I was born in Atlanta and never really considered living anywhere else.  I did live in many areas of Atlanta including East Atlanta, Stone Mountain, Tucker, Chamblee, Marietta, Smyrna, Powder Springs, Lithonia, and Cumming.  It wasn't until my daughter Katie graduated from high school did we decide to move to Hartwell, GA.  My parents are now buried here, as well as my father's sister, Aunt Joyce, who moved to Hartwell just after we did.

Donna and I have been married for over 42 years.  We met in the sanctuary of First Baptist Church of Atlanta, got engaged 30 days later, and were married one year afterward.  We have two grown children, Michael and Kate plus son-in-law Jordan Hedges, and three grandchildren.

We love living on the lake in Hartwell and moved here to help take care of my parents over a dozen years ago.  Small-town life is nice, where you see people that you know wherever you go.  We love our church family at Liberty Baptist Church of Hartwell and has kept us content to stay in Hartwell, even though my parents passed away several years ago.

I began playing the trumpet in the third grade, playing in Charles Bradley's East Atlanta Elementary Band.  There was one year at East Atlanta HS before transferring to South West Dekalb HS where there were some very memorable years with good friends that still communicate on social media even today.  Our Stage Band toured Europe and we competed in the Virginia Beach Music Festival, winning it in 1972.

After a couple of unfruitful years, I returned home to my parents' house and began to attend First Baptist Church of Atlanta with them.  I had made a commitment years before when I walked the aisle at a tent meeting where Richard Hogue was preaching at Rehoboth Baptist Church in Tucker, GA.  I walked again at FBA and was baptized. A few months later, I joined the orchestra and played for 20 years at many church services, Passion Plays at the Civic Center, a Presidential Rally on stage at the Civic Center with Ronald Reagan, trips with orchestra members & Dr. Charles Stanley, playing at a Southern Baptist Convention at the Sugar Bowl, touring Germany with about 9 other Musicians and 40 Choir Members, and so much more.

I also played in the orchestras at East Side Baptist in Marietta and at First Redeemer in Cumming. When we moved to Hartwell, GA to help take care of my parents, there were no orchestras, so I played along with the organ and piano at First Baptist in Hartwell.

As I began to listen to some of the pastors listed on this website and study scripture, a change in my life took place.  I began to understand that it was not my seeking that led me to God.  It was nothing that I did to deserve his love or forgiveness and nothing for me to boast about as I deserved hell... but he forgave me and paid my debt with the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross at Calvary.