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About Me

I am 30 years old and work as a programmer in Northern Virginia. My wife,Bonnie, and I have been married 10 years. We have five children Larry,Matthew,Katie and Jacob, and Benjamin .

My parents were saved at a Baptist Church a few years after I was born. My mother was from a Baptist backround but had never accepted Christ as Savior and my father was from a Catholic backround.

I was saved when I was 7 years old. While at a Christian camp I became convinced of my sin and my need of the Savior. I came home and my father went through the scriptures with me and led me to the Lord.

I was raised in Independent Baptist Churches(my dad moved around because of work) and I have seen just about every variety of them in my 28 years of life. I was in IFB churches that did not allow women to wear pants and I have been in IFB churches that were Baptist Bride and KJV Only.

As far as my beliefs go, I believe in the 14 fundamentals of the Niagara 1878 confession. I also believe in the 8 Baptist distinctives listed on the Origins of IFBs page.

I have loved world history since junior high school. I started to take an interest in church history specifically when I was 18 - so I have been studying it on my own from books and Internet articles for about 10 years.

About 6 years ago I was challenged on the KJV Only issue. I knew nothing about the versions issue. I used a KJV for most of my life not really knowing much about other translations until when I was 19 years old I attended a Baptist Church that used the NIV.

That was when I bought my first NIV about 9 years ago. I bought an NIV Study Bible and instantly loved it. I was amazed at how clear it was and how certain passages I had read for years became so much more clear.

About 3 years after buying my first NIV I was at a friends house(who at the time was a youth pastor) and he had another friend over. We were having a Bible study and his friend noticed I had an NIV(they both had KJVs).

He took a great offense to my having an NIV and told me that it was a perversion of the Word of God. He told me that the NIV deleted verses purposely in a conspiracy to change the Word of God.

He took me to Acts 8:37 and showed me how it was missing from my NIV. He showed me some other passages as well that were missing or very different.

At this time I knew next to nothing about the translation and textual debates and this was the first time I heard the term "Textus Receptus". He told me the "Textus Receptus" was the preserved word of God and that was what the KJV was translated from. He told me all the modern translations like my NIV were translated from a corrupt Greek text made in the late 1800's.

I have never been one to just take people at their word, I am one who studies things out. I told him I would have to get back to him because I did not have any knowledge in the areas he was talking about.

In the months to follow I found alot of Internet sites dealing with the issue and most were KJV Only. They almost had me convinced the NIV was wrong when I came across some sites debunking KJV onlyism.

I bought some other books and discovered the true history of the TR and the main thing that brought me to believe that KJV Onlyism was wrong. I ordered a 1611 early edition remake from Thompson Nelson publishers - I read the preface THE TRANSLATORS TO THE READER and was amazed at their philosophy of translation.

Another book that brought me to realize KJV Onlyism was wrong was actually by a defender of KJV Onlyism, Edward Hills. In his book he admitted that there were phrases and wording in the KJV that had no Greek manuscript support whatsoever. I was pleased with his honesty though I did not agree with his conclusion that these phrases were specially preserved by God in the TR.

Another area where I came to disagree with my upbringing as an IFB was in the area of eschatology(prophecy). I was raised in churches that taught Dispensational Theology.

I was asked one day by a coworker to prove from the Bible that the rapture was a separate event before the tribulation and then Christ would come in Glory with the saints. I had always believed this from the time I was saved but never really questioned it.

The coworker was not a post-tribulationist, in fact he knew little of the Bible and was asking out of genuine curiosity. So I started an intense study to prove to my coworker the pre-tribulational rapture of the church.

I will go into the results of my study in more detail on this site in various articles on prophecy. But to make a long story short I went into my study of prophecy an avid Dispensational Premillenialist and came out of it a Historic Premillenialist. I will go into the differences in more detail but the main differences are that I believe in a post-tribulational rapture and that the coming of the Lord is one event. I also believe that spiritual Israel(not natural) and the New Testament Church are one and they both make up the body of Christ.

Some other areas I have researched over the last 10 years are tithing,drinking alchohal,movies and music. I will share with you on this site the things that God has revealed to me on these issues.

I know what it is like to live under the huge guilt trip that many IFB churches put there membership under. I am hoping to help people like I was years back who no little about these issues but get clobbered over the head by IFBs who know more than they do.

If I leave my children with anything - I hope it will be a love for the truth. God's Word is the supreme source of truth and I hope they will always test everything they believe as well as what their church teaches and believes by the Word of God.

2004 was a trying year for me and my family. I was out of work the first few months of the year and had to move around in Michigan for work. Eventually God moved us to Northern Virginia this last August. I have found steady work and God is blessing.

We found a great church in Northern Virginia and have now joined. We look forward to serving the Lord here and I plan to continue this ministry as well. It really has been a breath of fresh air being at this church. They are Bible believing and fundamental, but they do not teach the traditions of men for the commands of God. They are open for discussion on areas that are not fundamentals of the faith.

There is still some areas where I have disagreements with this church though. For instance, in the area of eschatology they are Dispensational Premillenial. But the neat thing about this church, is that they are open for discussion on the topic of prophecy. We had some studies on it and we were able to discuss the various views openly and without fear of being shut out for the various positions we may hold.

I am not sure if the Lord may be leading me to start a good solid IFB church in our area someday in the future. But I do believe the Lord has a ministry for me through this site. It may just be God's will that I help young Pastors coming out of or just going into Bible Colleges to see the errors in modern fundamental Baptist churches. Maybe then we can see a whole new generation of IFB Pastors that will reform our churches and make us what we ought to be for the Lord.

Some may ask how I can be of help to a Pastor when I am not one. I must admit that I would not be able to help a Pastor in all areas. There are just some areas only another Pastor with years of experiance can help in. But there are areas, expecially in doctrinal and church history studies, where I can be helpful and where I don't have to be a Pastor to make an impact. In these areas I hope God will use me as he sees fit.

If you share the values I present on this site as well as the concerns I have with IFBs and would like to see the some of or all of the changes I have suggested please email me and let me know.

As of this update to this page on July 27th 2005, there have been over 24,000 visitors and over 64,000 hits to this site since I put it up at the end of April 2003. I have received several emails from people telling me how the Lord has blessed them through this site, and that they share my concerns with and vision for the IFB church.