Church Staff

     I was born in Los Angeles, California, during World War II, and was raised in La Puente, a suburb east of Los Angeles. I moved to Riverside California to attend college, working as a trumpet player and a cook part time to support myself. It was in a restaurant that I met my wife. We were married after I graduated.
     I received three degrees from the University of California, Riverside, an A.B., an M.A., and a Ph.D., all in mathematics. After finishing my education, I moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, to work at my only adult job, teaching mathematics at the University of Tennessee. Although I was raised in the church (never stopped attending church and never stopped reading my Bible), I was not fully committed to the Lord. It was always the Lord AND my career. I used to play this game when convicted about my commitment: Just let me finish "X" and then I'll serve You with a whole heart. "X" varied over the years (find a good wife, finish my doctorate, get a good job, have some sons, and get tenured), but whenever "X" was accomplished, there was a new "X" that replaced it. Finally on the way to the last "X", becoming a Full Professor, I was challenged during my quiet time. An almost audible voice said, "If not now, when?" At the same time I received a warning thought. If you don't commit now, you won't get the chance again for a long, long time. That scared me enough that I said out loud, "OK, I'm going to serve you no matter what. If I never prove another theorem (what they really pay me to do at UT) or if I never get promoted to Full Professor, it doesn't matter. I'll take what You give me from now on." And a peace that passed all understanding, a peace like I had never felt before, flooded my soul.
     The Bible says, "Bring forth fruit meet of repentance" so I began to give the first part of my day to Bible study and prayer. (I'm a morning person and always used those good hours for research.) But "the Lord rewards those who seek Him" and I began to prove deeper theorems, and prove them more often. As my research reputation grew, I began to receive invitations to countries hostile to the gospel (Russia, India, and Hungary). While there, we (my wife, our sons, and I) witnessed the risen Lord and helped the local churches anyway we could. The latest international invitation we accepted was from Hungary again, to speak at a conference on Dyadic Harmonic Analysis in the summer of 2009.
     About six years ago, we felt a strong leading to move from the church we had attended for nearly thirty years and join Oakwood Baptist Church. It has been a joy to get to know its members and serve together with them. On September 26, 2010, they and their pastor gave me a great gift and privilege. I was ordained a minister of the gospel.