Life Strategy Consultants provides a full range of counseling services to address emotional, behavioral, and mental health issues. Areas of specialization include conflict resolution, depression, anxiety, trauma/PTSD, grief, parenting skills and interventions, stress management, relationship and marital issues – including infidelity and pornography problems, and family conflict.

The Marriage and Family Centers are counseling, training, and education centers which are focused on enhancing and restoring lives, strengthening and rebuilding marriages, and fostering and renewing family life.

I have started down a new path, one that I believe is a culmination of where I've been and what God has planned for my future. I am a full time student and looking forward to integrating my heart, soul, mind, and strength in a new career as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist ... in 3-4 years.

Personally, I lead a group of families to connect with Jesus and one another. We meet weekly to encourage and support one another through conversation, prayer, and study. I use my background as a counselor and teacher to lead the group to serve not only the needs of those inside the group, but also look to meet the needs of those not in our group.Professionally, I assist friends and associates through various hourly positions on a temporary basis until I find a full-time position that effectively uses my unique blend of skills and abilities. I am also on a journey to fulfill the educational requirements for licensure as a professional counselor that have changed since I completed my Master’s degree in 2003. Since March of 2016, I have worked as a carpenter, landscaper, delivery truck driver, roofer, and City Carrier Assistant with the United States Postal Service. I am also counseling a couple as they prepare for the beginning of their marriage in June of 2017.

Bottom Line: Help people take their next step as followers of Jesus Christ.- Call, contact, and meet with all new members and anyone else desiring more involvement; Then coordinate an introduction between the individual and their prospective new group or team leader; Created a "New Members" class that led 90% of class participants to find their next step- Create, implement, and use a formal process for matching a person's SHAPE (Spiritual Gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, Experience) with an appropriate ministry team using Erik Rees's book as a starting point- Supervised 18 volunteer leaders (comprising 9 relationally based small group leaders & 9 project based ministry team leaders) with a varying participation levels ranging from 150 to 200 adults- Cast a vision for a new small group system and then led the effort to recruit, train, and deploy 2 small group leaders in 2012 with an increase to 10 small group leaders by 2015. Train new leaders to facilitate conversations that create safe places to build trust and intimacy.- Integrated SYMBIS (Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts, by Les & Leslie Parrott) for all couples seeking pre-marital counseling by any minister on staff- Provided traumatic & crisis counseling through in home visits and hospital calls; Meet with and coordinate support where possible and then make local agency referrals as necessary- Led the proposal, implementation, and local training to combine a local database and an excel based contribution system into one “cloud based” database (see www.elexio.com); Served as Database Administrator for a church that averaged 520 people on Sunday morningsReason for leaving: I was asked to resign after it was clear that the governing board of elders and I no longer shared the same vision for the church's future. Two of the elders were up for re-election and wanted to make this staff change prior to a congregational vote in December of 2015.

The phrase "stay at home dad" falls short of capturing the energy and effort I applied to lay the foundation for a lifetime of guidance and leadership. I was fortunate to spend a majority of my time with our first child while mom worked as an English Teacher and Instructional Coach in Roanoke County. We chose to trim our budget and live on one income so that we could provide a higher level of intentionality in parenting. And our ROI (Return On Investment) with one child continues to reap even greater rewards as we continue to parent three children.

Local Census Office duties included:- Hired as a clerk, but functioned as a Field Operations Supervisor reporting directly to the Assistant Manager for Operations- Recommended corrective action to keep census operations on schedule and in proper sequence, including recommending shifting personnel from one operation to another as priorities changed- Trained users on database input procedures for census operations as well as other Microsoft Office programs- Recorded and input data for the completion of the 2010 CensusReason for leaving: Completed the local conduct of the census

Bottom Line: Launch a new church in the Daleville area of Botetourt County, VA- Helped launch a brand new church in Botetourt County, VA that continues to meet after relocating to downtown Roanoke in 2012- Cast the vision to establish a “church OF small groups” by growing from 3 small groups on launch date to 9 small groups in 4 months through training, deploying, and coaching volunteer leaders to create safe places for people to connect, grow, and serve- Provide immediate and crisis counseling for families or individuals and make appropriate referrals for long term care- Recruited, trained, and coordinated 6-8 volunteers for the weekly Sunday morning service to set-up and tear down a laptop, sound board, microphones, amplifiers, speakers, and cables- Database administrator responsible for establishing the “People Driven Software” system and then maintaining the primary method individuals would use to contact staff members by filling out a “Connection Card” on Sunday mornings- Created & published small group curriculum/ brochures using MS Publisher and updated church website on a weekly basisReason for leaving: The "Associate" position was eliminated when it became clear that we did not have the finances to sustain three full time staff members.

Bottom Line: Gain hands on senior level experience by facilitating the development of a new discipleship process with the governing board and management staff.- Taught regularly and as necessary on Sunday mornings and in other settings- Facilitated the development and implementation of a new discipleship process (Connect, Grow, Serve and Go) with Elders and Staff based upon the book "Simple Church" by Rainer & Geiger- Responsible for shepherding and leading volunteer small group leaders and ministry team leaders by encouraging and equipping them to personally to create an intentional small-group environment around Living Water’s 10 core values- Planned and led monthly leadership trainings for all staff and volunteer leaders in addition to one offsite, overnight leadership retreat at Camp Alta Mons in Shawsville, VA- Created a FY 2008 budget in MS Excel from existing ledger based FY 2007 version (this new spreadsheet based budget is also aligned with organization’s mission to make disciples and helps track the effectiveness of every dollar spent)- Designed and supervised the installation of an integrated audio/video projection system for the Children’s Center renovationReason for leaving: It was time to launch Crossings Christian Church.

Bottom Line: Learn about leading a church without a building, mentor a younger Lead Minister, and help relocate a 3-year-old church plant to a different meeting area.- Preached once per message series and as necessary to emphasize church member involvement in small groups and ministry teams- Cast vision with the lead minister to transition Discovery from a program based church to an environment driven organization based upon "7 Practices of Effective Ministry" by Andy Stanley- Responsible for analyzing, creating and implementing strategies to increase the church’s ability to make disciples- Trained and coordinated volunteers to set-up/tear down on Sunday mornings- Developed and implemented an effective small group system based on a church wide discipleship model and various stages of life- Counseled numerous individuals and couples as they managed difficult life transitionsReason for leaving: Moved to the Roanoke Valley

- Completed two of three phases of the Chaplain Officer Basic Course, 2003- Completed 45-day practicum at Fort Bragg, NC in 2002, which included 16 hours of ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) and co-leading a marriage enrichment weekend using PREP materials (www.prepinc.com)- Completed 45-day Chaplain Training Practicum at Fort Story, VA in 2001 in which I assisted with the final details for the opening of a new post chapel- Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in 2000

Bottom Line: Partner with the founding minister to guide and sustain the church through a difficult time when both members of the governing board of elders resigned for personal reasons.- Responsible for co-leading all areas of ministry with duties that included but were not limited to preaching, teaching, counseling, shepherding, facility management, and event planning- Preached alternately (every other week) or exclusively during a complete series of 4-6 weeks in a row and led music when not preaching and on special occasions using multiple format worship services (Live musicians/CDs/DVDs)- Co-Led a youth outreach called Sunday Night Celebration responsible for planning, preparing, staffing & leading, which nearly tripled in size since it began in the Fall 2003 to Spring 2005 for school grades Kindergarten through 6th grade- Counseled numerous individuals and couples as they coped with marital, financial, health, and child custody issues. Counseling often took place as we drove to or from the hospital or other community service locations.- Respond to other concerns within the community as they arise. This included helping those traveling through the area and in need of basic services or needs. The church was located near the interstate and frequently had individuals or families drop in and ask for help.Reason for leaving: Preparation for new church project

- Received excellence ratings during annual inspections as Administration NCO and Information Systems Security Officer in 1996 and 1997- Coordinated the transfer of 15 computer systems from other units at Fort Sam Houston, TX and trained users on appropriate software for each system- Selected for and Earned the Jumpmaster qualification in 1994 and was responsible for leading airborne operations- Promoted to Sergeant in 1993- Supervised 2 soldiers as NCOIC of an Army Band library supporting an instrumental band of 60 members and performing over 400 times annually; Automated the music library containing several thousand items creating the possibility for computer based control- Completed 40 hours of training for 44 passenger bus in 1992; earned Driver & Mechanic Badge in 1994- Selected as “Soldier of the Quarter,” 3rd Qtr 1992, Headquarters Command- Selected as “Soldier of the Month,” March 1991, Armed Forces School of MusicReason for Leaving: Enlistment Contract Ended