I was born in Boise, Idaho, but grew up in Portland, Oregon. I graduated from Benjamin Franklin High in 1977 (the Fighting Quakers). I spent four years in the Navy and served on board a destroyer escort. I worked as a welder and a firefighter during my 42 months of sea time. I spent four more years in the Navy Reserve while I was attending college. I graduated from Portland State University in 1985. I entered seminary later in 1985 and ultimately received a Master of Divinity degree from the Methodist Theological School in Ohio in 1990. My wife, Julie also is a graduate of MTSO (1990). I served five years as a Navy Reserve Chaplain. I have been a pastor for 20 years. Julie and I have been married for sixteen years. She and I have two sons, Caleb (14) and Nathanael (10). I have three children from my earlier marriage, Jacob (27), who is in the Army, Susan (24), living in Germany with her husband, who is also in the Army, and Erin (19), who lives in Portage and works at LaSalle Bank. We have a dog named Skittles. The front half of Skittles is a bassett hound and the back half is a beagle. Caleb and Nathanael have five ginuea pigs because the first two we bought weren't really both girls. I work at a really cool church full of really cool people and I have a really cool boss. Her name is Joy.
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