Midway Church

I was born June 8, 1964 and was raised in Tallapoosa, GA. As a boy, I grew up working in my dad’s sporting goods store and on my granddad’s farm. I began my official work career at the age of 15 at the local grocery store and have never been unemployed since. During my early college days I dreamed of becoming a mechanical engineer and worked in a manufacturing company in various roles.A serious car accident in 1982 led me to a deeper understanding of life. My dreams changed from improving machinery to improving the lives of people and fulfilling my God-given purpose. I married my childhood sweetheart and began seminary. My wife and I worked with inner-city poor children from 1983 until 1986. I joined the pastoral staff of a large church in south-metro Atlanta in 1986, and served as the Lead Pastor from 1988 to 1996. During the same period I was President of the church’s private school, which more than doubled in size to almost 1000 students.In 1996 I became the Lead Pastor of Midway Church, a small historic single race congregation of 200 people with an average age of 58. The church is in rural west Georgia six miles from the nearest town. Now, it’s a place where over 3400 racially diverse people with an average age of 34 serve and receive ministry together. Midway was recognized as the fastest-growing church in the Georgia Baptist Convention’smega-church category in 2007, and number three in 2011.My focus is an Intentional Visionary approach to life, leadership, and legacy. It has forced me to learn much about communicating vision, church revitalization and growth and leading through difficult change with integrity. I love to add value to others with what I have learned, and I’m available to speak to churches, non-profits, corporate, and educational venues.I have provided leadership training in the U.S. and 15 countries in Africa, Asia, Central America, Europe, and South America. I am on the teaching faculty of Global Focus, Inc. and the International Leadership Institute. I am a certified trainer to deliver William Bridges & Associates’ Individual Transition in Organizations, and Managing Organizational Transitions. I am a constant learner, currently pursuing my PhD Degree with a research focus of Leading Churches through Transformative Change. I have written one book called Journeys: Transitioning Churches to Relevance, co-authored with Marty Duren, Social Media Strategist at LIFEWAY. I have been married for thirty years to my wife, Lisa, who manages our family, farm, and investment properties. We have two married daughters. We live on a cattle and horse farm sixty miles west of Atlanta, Georgia. In my free time, I enjoy hanging out with family and friends, working with horses, gardening, and golfing.