I grew up in a Christian family and placed my faith in Jesus Christ at nearly 12 years of age. However, my faith was seriously challenged in my teen years as I encountered intellectual objections to the historical reliability of the Bible, the biblical account of creation, and the claims of Christ. Fortunately, I discovered the teaching ministry and writing of Josh McDowell, in particular his book, Evidence that Demands a Verdict. His book as well as books by other authors gave me credible historical, scientific, and philosophical answers to the honest questions and doubts that had risen in my heart.

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Other factors that significantly shaped my Christian life during my youth included 1) having a powerful, life-changing encounter with the Holy Spirit and 2) receiving excellent teaching on renewing my mind through regularly reading, memorizing, and meditating on God's Word. During my teen years, my hunger for God's Word grew exponentially and I began to devour it daily. The truths of the Bible came alive and my interest in rightly dividing the Scriptures began to grow. After high school I attended Living Faith Bible College (now Clearwater College of Biblical Studies) for three years. There, my faith was further established in God's Word and I experienced a further life-changing work of the Holy Spirit.

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I later completed a Bachelor's degree and a Master's degree in Leadership and Management at Briercrest College and Seminary. Because of personal interest, nearly all my elective courses in seminary were in Biblical languages and theology. I've always been an avid reader and have a personal library of around 4,000 books, over 2,000 e-books, plus many hundreds of journals, magazines, and collected articles. Even at a young age, I desired to know the truth wherever it led - Biblically, morally, historically, and philosophically. This desire for truth strongly influenced naming my blog, The Plumbline.

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I have extensive ministry experience both as a local church pastor and as a college professor. Most recently, from 2008 to 2020, I served as the President of Clearwater College. On top of my normal leadership and administrative duties, I taught regularly in the college and through Skype or Zoom to students in other cities and countries. I have spoken at churches, camps, and conferences throughout Canada, the northern US, and other countries of the world.

 

Sensing that a younger president needed to be in place for the 50th Anniversary of Clearwater College (2021) and that the Lord had placed desires in my heart to serve the broader body of Christ through writing, producing training resources, and itinerant ministry, I resigned from my role as President in October, 2020. Since that time, I've focused my energies on Plumbline Ministries.

 

For many years I have carried a burden for the spiritual, moral, relational, and social challenges that believers and churches are facing in this day. I believe God's Word holds answers for these challenges, and I want to spend the next season of ministry sharing biblical answers to some of these challenges.

 

Using the particular gifts that God has given me for teaching and equipping, my desire is to make God's word understandable and practical for daily life. Being a visual thinker, I frequently design diagrams, drawings, and other creative ways to illustrate the truths and principles in God’s Word. My prayer is that I can help you grow in your knowledge of God's Word and thereby help you experience a deeper work of His transforming grace in your life. 

 

Like many of you who will visit this site and read my blogs, I have experienced my share of life's difficulties. These fires have been used by God to refine my character and to forge many of the truths of His Word into my life. I have not yet arrived - I have a long way to go and am cognizant of my frailties - but like the apostle Paul, "I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:12). I have fixed my hope on Christ and look to the ongoing work of His Spirit in my life to make me more and more like Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:18, 1 John 3:1-3).

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After a courageous battle with cancer, my wife of 43 years passed away on March 2, 2023. We have four children (two of them married) and five grandchildren. I am passionate about Jesus Christ, deeply love my family, and have devoted myself to leading, teaching, and equipping Christ followers.