Doug and his wife, Lori, grew up in Meridian, Mississippi and entered into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as young children. They married in 1983 and Doug began an eight year career in the Marine Corps where he flew the AV-8B Harrier. In 1987, Doug was flying on a low-level training mission and had a birdstrike. A five-pound turkey buzzard crashed through his windscreen, critically injuring him and severely damaging the plane. After this near-fatal mishap, the Lord provided Doug with many opportunities to share his testimony. In 1991, they moved on to a new career with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Jacksonville, Florida. While in the FBI, Doug worked on drug investigations, the surveillance team, and the S.W.A.T. team. This job offered great opportunities to share the Gospel with F.C.A. groups and many civic organizations. As a stay at home Mom, Lori became involved in the leadership of a ministry called Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS), which has given her many opportunities to minister and speak to women. In September 1994, Doug took vacation time from his job with the FBI and traveled to Russia on a short-term mission trip sponsored by East West Ministries, Intl. This trip changed their lives. They both sensed God’s call to full time ministry and in Jan. 1995, Doug joined East-West Ministries, Intl. He worked for five years as an itinerant evangelist focusing primarily on the former Soviet Union.
In Feb. 1997, Doug met Dr. Leighton Ford and was invited to participate in the Leighton Ford Arrow Leadership program. This program was a 17-month intensive course in leadership and evangelism designed to provide young ministry leaders with mentors and a network of resources to develop their heart, their gifts, and their skills. It was through this program that the seed for helping the local church fulfill the Great Commission through relational evangelism and intentional discipleship was planted. This has been accomplished through taking advantage of God given opportunities to share the gospel and calling men to follow Christ in a variety of settings. Doug has been very blessed to have many “Pauls” in his life that helped develop in him a heart for “preaching the Gospel”, “going to the hard-to- reach places of the world”, and “reaching out to the “spiritually Fatherless.” Doug’s diversified background as a pilot in the Marine Corps, FBI Agent, and ordained minister have given him great opportunities to apply the relational evangelism and discipleship principles in a variety of settings and has helped prepare him to be an itinerant evangelist, consultant, retreat, and conference speaker.
In the early 90’s, Lori became involved with a women’s ministry called Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) and also helped to coordinate numerous humanitarian aid and ministries to women in Eastern Europe. She also served as the Florida Area Coordinator for Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) from 1997-1999 and in 2001 began serving as part of the National MOPS leadership team.