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I am the CEO and co-founder of Proven Learning in Nicholasville, KY. As a regional reseller and provider of educational technology products, I interact with educators and administrators on a daily basis. This has afforded many opportunities to pray for, encourage, and counsel individuals and associates through the personal relationships that have been developed over the past 10+ years. We earnestly seek to enhance the personal and professional lives of our team members, establish relationships with business partners that are built on performance and trust, and treat all people in a manner that brings glory to God.
My wife Dana and I just celebrated our twentieth anniversary and have been blessed with six children (five girls and one boy). We have witnessed an incredible transformation in our oldest daughter’s life this past year after many years of prevailing darkness. It has been encouraging to our family as well as our local church body and is truly a testimony to the overwhelming sovereign grace of God that is able to overcome all of the deception the world has to offer. We have also noticed over the years that our family continues to be a safe haven for friends of our kids that don’t have a consistently present father figure in their lives (based on divorce or other unique circumstances). The relationships our children have formed have provided opportunities to encourage these kids along with their sibling and parent(s) as well.
This next year we will help launch a church plant (Shadowland Community Church) in Nicholasville. This work is being planted out of First Alliance Church in Lexington, KY. We are aiming for a start-up date in the Fall of 2015 and are planning to utilize meeting space at West Jessamine High School along with a renovated office/counseling/ministry space above a local coffee shop in downtown Nicholasville. I will be serving on the Provisional Leadership Team during the planting phase and look forward to transitioning into a more formal leadership role in the body within the next few years. The current plan for Shadowland Community Church does not involve full-time staff members, but the goal is to have several leaders serving and equipping the body in the margins of their own lives. My role will involve teaching along with organizing and motivating the body to live out their own unique purposes and ministries throughout the community.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time at DTS…all 8 years! I was privileged to serve under local pastors that were DTS Graduates in the Dallas area (Denton, Lake Dallas, and Kaufman), and I honestly spent very little time on campus due to family and ministry responsibilities. However, many of my classes required group projects and presentations which called for additional meetings outside of class time. This helped me connect with other classmates and led to the formation of a few lifelong friendships. I also remember walking out of the Student Center (most likely with Free Books and Free Bread in hand) just in time to see a Longhorn trotting across campus! A truck had overturned at the curve on 175 coming into Dallas and several of the animals were roaming around downtown.
I was in Dr. Hannah’s Church History class in the Fall of 2001 and greatly appreciated his handling of the events surrounding 9/11. We discussed these events right in line with the Rise of Islam and heard extensively from classmates that were former Muslims. I was also in class with Dr. Hannah in the Spring of 1999 when the Columbine Tragedy occurred. His counsel and comments were filled with wisdom and God-exalting direction. I distinctly recall Dr. Bailey praying for families that were affected by tragedies such as these. His request was for the Father to protect them from unwise counselors with poor theology. This has stuck with me over the years.
I believe the greatest contribution that I received from DTS was the rock-solid commitment to the veracity of the scriptures and the God who authored them. This has provided me with an absolute certainty I can hold onto in the midst of an unsure, ever-changing world that is filled with conflicting messages of hopelessness and despair. The sovereign grace of God and the trustworthiness of the scriptures have helped me endure pain, rejection, and disappointment in ministry, business, and my personal life. They have provided assurance and comfort through the seemingly darkest of times both professionally and personally. I was blessed to receive instruction from men that know their God and treasure His Word while also acknowledging their own weaknesses and needs.
We look forward with great anticipation to see what the Lord brings to pass over the next few years and greatly covet your prayers for our marriage, children, business, and church plant. Might you be consistently encouraged by the One “who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy!”