I was
raised in California by an Italian
mother and a Portuguese father. We were
Roman Catholic, and I was very involved
in the church. My dad mainly worked as a
brick layer, and my mom was a homemaker.
My mother was diagnosed with a form of
cancer called Hodgkin's disease when I
was about seven and she was about 27
years old, and she suffered with that
until she died at age 33. I was in the
seventh grade at the time, and my life
was deeply affected by her loss. She was
a great mother and my spiritual
influence in the Catholic Church. As she
drew closer to death, she started asking
more questions about her relationship
with Christ. That's when an aunt and
uncle who were believers came to visit
her a couple of times near the end and
led her to faith in Christ just two
weeks before she died.
When growing up, I had always struggled
in school, but from that time on, I
didn’t even try. At the end of my Junior
year of high school, I too came to faith
in Christ, but life was still
complicated. After barely graduating
from high school, I held various odd
jobs, joined the Navy, and eventually
was sent overseas to serve for two years
on the island of Guam. This was during
the Viet Nam conflict, and I was
grateful to be able to serve. My time on
Guam was a significant time of change
for me. Because of the influence of some
missionaries there, some friendships
that I developed, and God’s peculiar
work in my life at that time, major
changes were beginning. When I came back
to the states, I had decided to go to
college to possibly prepare for work
with juveniles or church youth. I
graduated from the school now known as
The Master’s College in southern
California, and then moved up to Tacoma,
Washington to attend Northwest Baptist
Seminary.
While working on my M.Div. degree, Bruce
and I started talking and studying about
the possibilities of starting a church
in the area that might reflect both
solid biblical principles, and
reasonable cultural sensitivity in our
local community. After finishing my
three years at the seminary, a small
group of us started a home Bible study
that grew into Fellowship Bible Church.
My main duties at FBC include
counseling, discipleship, some teaching,
and miscellaneous other duties. Since
2005 I have also enjoyed teaching a
biblical counseling course at Northwest
Baptist Seminary here in town.
When I’m not working as a pastor or
adjunct professor, I enjoy a variety of
activities including attending stage
productions, concerts, doing some
reading, and the thing I spend the most
discretionary time on is various car
projects. Restoring old Mustangs
occupies much of my attention there. I
am married to Diana, and we have three
grown children, Ryan, Christina, and
Adina, who all live in the Tacoma area.
When I think of the message or purpose I
most want to be remembered by, I am
reminded of something I read many years
ago that still resonates with me. I
would like to be remembered as being:
Biblical without being fundamentalistic
Spiritual without being withdrawn from
the world
And engaged with the world without being
conformed to it
