I was born and raised in Nashville, Tenn., where I graduated from Hillsboro High School. I earned my BA degree in philosophy from Wake Forest University. An ROTC scholarship student, I took a commission as an officer in the U. S. Army field artillery.
I married the former Catherine Stephens of Durham, N. C., in 1980. We have two sons, the elder a former U.S. Marine and Iraq veteran now living and working in Madison, Wisconsin. Our younger son graduated in 2010 from Wake Forest University and medical school in 2016; he is a surgeon in the US Air Force in Ohio. His wife is a pediatrician at Dayton Children's Hospital. Our daughter is a chemical engineer in Nashville.
I served on four continents in the Army. I was an artillery forward observer and battery fire direction officer in Korea. In Germany I served as a battery commander and brigade fire support coordinator in 3rd Armored Division. Afterward, I was operations officer of an 8-inch howitzer battalion of V Corps Artillery. I was also operations officer for a Multiple-Launch Rocket System battalion in XVIII Airborne Corps Artillery at Fort Bragg, NC. Along the way, I was trained as a nuclear target analyst by the field artillery center and in counterterrorism by the Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Bragg. I was one of the relatively few officers to graduate from the U.S. Army Drill Sergeant School at Fort Jackson, S.C..
In 1986 I attended the Defense Information School, from which I graduated first in my class. I then served as chief of media relations for XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg, N. C. During the invasion of Panama in December 1989 (Operation Just Cause), I served on the Corps' Battle Management Cell. I also served a six-month, joint-staff tour as director of public affairs for Joint Task Force-Bravo in Honduras.
Assigned to the Pentagon in early 1990, I was the the speech writer and personal public affairs officer to Secretary of the Army Michael P. W. Stone, traveling with the secretary until January 1991, when I was assigned to the U. S. Army Operations Center for the Gulf War.
After the return of forces to America, I was appointed Director of Media Relations for the National Victory Parades in Washington, D. C. and New York City, coordinating directly with White House staff and more than 650 national and international news organizations.
Subsequently, I was a plans officer on the Army Staff until May 1993. My final Army assignment was as chief of public affairs, U. S. Army Criminal Investigation Command. Just before retiring, I served as a member of the Oklahoma City Bombing Investigation Task Force, whose work resulted in the arrest and conviction of Timothy McVeigh for the bombing of the Murrah federal building in spring of 1995.
I retired in August 1995, answering my call to ordained ministry. I began classes at Vanderbilt Divinity School the same month. I was awarded a Master of Divinity in 1999 and have served full time as a United Methodist pastor since 1997. I was ordained an elder in full membership of the Tennessee Conference of the UMC in June 2002.
Since 2003, my work has been cited by The Washington Post, MSNBC, ESPN, OpinionJournal, ABC News, Commentary magazine, Time Magazine, Real Clear Politics, Real Clear Religion and many other major media outlets. I authored an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal on the subject of same-sex marriage entitled, "Save marriage? It's too late," which was subsequently reprinted in several religious journals. I have also written for the Knoxville News Sentinel on the security implications of Osama bin Laden's death. I was a columnist for Right Network during its brief existence.
In April 2005, as a result of my online essay, "The pope and communism’s fall," I was an interview guest on FoxNews Channel's, "The O'Reilly Factor," on the topic, "Does the Vatican have a Realistic Plan to Confront Evil in Today's World?" On Sept. 2, 2013, I was an interview guest on the BBC's program, "World Have Your Say", on the topic of the then-impending American war against Syria (a followup post is here, "Just War and Syria Strikes").
By the grace of God I have served under full-time appointment as pastor United Methodist churches since 2007, and I joyfully serve with the good people of the Church for the salvation of souls and the transformation of our lives and community.