I grew up in a loving, Christian home. Because my older brother had significant, chronic medical challenges, my parents encouraged me early on to be a helper. While still a preschooler, I embraced Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord. I have always been instinctively curious and have ADHD, so my computer often has multiple open tabs. I love researching and learning. All these things explain my circuitous path from law school and a Supreme Court case to plunging a toilet in the inner-city of Knoxville, Tennessee.

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I finished high school when I was fourteen years old at St. Andrew’s School at Wears Valley Ranch, the ministry my parents founded to help kids in crisis family situations. I applied to the University of Tennessee Knoxville and was admitted as a special student that fall. My dad signed me up for two sophomore level honors English courses. This experience deepened my desire for academic study.

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After a rewarding college journey, I went to Washington and Lee University School of Law. I worked for Jay Sekulow throughout law school, graduated at 22 and moved to Washington, DC, to continue my work at the American Center for Law and Justice. When Jay needed an attorney in Nashville, he tapped me to staff the office there. I also produced and directed a weekly television show hosted by Jay’s son. 

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During my time in Nashville, I met my beautiful and brilliant wife, Danielle, an RN at Vanderbilt hospital. We moved to Atlanta, so I could accept a job in corporate law at a Nanotech Company. Danielle was hired and quickly promoted to supervisor for medical care of a multi-location Retirement Community in Georgia. After the birth of our first child, Maggie 2009, Danielle prayed with me about leaving law practice to take a ministry position. We have had four sons since. Wyatt 2011, William 2013, Lewis 2015, and Miles 2016. Danielle has devoted herself to homeschooling our five children.

Ultimately, Danielle and I sensed a call from God to invest our lives in children and youth. I moved to Knoxville to accept a position with an organization focused on teaching best practices in international orphan care. I was asked to devote six months to reestablish an afterschool ministry for at-risk children in the inner-city. The Lonsdale neighborhood had often been front-page news for all the wrong reasons. 

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Because my focus had been on international orphans, I was surprised to find God leading me very clearly to become the Executive Director of this inner-city ministry. Thrive has become a year-round after-school and mentoring program that seeks to provide children in spiritual, emotional, academic, and physical poverty with opportunities for changed lives. As it turns out, much of my ministry here has been with internationals. As the organization has grown to four locations in ten years, it has been exciting to build a model that can be replicated.

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Through my work in the inner-city, I continue to learn many lessons about best practices in childcare. I have heard the stories of families, many of whom have immigrated to the United States and simply want an opportunity to provide for their own families. I have dealt with the failures and the detrimental impact of governmental programs and policies, including complicated issues surrounding racism. I have learned the importance of a caring community in making lasting change. To this end, our small group Bible study planted a healthy church in Lonsdale almost a decade ago. I continue to serve as a teaching elder there. The church continues to grow and is a model of diversity and compassion grounded in biblical truth.

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In January of 2021, with the approval of the Thrive Board, I accepted a second complementary position as Executive Director of Wears Valley Ranch, the children’s home and school my parents had founded 30 years earlier for children from crisis family situations. Wears Valley Ranch is a transformative place for the children, as well as the staff and everyone else involved. Located on over 140 acres bordering the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, WVR could easily be called, “The Prettiest Place to Change Lives.” And isn’t that how the world is changed, one life at a time? 

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I wear many hats: attorney, non-profit leader, teaching elder, and husband and father of five young kids. I plunged a toilet in our church last week. That is not my gift. However, I follow a man who washed the feet of his followers. If we would serve others, we must be willing to do what needs to be done. Repeatedly, I have found the greatest joy comes in doing what Jesus has called us to do.