About GodWords

Everybody says that an About page is an important part of any website. I even tell my clients that...so I'd better practice what I preach.

My online journey began in 1986 when my uncle Paul showed me the bulletin boards on GEnie's "internet service". His green monochrome monitor held an endless supply of conversations from the meaningful to the mundane. I could both learn and teach anywhere in the world, with people I'd never met. Unbelievable! Fast forward to 1997, when I finally got online on my own. I only knew one website: Yahoo...and only because a TV newscast had it up on a monitor in the background. I got free email and those unlimited meaningful conversations I'd seen a decade earlier. Because I ended up being a pastor and a theology geek, the internet provided a great opportunity to meet people and to think carefully about my faith.

My screen name was GeneralHavok. Yes, it was that long ago...I had capital letters in my screen name. I didn't realize that I was an early adopter until people started emailing me to ask how they too could have capital letters in their screen names. Anyway, the Yahoo Religion boards were interesting. I quickly gained a reputation as a 'tough guy' there, and spent countless hours doing research to make sure that I knew what I was talking about.

Research produces content...and my only outlet was Yahoo. Rather than let the world miss out on all that apologetics goodness, I decided to put it on my own website. After a couple of years on free web space, I finally reserved godwords.org in 2001. It's been an amazing ride. People from virtually every country in the world have visited my website, which is both gratifying and humbling. My collection of Historic Christian Documents is downloaded at least 50,000 times per year, which is surprising. They're just text files, after all. Strangers email me to ask questions, and I try to keep up with answering them. I wish I had more time! I'll try to answer a few easy ones here:

  • No, we probably didn't go to high school together.
  • No, I don't do bar mitzvahs.
  • Yes, I do think I know it all.
  • No, I'm not going to tell you everything.
  • Red.
  • June.
  • Dr Pepper.
  • Married.
  • Yes, I do work out...evidenced by my well-formed cloits. No, I'm not going to show you.
  • I'm not fixated on denominations, even though I have one. I consider myself simply "a Christian" as the Bible describes it.
  • In addition to my many years with the circus, I attended Northwest Nazarene College (now NNU) in Nampa, Idaho where I studied Broadcasting, Religion, and Philosophy.
  • Yes, you can ask me a question. I promise to read it, even if it never actually gets answered. Cash payoffs just might move your question to the top of the list.

I'm currently a freelance web designer, and run two companies: Straight Street Design and DotComOnomics. Oddly, what was once a hobby is now my profession, and I've fallen into being something of a website expert. I'm also actively teaching theology in my local church, on the national board of directors for Christian Outdoor Fellowship of America, and a devoted husband and father (not in that order).