It Started with a Song

I recently and unexpectedly came across a rough recording of the first song I ever composed titled, “Sunrise Over Jordan.” This discovery brought a flood of rich memories.

I was 14 years old...

...and getting ready to enter my freshman year of high school. One night, I was alone in my room thinking about the future and considering the paths that many of my friends were on. Some were stoners, some surfers, some jocks, and some geeks. I was wondering which group I might join and where they were ultimately headed. And I quickly realized that all these routes were just dead ends.

So, I found myself praying, “God, if you’re really there and you’re the God the Bible describes, reveal yourself to me in some way, and I will devote my life to following you. No other choice makes sense.” After that, I went to sleep.

Later that night, I woke up with a phrase in my mind, sunrise over Jordan. And I found myself humming a melody. I got up, grabbed my guitar, and as quickly as I could play and write, I had composed a song.

I instantly knew three things:

(1) God had heard my prayer.

(2) He knew something about me I had never told a soul – that I wanted to be able to write music.

(3) I would devote my life to him.

Then, about two months later, I experienced the icing on the cake. I was at a campground alone in my tent singing my little song when a pastor who was passing by, heard me, stuck his head in, and asked me who wrote it. He then complimented me on the biblical symbolism of the lyrics. When I asked him what he meant, he said the Jordan river was the threshold the Israelites crossed to enter the Promised Land. It symbolizes our passage, as believers, from death into life. So, for Christians, there is a sunrise over Jordan.

Well, I had absolutely no idea whatsoever about any of that. And having a minister explain my own song to me was a remarkable moment that once again demonstrated to me the power of the loving God who had answered the honest, simple prayer of a sincerely-seeking, young, teen-aged boy.

And then I slipped into the current...

...of the powerful stream of God’s grace that continues to carry me along the adventure of my life.

I formed a band called, Children of the Light, with some friends so we could share our faith through the music the Lord was giving us and spent nearly a decade traveling the US and Canada singing about Jesus.

I met and married the most wonderful woman in the world – my dearest Sue – with whom I have experienced sheer bliss for over 50 years. And we have been blessed to raise three children, thrilled to see them marry extraordinary people, and gifted to love seven amazing grandchildren.

Along the way, I had the privilege of serving on staff in three churches and as lead pastor in four others that I either started or restarted. In addition, I’ve been honored to serve my denomination in a number of roles.

And for more than 15 years, Sue and I were delighted to have the opportunity to work with the largest Christian missions organization in the world, Youth With A Mission (YWAM), by traveling to the nation of Taiwan twice a year to teach in a Discipleship Training School and provide pastoral care to those who staffed the YWAM ministries there.

It’s been a wild and wonderful journey.

And now...

...after retiring from being local church pastors after nearly 40 years, Sue and I stepped across the threshold into the next season of our lives and launched a new ministry called, Crosspointe. This provides the platform for us to serve churches and ministries both in the U.S. and beyond by creating Bible teaching content, leading marriage seminars, conducting men’s and women’s conferences, helping people experience healing from wounds to their souls, mentoring young church leaders, and discipling new believers.

It’s my hope that you might discover something within these digital pages that will draw you closer to the ONE who put the song in my heart and has allowed me the unspeakable honor to have a part in His grand symphony.