They used to call me a Renaissance Redneck—a hillbilly with a music degree who somehow ended up leading worship for thousands while gradually questioning everything I was supposed to believe. Now, writing from my Barcelona balcony overlooking the Mediterranean, I can finally tell you who I actually am instead of who I was expected to be.

The Threshold Crosser

My most valuable education has come from crossing thresholds that others warned against. At 28, I left the poverty of the Appalachians to pursue a music degree in Palm Beach, Florida. Can you say culture shock? At 47, I walked away from a guaranteed megachurch career in Nashville to follow my curiosity wherever it led. At 65, I left America entirely, trading American malaise for Spanish uncertainty.

Each crossing stripped away another layer of borrowed identity until I discovered something revolutionary: I didn’t need fixing. I needed freedom.

The Journey from Pulpit to Authenticity

For three decades, I stood in Southern Baptist pulpits singing a gospel I was slowly outgrowing. Music director, executive team member, worship leader for thousands—I had the perfect evangelical resume and a soul that was slowly suffocating.

The breaking point came not in dramatic crisis, but in the quiet recognition that I could no longer live someone else’s version of my life. So I began the great purging: shedding beliefs that no longer served, relationships that required performance over authenticity, and the crushing weight of other people’s expectations.

The result? A Renaissance Redneck in a Mega-Church Pulpit became a bestselling memoir, and I became a different kind of minister—one who preaches liberation instead of limitation.

Barcelona: Where Transformation Became Daily Practice

In 2023, Spain offered something America couldn’t: permission to be fully human. Here, sensuality isn’t sin, curiosity isn’t dangerous, and community doesn’t require conformity. The Mediterranean sun has been slowly healing decades of evangelical shame, one honest conversation at a time.

From my Barcelona perspective, I now write about the intersections of spirituality and sexuality, freedom and responsibility, desire and wisdom. Topics that would have scandalized my former congregation have become the foundation of authentic living.

The Creator of Experiences

Ever curious about human transformation, I’ve spent my post-evangelical years creating spaces where people can examine their own cages:

re:Create Conferences (1999-2017): Sixteen years of international gatherings that proved creativity and spirituality aren’t enemies
Creative Community, Inc. (2006-2021): A nonprofit devoted to encouraging authentic artistic expression
The Quest: The mountainous experience that became a book about discovering who you are when you stop being who you’re supposed to be

The Writer Who Refuses to Apologize

My books span the territory of someone who’s refused to stay in prescribed lanes: memoir, spiritual deconstruction, life transitions, and mystical fiction. Each one chronicles another threshold crossing, another liberation from borrowed beliefs.

Recent works include:

• The Purging Room (novella): A mystical journey through four guides who challenge everything you think you know about freedom
• The Quest: Discover a Way to Enjoy the Second Half of Life: The roadmap for reinventing yourself when convention no longer serves

The Encourager Who’s Been There

My core mission remains unchanged from my ministry days: encouraging others to embrace their authentic selves. The difference now is I encourage authenticity instead of conformity, questions instead of answers, exploration instead of certainty.

Whether you’re questioning inherited beliefs, navigating relationship changes, considering geographic moves, or simply wondering what life might look like without apology—I’ve probably crossed that threshold and lived to tell about it.

When I’m not writing, you’ll find me wandering Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter with shameless curiosity, cooking elaborate meals for friends who appreciate both good food and honest conversation, or planning the next threshold crossing that will undoubtedly scandalize someone.

The Invitation

If you’ve made it this far, you’re probably asking some of the same questions I’ve spent the last decade exploring: What would life look like without shame? How do you shed beliefs that no longer serve? Is it possible to honor your deepest desires without hurting the people you love?

I don’t have all the answers, but I have experience with the questions. And sometimes, that’s enough to help someone else find the courage to cross their own thresholds.

The door is always open. The question is whether you’re ready to walk through it.

Ready to explore? Start with The Purging Room if you’re drawn to mystical fiction, or A Renaissance Redneck in a Mega-Church Pulpit if you want the unvarnished memoir of how a hillbilly preacher became a Renaissance man.

Want the behind-the-scenes stories? Join my email community for unfiltered thoughts about authentic living, Barcelona adventures, and the ongoing journey of becoming who you actually are.

Inconceivable? Perhaps. But beautifully, authentically possible.

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