. I live "the good life" now. It's not perfect, but then I'm not either. When I see my momma now she's smiling, not crying. I’m a blessed man because of God, family & friends. Love you mom!