Personal Web Page
Of
Welcome to my personal web page. First of all, let me tell you a little
about myself and some of my history.
I grew up in the Bloomington/Spencer Indiana area. I attended Owen Valley High School
class of 1975 but I left early to join the Army in 1974. While there I finished my schooling at
St. Mary’s High School on the
I was an ordain minister with the Fellowship of Christian
Churches/Churches of Christ on November 30th, 1980 at the First Christian Church in
During this time I found the need to work on my marriage to
Christy and I resigned my ministry in 1992. During this time we worked with special
needs children and foster care with the Villages of Indiana and On-Target
agency. In all, we had 23 foster kids
in an 8 year period. I was able to
work and finish my master’s degree during this time. However, I was not able to save my
marriage to Christy which lasted from October, 1985 till July, 1997.
Army Years!
Let me go back a few years and talk about my Army
years. I joined the U.S. Army on
May 16th, 1974 and went active on August 1st, 1974. My basic training and advance training
was at Fort Leonard Wood,
Dan and Randy 1974
After my training I was station at Fort Carson,
Getting an award in 1975
Me in 1977
The Divorce Years!
After my divorce in 1997 I had to find new work because
people didn’t want to hire a divorced preacher. I tried many jobs and for the most part
I got into driving an 18 wheeler.
But this was not my cup of tea and I needed a way to a place of prayer
and fasting. Since most of the
protestant movement does not have monasteries or retreats like this, I had to
go on the internet and find a place to retreat too. I had heard about the Orthodox faith and
I was interested in finding out more so I looked up the closest monastery to
me. I found St. Anthony Orthodox Monastery and
I stayed with them from November, 1998 till April, 1999.
Our Priest Father Athanasius
Inside the Church
Church in winter
Orthodoxy!
While I study the scriptures and books related to Orthodoxy,
I came to realize that I was already there in what I believe about Orthodoxy
and Christianity. An example of
this was with my view on the Lord’s communion. I had always believed that the Lord
said, ‘This is my body’ and ‘This is my blood’ as being
true. I never thought of this
sacrament as a symbol of his body and blood but the real thing. Other issues such as the church, marriage,
baptism, Christian living I was already on the same page as Orthodoxy. The only two issues I had to work out
was, ‘scripture only’ and ‘the Lady Theotokos’.
I had come up believing without any doubt that the Holy
Bible also known as the ‘scriptures’ was the only authority of the
church. It was taught to me and I
accepted it without and change. In
fact, I believed in it so much that I demanded any debate on Christian
authority had to come from the Word of God only. Anything outside of this teaching was
false and to be stopped at all costs.
Yet with this worldview of scriptures only came problems
that lead to people to fight and divide over. An example of this is with the baptism
of the Holy Spirit. It was very
clear to all that from Acts 2:41ff all people came to faith in Jesus Christ
were baptism with water. The
gospels are full of these accounts.
No doubt about it, you must be baptized. But what about the scriptures in Acts
19:1ff where Paul runs into some disciples baptizing people in the name of John
the Baptist. Once Paul knows of
this he teaches them the correct method of baptism and they receive the Holy
Spirit. Now here is the problem,
one group now says that there is a second baptism, one of water and one of
spirit. Once you are baptized in
the spirit, then all men will speak in tongues. Now do you see the problem, each group
believes in the scriptures for teaching doctrine but they are now divided over
the true meaning of this. I myself
had the hardest time coming to understand that Jesus didn’t promise us
the bible but the Holy Spirit will guide us in all true. Finally after a few years as an Orthodox
Catholic it all came together that the teachings of the church, Apostles and church
fathers are the teachings of the Holy Spirit who guided them into all truths.
The issue of Mary was also a problem that took some time to
work out. Again false teachings
from my former days as a protestant had me believe that Mother Mary was being
used by the Catholic’s as a forth god making her part of the
trinity. My teachings were that the
Catholic’s were all wrong and Mary did not remain for example a virgin
but had several children after Jesus.
Well to make a long story short, I came to study and find out that this
teaching was the false teachings and Mary did remain a virgin forever!
So the first church I joined after my time at the monastery
was at St. George Antiochian Orthodox
Catholic Church in
Today I am a member of All Saints Orthodox Catholic
Christian Church in
Today I work at Bloomington
Transit in
That’s all folks!
That is all there is about me. If you have any questions about my faith
just drop me a line at my email address.
A Monk’s Blessing to you.
Me at Church.
Stain Glass to make you feel Holy!
Liturgy.
A monk.
Another monk.
Me at the Star Lite Drive In.
Back of our church.