I was born and raised out on the Plains, in Weeping Water, Nebraska, on the western edge of the dry-land corn belt. I would have been the fifth generation in my family’s shoe and clothing business but the store (along with the café next door) burned to the ground when I was in high school. I went off to the University of Nebraska on a regents scholarship and promptly dropped out after a semester to play in an established rock ‘n roll band based in Lincoln (the band, The Chancellors, was inducted into the Nebraska Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame in 1997). We opened for The Who, Herman’s Hermits, The Grassroots, and the Detroit Wheels. I moved to New York City and spent three years working with troubled teens for the Jewish Child Care Association of New York. I wandered out to California, where I met the young woman who would become my wife. We moved back east and found work at various places, including managing the Knoll Farm Inn in Fayston VT. I apprenticed on three Vermont dairy farms, back when we thought we wanted to get into the business. Migrating south, we finally bought our first home in Bernardston, MA – 8/10 of a mile south of the VT state line. I drove trucks for Pepsi-Cola in Brattleboro and led an unsuccessful attempt to union organize the plant. I drove 18-wheelers for a New England natural foods distributor. It was then that I finally responded to the call to ministry I had felt since my teens. I finished my undergraduate degree through Norwich University’s Vermont College adult learning program, then went to Yale Divinity School to earn my Master of Divinity degree. I was ordained in the United Church of Christ in 1997. I served the Lee, MA, Congregational Church, as senior pastor; worked for Church World Service as the New England Director; and this past February completed a three-year interim ministry at Centre Church in Brattleboro.
I am a singer/songwriter, musician, recording artist, and storyteller. Since 2003 I have told the whole Gospel of Mark from memory in churches and colleges all over the country (www.gospelofmarkalive.com) - including a gig here at the Barre Congregational Church. My latest CDs – “Prairie Child” and “Good Time Gospel Prosperity Blues” – are available at cdbaby.com, Amazon, iTunes, and other music outlets (and from a bag in the back of my car). I love to create original songs and arrangements for worship.
I am still married to that young woman I met in California so many years ago. Her name is Kare. We have lived in our home in Plainfield, MA, for over 20 years. We have two grown children, a son (Eli) and a daughter (Erynn). Erynn and her husband, Alan, are the parents of twin boys who will be 2 this June. I’m sure you’ll have a chance to meet all of them at some point. I know they’re anxious to visit.
