Christian · Systems Thinker · Oldest of Nine
I'm a software developer with thirty years of experience, the oldest of nine siblings, and a Christian who believes that faith, work, and ministry are one — not three compartments of a life, but one life lived under one authority.
I live in Norwich, Connecticut. I was homeschooled, never went to college, and have been building things since before I could drive. I build things for a living, and I build things because I believe creation is a form of worship.
I grew up in the woods of New England — homeschooled, surrounded by books, learning to build things with my hands as readily as with a keyboard. My family's education was practical by conviction: you learned by doing, and what you built had to work. I wrote my first line of code before I was ten.
As a young man I interned under Doug Phillips at Vision Forum, who in those years was one of the most significant voices in the homeschool movement. That experience helped shape my understanding of vision, leadership, and life purpose.
Over the years I have used a dozen languages to build systems for businesses large and small, managed infrastructure, led teams, and learned the hard way that most complexity in software is self-inflicted. Recently I have returned to the foundations in this space and created a clean, lite framework — honoring Uncle Bob's rules but simple enough for a solo dev.
But software was never the whole picture. I've taught sessions at local history days on several survival-oriented skills. Two years ago a sister and I taught an introduction to electricity class that was filled with hands-on projects. Right now I'm rebuilding a control system for a piece of vintage industrial equipment — the kind of problem where stubbornness and a soldering iron matter more than credentials.
A year and a half ago (mid 2024), I walked away from my career. Not because I was burned out or chasing a startup dream — because I was told to. The direction was unmistakably clear. God gave me four things to do. This has produced some of the most difficult months of my life — but God is faithful — and they have also been some of the most inspiring.
That is a terrifying command to act on when you have people depending on you. I acted on it anyway. Not because I'm brave, but because the cost of disobedience was higher than the cost of obedience.
I believe most people are stuck not because they're weak, but because they're blind. They can't name what's wrong, so they can't address it. They have agency, but their agency is limited by their vision.
I know this because I'm living it. The same frameworks I'm building for others are the ones I'm using to rebuild myself. You don't create tools for honest self-assessment without submitting to them. The work has exposed things in me I didn't want to see — and that exposure has been one of the most productive forces in my life.
The work I'm doing now sits at the intersection of theology, personal development, and software. The conviction behind it is simple: if you can help someone see clearly — see where they are at, see what is holding them back, see what is possible and who they could be — they begin to act. The sight doesn't create the agency, but without the sight, agency is left swinging in the dark.
I'm not building a product so much as a body of work. Frameworks for understanding human identity. Tools for honest self-assessment. Content that confronts without condemning. The domains and applications are expressions of a single integrated vision — one I've been developing for over two decades, and it keeps getting more useful as revelation refines my own vision.
I don't separate ministry from business. The work itself is the practice — of faith, of craft, of stewardship. Every line of code, every framework decision, every domain name is an act of obedience to the same calling: build what helps people see.
The path I'm walking has three phases — steadfast, strenuous, sacrificial. Build character first. Deploy what you've been given. Then pour it out. I'm somewhere in the middle, and I expect to be here for a while.
I would be nowhere without the grace of God, the patience of my family, and the relentless encouragement of a small circle of people who believed in this work before there was anything to show for it.
To my siblings, I love every single one of you and am praying God accomplishes His glorious purposes in your hearts.
To the friends and mentors who spoke into my life at the moments I needed it most — you know who you are. Thank you.
Dig deeper