I am from Wenonah, NJ, and grew up in the Memorial Presbyterian Church there. I actually met my future wife, Cindy, there when we were both in the nursery – she doesn’t remember that, but I do. We got reacquainted at the same church many years later and were married in the fall of 1978. 

We had only been married for a few months when I heard my call to the ministry. I entered Princeton Theological Seminary in the fall of 1979 and completed my Master of Divinity degree three years later. Our first daughter, Laura, was born during our years at Princeton. 

I also have a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Virginia. Before college I was a five-year boarding student at The Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, NJ. My first three years in the ministry were as an associate pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Murrysville, PA, a bedroom community in the suburbs of Pittsburgh , where our children Craig and Emily were born. Then came seven years with Hope Presbyterian in Dauphin, PA, just north of Harrisburg.

We arrived at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in 1991. We have found FAPC to be an oasis of Christian community in the heart of New York City. It is a place where people from all walks and stages of life find fellowship and friendship as part of a faith family that touches countless lives in the name of Jesus Christ. Because I am responsible for cultivating new members into our faith community, I teach the “What We Believe” class four times every year to those interested in exploring membership in FAPC. 

As part of our Adult Education program, I have also taught “Discovering Your Spiritual Gifts” and a series of classes in Celtic spirituality, which have been inspired by my pilgrimages with Cindy to the Iona community in Scotland.

Today Cindy is a lower school librarian in a private school in New York City, where we have made our home since 1991. Laura is living in Denver where she is completing her THM degree at the Lutheran School of Theology finishing her THM Degree and living in Denver.  Craig is a mechanical engineer in the Bay Area in California. Emily is a medical student at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx.

In 2011 I celebrated my 20th anniversary at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. We have found this church to be a place of great spiritual depth and breadth, made up of Christians from across the country and around the world. It is a place where people make creative use of their gifts for ministry, linking arms together in service to the world. It is a place we call “home!”