I am a Professor of Biblical Interpretation and New Testament in the School of Divinity at Regent University in Virginia Beach, VA. 23464.
In God's providence my wife Rose, two teenage daughters, Annette and Emily, and I landed here in 1982 after we had spent almost four years in Nottingham, England, where I completed a Ph.D. dissertation in New Testament at the University of Nottingham under the direction of Prof. James D. G. Dunn.
Rose and I have two grandchildren by Emily, now married to Bruce Morris, who is in the Navy. They live in Fort Worth, Texas. Our first daughter was sadly killed in a motor accident in 1994.
An applied major in Psychology was completed at Westmont College in 1957 and followed by six years in residence study at Fuller Theological Seminary, where I was awarded the B.D. and (eventually) Th.M. degrees (1962/ 1967). My Th.M. thesis has proven to be an important part of my teaching ministry since, "The Reception of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament Church," a study in Acts and the Pauline letters.
Following five years of fruitful and challenging missionary service in Jamaica of the West Indies (1964-69), as a faculty member of the Jamaica Theological Seminary, my wife and I "migrated" to the U.S. I had left single, but returned happily married to a lovely lady from Jamaica! I served in Jamaica with the Missionary Church, with which I am now an ordained minister.
After two years of church ministry, I served with an inner city ministry with headquarters in New Orleans, Trinity Christian Community, 1972-78. I was founding dean and instructor of the lay training institute, which was a part of this independent outreach to the inner city. Three of the biblical studies courses I put together there have become essential to courses I now teach regularly (though beefed up!) in our School of Divinity at Regent.
My professional contacts outside of Regent are with the Society of Pentecostal Studies, The Society of Biblical Literature, The Tyndale Fellowship, The Institute of Biblical Research, and the Evangelical Theological Society. I have on occasion presented papers at three of these.
Published works are not as many at this point as I would like. In 1996 a revision of my Ph.D. dissertation was published by Hendrickson Publishers, Till Jesus Comes: Origins of Christian Apocalyptic Expectation.
Other published works are listed in my Vita.
I consider church connections a vital part of my life and ministry. My wife and I are active members of the First Baptist Church of Norfolk, where I lead a Bible class. This is possible since my ordaining denomination, the Missionary Church, has no local churches in our area.
My life revolves around (all too busily!) Home, School, and Church.
Special times are had for my wife Rose and me in conversation with our two grandchildren. Stephen is now twelve and has tried to expand my knowledge in areas of earth worms and star wars! He is a joy and challenge. He is learning to play to piano. Our five year old granddaughter Katherine is learning to play the violin. She also is a delight. She is a very bright “young lady,” who already has definite ideas of her own!
