Born in 1978, David is a spiritual mutt. As a child, he was raised in a non-denominational, Pentecostal church in Central Florida. As a high schooler, his dad said “let’s go to the Southern Baptist church in town.” (Thanks Pops). Upon moving to Indiana in 2000, he started attending an Assembly of God church in Fort Wayne. Then he and his wife found a non-denominational church in the town next door. (Hang on, there’s more). They attended for 15 years until they felt called to attend an all-black Baptist church in the heart of Fort Wayne. After attending Lifeway Bible Fellowship for four years, David was hired at Trinity UMC in the heart of Fort Wayne. After one year, he became Lead Pastor, where he has served the last four years.

 

David received his undergraduate degree from West Coast Bible College. He then completed his graduate degrees (an MBA & Masters of Ministry) from Mount Vernon Nazarene University. 

 

He has also attended Catholic mass, Greek Orthodox, and Russian Orthodox  churches as well as learned from Lutherans, Presybterians, Catholic, and Protestant teachers and preachers. 

 

(Ok, so you are right, he is a spiritual mutt!)

 

Instead of being a negative, David believes that it has been the best thing that has happened during his faith journey. “I have been required to learn what I believe Jesus and the scriptures say. I could not rely on the interpretation of one preacher or one church.”

 

Personally, David married way up. He has been married to his beautiful, hard-working wife Jess for 16 years. They have two mostly great kids; Koleson who is 14 and is going into high school. Zoe is 12 and is going into middle school. (Please pray for us!). He also has a 6 year old Olde English Bulldog Brock. This means David is 5th on the pecking order of his home, yes, behind even the dog!

 

When not reading, writing, studying, or speaking, you will likely find David on the golf course, where he finds it the hardest to act like a “Christian.” (Stupid 3 putts). He loves working out, running, and watching Liverpool FC. 

 

He also loves hearing from his “fans.” (Okay, you would call them his family, but maybe one day…). Feel free to reach out to ask questions, leave feedback, tell him how stupid a particular take was, and oh yeah, you can always pray for him.