I was born and raised on the Big Island of Oregon, and grew up in Salem.  My ‘ohana influenced my spiritual journey which culminated with the unrelenting persistence of a high school best friend, Steve Bailey, finally getting me to a Young Life Club meeting by telling me the girls from our rival high school attended.  To “Bible-ize” my friend’s words, “They are pleasing to the eyes,” and he was right!!!!   That led to attending the Young Life camp called the Malibu Club in Canada, where I dedicated my life to following Jesus.  When I got home I was invited to Trinity Covenant Church, a safe place for an unknowledgeable new Jesus follower to see what God’s love and grace looked like.  It was there I learned the value and blessing of the church community and ‘ohana. 

My wife Glenna and I were married in 1985 and we had Megan, followed 5 1/2 years later by Christopher.  In May of 2010 we added a center-in-law to our starting line up; our 5’3” Megan married 6’8” Bryan O’Connell. 

I did the college thing by starting out at Oregon State University (GO BEAVS!), and graduating from Western Oregon State College with a BA in Physical Education, and received my Masters of Divinity from Western Seminary.  I am ordained through the Evangelical Covenant Church, and not online.  In addition to pastoring, I serve at the conference and denominational level in the Covenant’s Department of Compassion, Mercy and Justice.