Our Churches

In the years since our marriage, Joanne and I have been members of twelve churches. Each one was unique in its contribution to our family.  Each one was unique in the contribution we made to it.  We watched our two children grow up in five of them.  I baptized our daughter at one, watched our son get baptized at another, and baptized our granddaughter at still another. We attended weddings, funerals, baby dedications and other such special occasions at most.  In addition to our tithe, we assisted financially with three building programs and with mission offerings at each.  Between the two of us, we’ve traveled and represented these churches in mission projects in fifty-nine countries.  We’ve had twelve pastors, and two Interim Pastors, plus I served as Pastor at two of them (one while in college; another while in seminary).  We still communicate with friends from ten of the twelve.  Over the same number of years, I served twenty-nine churches in two states as Interim Pastor.  While limited by distance in some and family responsibilities in others, Joanne has accompanied me in many of these. Needless to say, churches, even with all their diversity, have been a major part of our marriage and our family. “So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.”