About me

Pastor – I felt the ‘call’ to serve God while I was in Liberia, West Africa working for UMass Medical School during the Ebola outbreak.  To say it was a profound surprise, well I didn’t see it coming.  I have always had some interest in my faith but it became something else while I was there.

I am now a Licensed Local Pastor (LLP) in the United Methodist denomination.  LLP’s like me come to their ministry from all sorts of places, some through seminary, some through a call after their careers, some elsewhere in their lives.  We typically don’t go to seminary, don’t end up with a Masters in Divinity but we do study.  It starts with a year-long effort in a ‘Licensing School’ where we explore and learn the very basics of ministry.  After that we are required to take an ongoing ‘Course of Study,’ a series of courses that is about equivalent to a four year degree, just spread out part-time over many years.

As a LLP I have been appointed to a church (West Springfield UMC) and may serve as minister there, and pretty much only there.  Other ministers in the UM are called ‘Elders’ and their appointment is broader.

I am blessed to have been given this opportunity to serve God so late in my life.  It is a joy that is unlike any ‘job’ I have ever had.

Piper – Let’s get this out there.  I play the Great Highland Bagpipes.  They are loud and apparently polarizing.  You either like them or hate them.  Very few people are on the fence about them.  I started learning to play them (you are always learning to play them) after a trip to Scotland.  Like my ministry, the pipes called me.  I think they are in my blood (3/4 Scottish).  I love playing them.  My wife and I have played duets, she on the organ and me on the pipes, and it has been a wonderful gift to do this together.

I play with the Springfield Kilties Pipes and Drum band.  The band has been around for over one-hundred years and we regularly perform in parades and special events. The band is made up of an amazing mixture of people, young and old. I am blessed to have this group of crazy musicians in my life.

Pilot – Years ago I received my private pilots certificate.  I loved to fly.  It was a lifetime dream to become a pilot.  When I was a youngster I designed, built, and flew model airplanes.  Everything from rubber-band powered, to high powered radio controlled racing model planes.  I loved flying.

When Julie and I got engaged, she still smoked cigarettes (and I still flew airplanes).  I knew the smokes would shorten her life and she was certain I would die in a fiery airplane crash.  So, we made a deal, we both quit.

Four years ago, I was reintroduced to my hobby, model airplanes.  A lot had changed including the advent of drones.  I built a few electric powered model planes and took to the air.  It was like riding a bike, I flew.  This time though there was a camera in the nose so it was almost like flying in the plane.  Then I bought my first drone.  It was something altogether different.

Three years ago the FAA was issuing a new license, a new type of pilot, Remote Pilot.  It was a certificate that allowed for the pilot to fly drones as a commercial pilot, getting paid for flying.  I studied and took the exam and earned my certificate.  From there I launched a commercial, very-part-time, drone business.  I have earned enough to buy a couple of drones and keep myself in the air.

Pastor, Piper, Pilot – There is something about these three combined.  This blog will be the blending of the three.  Sometimes it may be about my ministry, sometimes about piping, sometimes about flying and sometimes, there will be a mashup of them all.  God only knows.