Elder Bio - Grace Bible Church

God has blessed me with a wonderful and loving family. I grew up in a Christian home where everyone went to church on Sunday, no exceptions. I do remember one evening watching TV, at a very young age, and asking my mom what it meant to be a Christian. I remember praying that night with my mom that Christ would come into my heart. I probably said that prayer a dozen more times as a teenager, just to make sure, but I feel that original prayer was when I was born again.

I remember as a youngster, mom and dad leaving a church we were attending to search for a new church. Later I learned they were not growing spiritually, and felt the leading that there must be something more. So we spent what seemed like an eternity to me, looking for a new church.

I think I was about seven when we visited Grace Bible Church, and started going regularly. I remember Cina Hedges was my first Sunday School teacher and Dotti Olsen ran my first Junior Church.

My years as a child and a teenager at Grace Bible Church were a lot of fun. God has always blessed me by surrounding me with good friends and good youth leaders at Grace. Going on youth retreats and outings are some of my best memories. When I was a senior in High School, Mel Harvey taught our Sunday School class and drilled into us the Grace message. I remember the timeline with the dispensations listed on the white board every week, and one day it just made sense to me.

As I became an adult, I think my walk with God either slipped some, or maybe it just never developed very far in the first place. I had the head knowledge, and I had accepted Christ as my savior, but was not putting it into practice. I was not growing, and for a long time didn’t even realize it. God had blessed me with so many things, and I was taking it all for granted.

As I hit my late twenties, God pulled the rug out from under me and I suddenly realized what it meant to put your trust wholly into God. It took a wakeup call from God to really begin learning what He expected of me, and it is amazing to see God work in my life now. Sometimes it’s just a little thing here and there, and other times it’s big!

God has given me a wonderful loving wife who challenges me to grow spiritually, and I challenge her right back! I still struggle with my spiritual growth which seems to happen in spurts. My goal is to be available for God at all times, so He can use me and my family in any way needed!