I was called to serve as First Presbyterian’s Senior Pastor in 2012. But my roots here go deeper than that. I am a native Charlottean and I am a sixth-generation Presbyterian minister. In addition to being son of two ministers, I am the husband of a minister and the brother of a minister. As a teenager I went door to door by my father’s side in evangelism.

I graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill and hold a Master of Divinity degree from Columbia Theological Seminary, where I’m now working on a Doctorate of Ministry. I am a member of the strategy team of NEXT Church, a nationwide conversation about the future of the PC(USA).

Before receiving the call to serve First Pres, I served as associate pastor at Second Presbyterian Church of Richmond, Virginia, and as senior pastor and head of staff at First Presbyterian Church of Shreveport, Louisiana.

My wife, Lindsey, and I are now imposing the interesting life of being a preachers’ kid on our four children.

I am originally from Jacksonville, Florida, but have called North Carolina home for much of my adult life.

After graduating from Davidson College in 1993, I lived in Asheville and Davidson before returning to school. I received a Master’s degree in Counseling from Wake Forest University and was a School Counselor with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools for three years. During that time, I began to sense a call to ministry, and enrolled at Princeton Theological Seminary in the fall of 2002. Upon graduation in 2005, I accepted a call to First Presbyterian Church in Oxford, Mississippi, where I served until being called to First Pres in January 2008.

My ministry focus of Congregational Care allows me to do one of the things I love the best—develop relationships with people and support them through challenging times in life.  Outside of work, I enjoy reading, traveling and spending time with my family.

The decade since I graduated from Davidson College with a Bachelor of Arts in History was not  a direct path to the ministry or to First Presbyterian Church. Studying the history of Presbyterianism led to a deeper search to understand my call from God. I moved to Washington, D.C., where I worked on Capitol Hill and in healthcare consulting. When it became clear that politics was not my call, I moved to Charlotte to work in a nonprofit. While there, I became a member at First Presbyterian Church. My experiences here helped me understand that my true call was the ministry. I received my Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary in 2017. Since then, I served as a Pastoral Resident at White Memorial Church in Raleigh.

My title, Parish Associate, means I get to fill in wherever needed. That’s one thing I love about ministry—the variety of tasks that a minister is called on to do: preach, teach, study, visit, listen, meditate, pray, sing, interact with colleagues, work with children, youth, adults of all ages. I get to do it all. Thank you for giving me this wonderful opportunity to spend my retirement years in this meaningful way.

I came here after 40 years of active ministry, having retired from Philadelphia Presbyterian Church in Mint Hill. Here’s what I learned when I retired: I have way too many neckties and not enough T-shirts. I no longer set an alarm clock!

Barbara and I have four children and eight grandchildren. I come from a family of preachers: my father, brother, two uncles and cousin are/were all Presbyterian pastors. For recreation, I do things like water aerobics, needlepoint, cook, read recipe books and other such fun things.

I am thrilled to be back in my home church to help strengthen our connections to one another and have some fun along the way. I grew up at First Presbyterian and my husband Fritz and two boys, Mason and Hill, are actively involved. I’m a graduate of Davidson College and received my Masters at Duke Divinity School. Most recently, I served as the Parish Associate at Davidson College Presbyterian Church. I find joy in connecting people to one another, building community and celebrating the ways God is at work in the relationships between God’s people.