Hi, I’m Larry, and I’m the Associate Pastor at Palmyra BIC. My areas of primary responsibility revolve around pastoral care, focusing on the men, encouraging our small group leaders and being available to support Pastor Terry in any way that I can. The thing that really makes my juices flow is to see people grow in relationships --- to fall more in love with Christ and then to fall more in love with others as a result of being a Christ follower.
BASIC STUFF:
My wife Jill and I have been married for 36 years and have been soul-mates in ministry for that entire time. We met as freshmen in college and were married five years later while I was still in seminary but after Jill had finished her masters program at Wheaton College. We have two wonderful daughters, Allison and Lisa, both of whom are Messiah College grads and both of whom work in the editorial department at Inter Varsity Press. Feeling a need for a change and for some new challenges in ministry, Jill and I came to Palmyra BIC in August of 2006 after having pastored a community church for twenty-seven years on the northern fringe of the Detroit metropolitan area. We’re very much enjoying getting to know both our “new” surroundings and our “new” church family and community.
BIRTH DATE:
February 10, 1949
EDUCATION:
BA in Religion with a minor in Philosophy from Houghton College in New York; Master of Divinity with an emphasis in pastoral studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, IL.
INTERESTS AND FAVORITES:
Places: Alaska; Mackinac Island and the UP of Michigan; Norland and Coboconk, Ontario; the hills and mountains of Pennsylvania in the summer and fall.
Music: I enjoy Bach, Beethoven, Handel and Mozart, and also Simon and Garfunkel, Neil Diamond, Michael W. Smith, Selah, Fernando Ortega and the Canadian Brass.
Books: Anything by John Stott, J. I. Packer and Leon Morris; Lee Strobel, Richard Foster, John Grisham, some of John Maxwell.
TV: Law & Order & CSI
Sport Teams: Duke Blue Devils (Men’s Basketball); Penn State; Detroit Pistons; Detroit Tigers; Detroit Red Wings; Pittsburgh Steelers; Messiah College men and women’s teams.
Movies: Rainman; The Shawshank Redemption; October Sky; Remember the Titans (I’m a Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman fan); Apollo 13; The Princess Bride; While You Were Sleeping; to name a few.
Hobbies: Sports of most any kind; some golf; walking/exercising; time with my family; reading.
Dislikes: Red lights (as in stop lights); people who are cranky, negative and critical; lukewarm food.
Odd Fact: When I was in seminary, I led a Young Life Club in Northbrook, IL. One night I had to swallow a live gold fish during the meeting. Then I drank a coke to kill it. (This is a scaled down version of what happened that night.)
LIFE SCRIPTURE:
All of John 15.
