As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend. Psalm 27:17

I embraced the importance of continual learning and improvement early in my ministry as a United Methodist pastor and denominational leader.

That growth often came through men and women who shared their lives with me as coaches, teachers, mentors, and consultants. They helped sharpen my skills and drew out my potential. They believed in me and were sources of encouragement. I am profoundly grateful for them—my experience of being coached and mentored fuels my passion for doing the same for you and your church.

In June 2022, I retired after 41 years of service in church ministry and launched FORGE Coaching, Mentoring, and Consulting. In the last three years, I have provided strategic planning services to over two dozen congregations and coached more than twenty clergy.

The last church I served as Lead Pastor was a 1,450-member suburban congregation in Omaha, Nebraska, with ten full-time and eight part-time staff members and an annual budget of $1.5 million. I have expertise in building, leading, and developing staff and lay leaders.

As a trusted leader in the Great Plains Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, I served as Kansas City District Superintendent, the first chairperson of the Great Plains Board of Ordained Ministry, and Vice-Chair of the Conference Council on Finance and Administration in the 1990s.  

As a United Methodist pastor, I led urban, county seat, and rural congregations.  I have five years of experience as an adjunct professor of preaching at St. Paul School of Theology. And just as others poured their lives into me, I have sought every opportunity to be an encourager, mentor, coach, and consultant.

I mentor new pastors and serve on the Great Plains Board of Ordained Ministry. I am a trained and experienced Great Plains Peer Coach, Simplified Leadership Board coach, Readiness 360 Coach, and a member of the International Coaching Federation. I am a certified United Methodist Transitional Intentional Interim Ministry Specialist. I serve on the Washburn University Campus Ministry Board and am the president of the historic College Hill Neighborhood Association in Topeka, KS.

My passion for lifelong growth led me to earn a Doctorate of Leadership and Biblical Preaching from Asbury Theological Seminary in 2000. I earned a Master of Divinity degree from Emory University in 1985 and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Washburn University in 1982.

I began attending church as a 15 year old at the invitation of a friend. It took him three years to get me there, but once I went I never quit going! I accepted Christ as my savior at a district youth rally, was baptized, and then joined the church my junior year in high school.. The call to ministry came in my sophomore year in college. I became the youth minister at my home church in my junior year, and was appointed to my first charge during my last year of college in 1981. Christ is my savior and I love Christ’s body, the Church.

My wife Melissa and I have been married for over 40 years. We live ministry as a partnership, and she has been the most powerful influence in my life. We raised our four daughters to be strong, courageous, compassionate, and loving. We are the proud grandparents of five granddaughters!

I enjoy restoring our 1926 Craftsman-era home in the historic College Hill Neighborhood of Topeka, KS, as well as fishing, especially fly fishing, fly-tying, woodworking, and gardening. I enjoy British mysteries, leadership books, biographies, and history.