I am a layperson who has been in the Spirit-led culture since my salvation in 1975 at the age of 29. I have been a deacon in a Baptist church and was a board member of a large Pentecostal church for twenty years, the founding pastor of which had to leave due to a moral failure. My wife and I have attended several other small, medium, and large churches as a result of job and house moves.

We have taught classes on End Times, adult Sunday school, and Restoring Relationships, a program developed by Christian psychologist Dominic Herbst. The principles of this program have had a huge impact on me and my family, and they are used liberally throughout The Tower and The Organic Church.

My wife has held every position in large Christian K-12 schools, earned her doctorate, and is currently an adjunct professor at a Christian university. Two of our children and their spouses are full time pastors. As you can imagine, I have seen the inner workings of Christian ministries up close and personal.

I have a couple of engineering degrees, with concentrations in computer science and operations research. I took early retirement after 30 years in the computer department of a large electric utility. I then transitioned to IT consulting and project management for several large law firms, where I am currently working full time. The last few years I have felt led to write books on various topics related to End Times.

In both my professional and church ministry roles, I long ago established a principle of trying not to draw conclusions prematurely, but rather of gathering a lot of data and letting that data suggest patterns and conclusions. Especially in studying End Times, I discovered that we often are taught controversial ideas as quasi-doctrines, which then become preconceived lenses through which we interpret additional information. The diversity of these ideas unfortunately cause divisions and strife within the body of Christ.

My personal Restoring Relationships journey revealed, surprisingly, that the source of such divisive preconceptions is often hurts we experienced in childhood. By dealing with these in a redemptive manner we develop a much broader perspective of God, avoid unnecessary strife in religious matters, and accept Him truly as our loving Father. We can even forgive those who have hurt us and pray that they become members of God's eternal family. Then we can finally be released to discover and fulfill our God-ordained potential here on earth.

One idea that has intrigued me for years is how our perception of God and our relationship to Him affects our behavior in His Kingdom during this present earthly life, how such behavior relates to our life in heaven after our death, and perhaps even most importantly, how that experience in heaven prepares us for life back on earth during the thousand year Millennium.

Does the Bible shed light on these questions? If it does, we could have even more incentive to examine every aspect of our current lives so as to grow in godliness, knowing that we are also preparing for our future in heaven, our time on the Millennial earth, and our eternal life in a new heaven and earth.