About
today: following Jesus
I oversee the ministries of Church of the Open Door in Southern California. My role includes teaching the Bible on Sunday mornings, mentoring the leaders, and leading this unique community of faith. I love seeing the raw power of God in the lives of people who respond to Jesus’ invitation to new life and obey His command to follow Him.
yesterday: new life
I grew up in Bakersfield, California in a non-Christian home. When the revival of the Jesus Movement swept through the streets of Bakersfield, I heard the Good News about Jesus and believed in Him. My passion in life is to see revival one more time. I’m tired of the sanitized, settled version of Christianity. Jesus’ message is a message for the streets. That’s where I met Jesus. If following Jesus Christ means anything it means taking risks–the risk of trusting Him enough to do what He says. He never told us to run and hide. He told us to go and make disciples.
partnership: my Judy
I married my Jesus Movement sweetheart, Judy, in 1971. We have served Christ together in the Forest Service community, where I was a fireman, and in the U. S. Army, where I served as an Armor Officer. I resigned my commission to attend Dallas Theological Seminary because Judy and I knew that God wanted us to serve Christ as leaders in the local church. Since my graduation in 1985, Judy and I have served together in pastorates in Michigan, Oregon, and since 1996 at the historic Church of the Open Door in Southern California. We have three adult children who walk with God and seven grandchildren we intentionally spoil.
brokenhearted
In 2000 God stretched our faith when I almost died from a vicious and chronic disease. When God Breaks Your Heart is the story of how we honestly struggled with God’s love and care for us and discovered new depths to His grace and mercy. We’re asking the Lord to use this little book to connect broken hearts to Jesus.
but still rockin’
I just finished my second book–Reborn to Be Wild. It’s the story of the Jesus Movement revival from our perspective–a couple of pagan kids who met Jesus and joined His revolution. We’re asking God to use it to call His people back to revival.
