About me

I was born and raised in Northern (Superior) Wisconsin about 80 miles from the Canadian border; and, yes it gets very cold there! At the young age of 32 I began to feel called into ministry. One night at a church dinner, my wife Judy and I sat at a table next to our district superintendent. In the course of our conversation, he said that he had a small church that needed someone to supply the pulpit until he could appoint a new pastor. My pastor suggested that maybe I could do that. I agreed, and two Sundays later, my wife and I drove to that small rural church. Little did we know that I would fill the pulpit in that church for thirteen years!

I have now been in the ministry for 35 years after also serving churches in Virginia and Maryland. I am currently retired...well, sort of. In my retirement, I am now serving as part-time Pastor of First Evangelical Covenant Church in Superior Wi. I began writing books about seven years ago, and still enjoy speaking and teaching when I can. My wife Judy passed away in 2021and I have since remarried to My wife Crystal.

I have a deep desire to help people grow in their faith and knowledge of God’s Word. My books are what I call a “Quest for Discipleship”. As I said, I am a published author and I have nineteen books which include my latest called "Tell Me, Show Me, Fill Me, Change Me"; "In It For Life"; “By His Hand”; “Show and Tell”; “The Promised Gift”; “Jars of Clay”; “The Kingdom of God”; “From the Pastor’s Desk”; “More From the Pastor’s Desk”; "T.E.A.M."; "Let Earth Receive Her King"; "Therefore" "Principles from Proverbs"; "God's Top ten"; "Prayer Changes Things", "5 R's of Revelation" and two "Renewed Faith" 90 day devotionals all by Life Ministries Publishing.

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Thursday, September 12, 2013


EVERYONE – has been given an invitation. An Invitation…
• To make a pilgrimage, to make a journey, to walk with God…for Him in the person of His Holy Spirit to live in us…It’s an invitation to experience God’s boundless and totally competent love, and provision, and power, to live NOW in God’s kingdom.
    I think that’s what Paul’s letters to the church’s are all about…That’s what the words to the churches in Revelation is all about…It is to be a part of God’s kingdom – here and now,  and no person or circumstance other than our own decision can keep us away. “Whosoever will may come.” Says the Word, and yet for the most part we’ve missed it, we’ve missed the invitation, we’ve missed the kingdom, we don’t live as “kingdom people or as “overcomers” which is what Jesus speaks of in Revelation. What I am trying to say is that we don’t preach and teach the whole gospel. The gospel is more than just a ticket to heaven! It is more than just being saved. If it wasn’t then we could stop reading the Bible at John 3:16.
    After 40 days in the wilderness - after 40 days of fasting, praying and battling Satan - Jesus returned to Galilee ready to do what he came to do. We read in Matthew 4:23 “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.” And – in (Luke 4:43) Jesus replied “I must preach the good news of the kingdom to other towns also, because that is why I was sent…”
    So, what have we missed? We have missed the greatest invitation of all time to be a part of the kingdom of God…and – to be a part of it NOW! – The Kingdom Of God, is not just a concept about something that is in the future, (about heaven)…the kingdom is a dynamic reality that we are invited to live in right now, today.
    In Matthew 7:13 Jesus said…(and, listen to this with a “here and now” perspective;) “wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to LIFE, and only a few find it.” I know he could mean eternal life, but he could also mean life here and now.
    Just before this in 6:33 he said “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”. What are “all these things”?...( worry about what will we eat, drink, and wear ) Will we worry about these when we get to heaven? No, we worry about them “here and now”.
    OKAY – if the kingdom is available now…to everyone…and – if the kingdom here and now is place of transformation… HOW – much transformation into the likeness of Christ (or kingdom people) do we see taking place in His church?
Illustration - I’d like to introduce you to 2 ‘fictional’ guys, Karl & Mike… Karl has attended the same church for more than 30 years. NOW - he was by all accounts a crabby little kid. Who grew into a crabby young man. And after his conversion Karl joined the church and became a crabby Christian. Understand – Karl is not at all uncertain of his faith. I MEAN - he believes the bible from cover to cover. But there just doesn’t seem to be any record over the years of Karl changing; his disposition, his attitude, or the way he talks to and about people, the way he treats his wife and kids, or his habits. I mean Karl is pretty much the same crabby kid with just a few more years, inches and pounds added!
    One day Karl complained to his pastor about the lack of commitment among some other people in the church…followed by a passionate description of his own daily devotional habits. His pastor thought to himself…(probably should have said it out loud) “But Karl, you’re still crabby; and somehow you have managed to crab your way through 14,200 quiet times without changing. KARL - what’s the point of spending all of that time, reading all of those passages, teaching all of those classes, showing up for all those Sundays, believing all of that ‘stuff’… IF – it has little or no impact on your life…
Let’s chew on that, and tomorrow I’ll tell you about Mike.
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