Pastor - Businessman - Political Activist/Commentator - Author
EARLY LIFE
I grew up in the small farming community of Cuthbert, Georgia, in the southwest corner of the state. (I was born on 3/26/54 in Montgomery, AL while my dad was in the Air Force). I became a Christian at age 9 and was baptized at the First Baptist Church. My family owned a John Deere farm equipment dealership and I worked there from a young age, primarily with inventory and over-the-counter sales. I graduated from Randolph Southern high school in 1972
COLLEGE - UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
I am a Georgia Bulldog, having received a BBA degree in Marketing, intending to go back home and help run the family business. I was involved in Campus Crusade for Christ, which helped change my direction. I graduated in 1976.
SEMINARY - SOUTHWESTERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
Southwestern Seminary is in Ft. Worth, TX. I received a Masters of Divinity degree (M.Div.) in Theology, with an emphasis on New Testament studies. I graduated in 1979.
FAMILY LIFE
I met my wife Joni Knight at the University of Georgia. We married after my first year of seminary and after her college graduation (August 20, 1977). She received a degree in Education with a specialty in special education and then got her Master's degree in Counseling from The Psychological Studies Institute of Georgia State University. Our daughter Joy was born in 1992 and our son Joshua in 1997. Joy gave us Bladyn in 2012 and Rhiannon in 2016.
PASTOR: STILESBORO BAPTIST CHURCH AKA ENCOURAGER CHURCH
From seminary, we moved to Kennesaw, Georgia (a suburb NW of Atlanta) and started with a mission church in the KOA campground, moved to a school and then our own building. The church grew and we were involved with a real move of God for a number of years. After 17 years (1979 to 1996), God changed our direction and we moved to Englewood, Florida in 1998.
REALTOR
My wife Joni got her Real Estate license in Georgia in 1986. I got my license in Georgia in 1996. We lived in Kennesaw, GA and worked primarily at a Re/Max affiliate. After moving to Florida, Joni started real estate again with Bay Realty and we both started with Michael Saunders & Co when the Englewood office opened in 2000 and have been there ever since.
BUSINESS OWNER: TRANSCRIPTION ASSOCIATES
After learning medical transcription while in Atlanta, I bought a small medical transcription company in Englewood, FL in 1998. I worked for 15+ physicians and had about a dozen part-time transcriptionists working for/with me. After EMRs (electronic medical records) became the rule of the day most physicians had to move to hospital-based systems and by the beginning of 2017 I closed the doors.
PART-TIME JOBS THROUGH THE YEARS...
In my life I have had quite a few part-time jobs. I worked for my dad in the family business during high school and college summer vacation. I delivered furniture one summer in Lake Tahoe, CA. I worked making plywood in a lumber yard in Athens, GA one summer. During seminary I sold men's clothes in a department store in Ft. Worth, TX. I delivered the Atlanta Constitution newspaper for several years. I was a bank teller in Atlanta. I even had a short stint as a substitute teacher.
"EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES..."
My wife Joni and I have both been in church all of our lives and so church has been the most important part of our life. I became more involved politically back in 2009 and help start a grassroots activist group called Taking Our Country Back, a tea-party-type group. I have run for public office twice (losing both times), once for Sarasota County Commission (2012) and again for Sarasota County School Board (2014).