TL;DR:

Will you invest $5 in my education to equip me to help others?

Backstory:

In December 2022, my wife Mary suddenly lost vision in one eye. After a week in the hospital, she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. On January 31, 2023, I was laid off with one month of severance. We had no idea what was coming next.

For six months, we lived on minimal unemployment, food stamps, and faith. God showed up in ways I cannot fully explain. We never went hungry and every single bill was paid on time.

Who I Am:

I taught myself to code while serving as a Corrections Specialist at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks. I have spent over twenty years in technology since then working my way up from data entry clerk to Perl Programmer, Senior Software Engineer, Principal Engineer, and Software Engineering Manager before the lay off. Now I am working as a Senior DevOps Engineer. I have always believed that growth should never stop.

In 2022, I became Chapter Chaplain for the Road Riders For Jesus Motorcycle Ministry. At our national rally that October, I heard the Holy Spirit clearly: pursue this further. A year later, my wife and I were commissioned as Kentucky State Chaplains. I hold a ministry license and now lead the men's prayer team at Crossroads Fellowship.

I also co-lead Trauma REBOOT classes — a faith-based program helping people work through the wounds of their past. Sitting across from veterans, brothers and sisters in the ministry, and people carrying years of unprocessed pain, I keep hitting the same wall: my heart is ready, but my training is not sufficient.

That's what this is all about.

The Mission:

I am pursuing a B.S. in Psychology with a concentration in Clinical and Counseling Psychology at Regent University, followed by a Master's in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, so that I can offer more than presence and prayer — I will be able to offer professional, evidence-based, faith-rooted care to the people God has already placed in my path.

Veterans. Bikers. Trauma survivors. People who have tried everything else.

Why I Need Your Help:

Mary's MS medication and specialist are not covered by my work insurance, so we carry a separate plan that now costs nearly $1,000 a month. She had to leave her in 2024 when her health made it too difficult to continue. We are managing, but there is no margin for tuition. I have been applying to scholarships for some time now but there are no guarantees. (May 21, 2026: I have applied for twenty something in the last two days alone.)

The Ask (Updated):

Tuition at Regent University is $250/credit for veterans in the online program. I am asking for help in raising a total of $15,000 to cover a large portion of the tuition and fees for the final two years of my bachelor's degree. Anything beyond that goal will go directly toward my master's program (which I anticipate will primarily be funded by the state of Tennessee's Tennessee Behavioral Health Pathways Scholarship).

I only need 2,560 more people to give $5.00! (Started at 3,000)

Will you help me help others?

If you've ever been helped by someone who took the time to truly see you — a chaplain, a counselor, a mentor — you know what that investment is worth. This is your chance to pour that into someone who will pay it forward for the rest of his life: me.

A Note on Stewardship:

I have spent my entire career solving complex problems with limited resources. I do not take your generosity lightly. Every dollar raised goes toward equipping me to serve — nothing else.

Thank you for believing in this and me. Growth never ends.