testimony.html

Music has always been a part of my family. My grandmother Irene was a bluegrass musician and singer, and as a child I sang in our family quartet with my father, brother, and younger sister. While other boys and girls were involved in sports and other activities, my childhood was filled with Saturday night singings, church concerts, music festivals, and theatre shows.
In 1994, just three months after getting married I decided to turn professional country music singer. I signed with a booking agency out of Orlando Florida and quickly began a grueling tour schedule that would put me on the road for more than 250 days per year. This hectic and busy lifestyle was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. The pressures of the music industry made me very vulnerable to the lies of Satan. I became a heavy user of drugs and alcohol, and nearly lost my wife and family because of adultery and substance abuse. In January 1998 all that changed when I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. My wife forgave me for the adultery, alcohol and drug abuse, and Jesus changed my life.
In February 1998 I signed an independent record deal and released my debut album “When you love somebody”. My career began to quickly take off and I began touring as the opening act for some of country music’s biggest stars. Kenny Chesney, Charlie Daniels, Lonestar, Sara Evans, Toby Keith, and Tracy Byrd are just a few of the names that I opened concerts for.
Just as my career was taking off tragedy struck as me and my band were almost killed by a drunk driver while on tour. In August 1999 I was touring South Dakota and late one night on my way to check in to our hotel a drunk driver hit me in a head on collision at 75 m.p.h. I suffered a lacerated liver, and other internal injuries that almost killed me.
It took several months to recover from the accident, and in the spring of 2000 I accepted the call to preach. I left the country music industry in March 2000, and have been serving the Lord ever since. I’ve had the privilege to serve as a youth pastor and associate pastor at several churches and now travel the country singing and preaching as a full time evangelist. I also perform as part of the Country Tonite Theatre morning show, and headline my own show at the American Oldies Theatre in Pigeon Forge, TN.
My family and I are members of Ridgepoint Church in Oak Ridge, TN where my wife and three children are active in the music and children’s ministries.
God restored my marriage and home and I am eternally grateful for his grace, love, and mercy!