David brings over 40 years of ministry experience to his role as a Standing Stone shepherd. He served as a church planter, a lead pastor, and, primarily, as a care pastor on the directional team of a church staff. He has extensive experience as a pastoral counselor and leader of care and recovery ministries. After serving churches throughout his ministry, David is excited to shepherd those who are serving churches and Christian ministries.
David knows what it is to be a pastor struggling with isolation, burnout, ministry failure, habitual sin, and shame. Believing he would have benefitted significantly from having a shepherd, David’s passion is to come alongside pastors to be for them the friend, listener, and encourager he often did not have. David employs his spiritual gift of mercy and his empathetic, compassionate heart in shepherding pastors through one-to-one relationships and through leading small groups of pastors to support each other in authentic community.
Along the way David earned a B.S from Middle Tennessee State University, a Master of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Doctor of Ministry in Marriage and Family Counseling from Denver Seminary.
For over 45 years David has been married to Ellen, a retired registered nurse, who has faithfully and sacrificially served alongside David as a ministry partner. David and Ellen are proud grandparents of six grandchildren, and much of their time is devoted to traveling to visit with them.
Though David married a Texan and has lived in Texas for most of his life, he is a native of Tennessee who makes periodic pilgrimages back home to get Hillbilly booster shots. Among his favorite things are fall colors, Dogwood trees in bloom, East Tennessee mountains, Bluegrass music, RVing, college football, and Moon Pies, but being Paw-Paw to six precious grandchildren tops the list.
Subscribe to receive stories of impact from our Standing Stone shepherds in the field, and the latest ministry updates!