A professed ragamuffin for Christ, Charles was born on the 23rd of October in the year of our Lord 1963. The date is the cusp of the last of Libra or the first day of Scorpio. The year 1963 is at the cusp of the Baby Boomers and Generation X. As a result, Charles has found himself in the middle definitive times. He holds a foot in two generations and appreciates both. He seeks to find that which unites rather than that which divides.
Charles is a 1982 graduate of Tulsa Will Rogers High School, where a before school Bible study brought him to Christ at the age of 18. In 1987 he graduated from Oklahoma City University’s school of Religion and Church Vocations. After his graduation he took a job as an assistant manager for Arby’s in Tulsa. He spent nine years managing stores all over the Tulsa metroplex. In 1992 he took a leave of absence to attend a six moth Discipleship Training School with Youth With A Mission (YWAM). The mission project for the YWAM time was five weeks in Minsk, Belarus in 1993, a time that has become significant in Charles’ understanding mission and ministry.
After his return from Belarus, Charles went back to working at Arby’s and enrolled as a full-time student at Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa. In October of 1994 he was appointed to pastor the congregation in Porter, OK. During this time, he was working full-time, going to school full-time, and pastoring part-time.
Ordained a Deacon in 1996, he finally let go of the Arby’s job and moved to Morrison for his first live on the charge appointment. In 2001, while serving as the Director of the Wesley Foundation at SOSU in Durant and as Durant FUMC associate pastor, Charles was ordained as an Elder in Full Connection. He has been serving in pastoral ministry for over 30 years, serving the Porter, Morrison, Durant (FUMC and Wesley Foundation), Lawton Heights, McLoud, Hobart, and Geary congregations.
Charles and his wife Lorrie met during his appointment in McLoud and were married on a Sunday morning during worship. They are parents to four fur babies, a 14-year-old Beagle named Jack, a 9-year-old Beagle/Collie mix named Precious, a 7-year-old Boxer/Lab mix named Bishop, and recently rescued 3 month old Chiweenie (Chihuahua/Dachshund mix) Dietrich. They also have a chosen daughter Happy who was an exchange student from Vietnam who they hosted in 2018-19. She visits from Houston every Christmas.
Through a variety of religious experiences Charles has come to appreciate the diversity of religious expressions. Both traditional and evangelical expressions of faith have a valid place within his spiritual life. The term ragamuffin for Christ implies a child or one down on their luck, dressed in dirty clothes, and yet seeking that which redeems their lives (even when unworthy). Jesus is the One who redeems this broken child named Charles.
