Growing up on the Southeast side of Houston (South Park), I was exposed to Christ and attended church sporadically with my mother. However, it was not until I was 15 years old that I experienced conversion. During this season in my life I was coping with the disappointment and hurt of my mother’s crack cocaine addiction. I felt an extreme sense of loneliness and began to cry out to God for answers. God, who was pursuing me through His grace, used my situation to make me receptive to Him. I met a beautiful young lady, Carla Walker, and began to spend time with her. Through her influence I started attending St. Luke First Missionary Baptist Church where her father, Rev. Harvey M. Walker, was the pastor. After attending the church for a few months, I committed my life to Christ and was baptized.

Although I received Christ as a teenager, I lived as a marginal Christian well into my early adulthood. However, the circumstances of my spiritual life changed dramatically in the fall of 1999 while I was completing Naval Aviation flight training. I was doing poorly in flight school, and because of my marginal performance, I would not fulfill my dreams of flying high-performance jet aircraft. In addition to my career disappointment, I was becoming increasingly dissatisfied with my spiritual life. I began to search out God’s purpose for my life. I purchased the book Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby. As I read it, God showed me how His grace had covered me over the years. I experienced the love of God, and more important, this was the first time I could truly say I loved God. I resolved in my heart to be an authentic Christian. Six months later, in April of 2000 while attending a communion service, I felt the presence of God unlike ever before. He impressed upon my spirit that He was calling me into ministry. I responded by telling my pastor what God was doing within my heart. Since this experience, I have been involved in ministry.