I begin my story one evening in April 1969 when, as a teenager, I asked Christ to come into my life. Though I didn’t start going to church immediately, I did start reading the Bible on my own. Soon, I was seeking out some friends from my junior high years who had witnessed to me at that time, and started going to their church. By the time I was ready to go on to college I determined that God had called me to become a pastor and I declared my major to be History. I also started attending a local para-church organization called Shekinah Fellowship on Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturday evenings. The meetings were charismatic and the leader, Brant Baker, patterned his ministry after Kathryn Khulman. It was during this period of my life that I began to minister in the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
In 1978, I started attending Calvary Chapel of Long Beach and also Melodyland graduate school of Theology in Anaheim. In 1980, I transferred my course work to Fuller Seminary and began as assistant pastor of Calvary Chapel of Long Beach. In 1981, I finished my course work at Fuller Seminary and received my Master of Divinity degree. In 1982 I travelled to Israel and was especially fascinated with the Dead Sea Scrolls and the ancient Qumran community next to the Dead Sea. That year, our church also became part of the fledgling Vineyard movement headed by John Wimber. I stayed on as assistant pastor until 1984 when I left with my family to teach English in China.
When I returned from China the next year, I realized that the pastoral ministry was not my calling. I went on to finish my training as an English teacher and received my M.A. in Applied Linguistics in 1992. I have been teaching English to Speakers of other Languages (ESL) in the community colleges and other venues for the past thirty years.
After returning from China, I went through a very long dry period (spiritually) lasting until about 2000-2001. Though I was always a consistent church-goer, I believe I was more preoccupied with my own wants and needs rather than in building the Kingdom of God. I think my life at that time was best characterized by 1 John 2:15-16 and Revelation 3:16; one foot in the world and one foot in the Kingdom of God. In 2001, a young Korean man in one of my ESL classes challenged me to live one hundred percent for God. He introduced me to worship music from Soul Survivor in Watford, England. I started appreciating God in a second person, intimate sense unknown to me since the early years of my Christian experience. I really had returned to my first love.
In 2009, I wrote my book on the Dead Sea Scrolls fulfilling a need to document my interest in this aspect of biblical archaeology. The following year I finished my book on Chinese idioms and how they might relate to the Bible. I also followed up my earlier interest in China by attending summer conferences in Xi'an, China with CEO Global in 2014 and 2015. These were life-changing seminars and I have been back to China almost every year since.
Currently, I am retired, and attending Calvary Chapel Pacific Hills with my wife. I also attend Cornerstone Community Church in San Clemente, California where I am working on an academic library for use by the community there. Finally, I am looking to improve my Chinese language ability, and HTML/CSS skills.
（中文翻译）
我的故事开始于1969年4月的一个晚上，当时我还是个十几岁的少年，我请求基督进入了我的生命。尽管我并没有立刻开始去教会，但我开始独自阅读圣经。不久，我找到同一个初中的几个同学，那时他们和我分享了他们各自的见证，我开始和他们一起去教会。当我准备进入大学深造时，我确定上帝呼召我要成为一个牧师，我选择历史为我的专业。我还开始在星期一，星期二，星期六参加本地一个叫Shekinah Fellowship的团契。这些会议充满神的恩膏，领导人是Brant Baker，类似于Kathryn Khulman的事工。正是在我人生的这段时间里，我开始领受圣灵的恩赐来侍奉。
1978年，我开始前往加略山长滩教会并且就读于Anaheim的Melodyland神学院。在1980年，我转学至富勒神学院并且开始担任加略山长滩教会的助理牧师。1981年，我完成了在富勒神学院的课程，获得了神学硕士学位。1982年，我前往以色列，对死海古卷和死海边的库姆兰社区遗址非常着迷。同一年，我们的教会也加入了John Wimber发起的葡萄园运动。我一直担任教会的助理牧师，直到1984年我离开家人前往中国从事英语教育工作。
当我来年从中国回来，我认识到牧师并不是我的使命呼召。我继续完成我英语教师的培训，并于1992年获得了应用语言学硕士学位。我开始在社区大学和其他地方向非英语母语的学生教授英语ESL课程。
从中国回来后，我经历了很长一段时间的属灵的干旱期，直到2000至2001年左右。尽管我还一直去教会，但我相信我更关注于我自己的需要和需求，而不是为了建立 神的国度。我想我当时的属灵景况正如约翰一书2:15-16和启示录3:16节所描述的，一只脚在世界一只脚在天国。在2001年，我班上一位来自韩国的学生挑战我，要我百分百的为上帝而活。他向我介绍了来自英国的Watford的灵魂幸存者的敬拜音乐。我开始像是另外一个人那样领悟上帝，自从我过去成为基督徒以来，从未感受到的亲密感。我真的回到了我最初的爱。
在2009年，我完成了«死海古卷»一书，满足了我在圣经考古学方面的兴趣。接下来的一年里，我又完成了中文成语以及他们可能与圣经之间关系的书。我继续早先对中国的兴趣，在2014和2015年，和全球的CEO们一起参加了在中国西安召开的夏季会议。这些会议改变了我的生活，自那以后我几乎每年都要回到中国。
目前，我已经退休，并和我的妻子一起参加了Calvary Chapel Pacific Hills。 我还参加了加利福尼亚州圣克莱门特的Cornerstone社区教堂，在那里我正在研究一个可供社区使用的学术图书馆。 最后，我希望提高自己的中文能力和HTML / CSS技能。