About Propadeutic

First of All, Where Did I Go?

Some of you may wonder why this site is no longer updated. Simply put, both sides of the website grew in popularity until they were simply too much to keep up with. In the past two months (Feb.-Mar. 2006) I could only answer a fraction of site-related e-mail, and my update schedule kept being put off by other life obligations. My church staff position and personal priorities have left little room for the Internet, and so I've decided I'll just have to let this go for a while. Very rarely, from time to time, I may tweak the site a little. But otherwise, the pages will remain as they stand, at least until my life takes an unexpected turn that offers more time for leisurely pursuits.

Where Do I Come From?

I was born September 5, 1974, in Enid, Oklahoma. My dad was a school teacher, and my mom, when working, was an interpreter for the deaf. My dad went into full-time music ministry in 1980. I became a regenerate (born-again) Christian in 1981, and I spent most of my childhood in Overland Park, Olathe, and Haysville, Kansas. Our family moved to Vandalia, Ohio, in 1989, and I graduated from Butler High School in 1993. Throughout my schooling, my aspirations went from computers to biology to chemistry to math, and finally to psychology.

I attended Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, Oklahoma, and graduated from there with a B.A. in Psychology. I entered a Ph.D. program at Wright State University, and shortly thereafter, God called me to became a teacher of the Bible, and so I left psychology to enter Southern Seminary in Louisville. I have had my own computer since summer 1999, and I began building my own web site in August 2001.

Where Am I Now?

I enjoy a wonderful family life with my wife DeKay and my daughters Snert and Plasma. Just kidding, I'm single.

Seriously, I’m currently on staff at a church in Louisville. It’s an SBC church with a missions-minded outlook and a conservative, Reformed doctrinal stance. My ministry doesn’t lend itself to a common title, but it’s a combination of secretary, Sunday school director, librarian, evangelism coordination, and some associate pastoral duties such as occasional preaching. I also led congregational worship from January to August and continue to work with our new music minister.

What leisure time I have is spent reading, writing, computing, and advancing my relationships with God and friends. I still retain many of the interests of my childhood--video games, G. I. Joe, Star Wars, and Star Trek, and occasionally the Transformers, Looney Tunes, and selected '80s music. (I also do a little Pokémon on the side, which is not the spawn of Satan despite what you might have heard.) I try to subordinate these interests to the more weighty matters, and so I've placed content from both the sacred and the profane onto this site.

You want a personality profile? OK. I have an analytical, almost perfectionistic tendency in my personality. I love to critique, discover, learn, and communicate information. I'm highly individualistic and introverted, gaining my energy from time spent alone, but feeling drained at social events. I prefer thinking over feeling, and I prefer to have definite beliefs than to be without an opinion. I've overcome a severe inferiority/persecution complex I had from the ostracism I experienced growing up, but I still retain a healthy degree of humility. For those of you who are into the four temperaments, I always score a zero on "sanguine" and am proud of it. But I'm mostly happy with my life, and I am confident that God will keep improving me and advancing me toward the plans He has for me.

Where Am I Going?

I’m happy where I am right now, but I'll go wherever God guides me and continue to seek His will with regard to my ministry. I know that God has called me to teach the things of God to the people of God, and my tasks at Hillsdale fit perfectly with my calling and talents. If when I leave this world, I leave a church that's more mature and effective, and offspring who are children of God, committed to a Bible they know and think about, I will be satisfied with what I have done here. And if I touch a few lives along the way through my web site, so much the better.

So What's With the Name?

Propadeutic, more properly spelled propaedeutic, comes from the Greek words pro (before) and paedeuo (to train). It can be a noun or an adjective, and has to do with introductory material, knowledge that is necessary to have before studying a topic. For example, being able to type is propadeutic to computer programming. Learning how to interpret the Bible correctly is propaedeutic to responsible preaching. An understanding of Ancient Near Eastern literature is propaedeutic to understanding Old Testament passages that describe God as riding the clouds or dwelling in the north.

I chose this as my screen name because it is distinctive, and because I have a passion for equipping people with the tools necessary to understand the issues they wish to explore. On occasion, I participate in various discussion groups under this name, and I have used other screen names in the past as well. Propadeutic also stands for the purpose of the Realms of Faith site: to Provide Resources, & Original Practical And Doctrinal Essays Under Topics In Christianity.

Propadeutic through the Years