In the old Baptist Hospital in Gadsden, Alabama on September 27, 1975 I was born. I had no idea what God had in store for me, but that is the beauty of having peace and being in the arms of God.
My dad has been in the ministry to some degree all of my life. I have lived in Tennessee, Virginia, South Carolina, Florida, and back to Alabama. People ask me “Luke, what was it like living in so many different places?” I was sad to leave friends, but looking back I can see God forming me through different relationships and places into what I am today.
I started my relationship with Jesus Christ in January of 1993. I was a junior in high school. I did not change my friends or habits until that summer. At summer youth camp, with my church, I realized what a relationship with Jesus Christ is all about. It is not about me, but it is all about Him.
I felt God calling me into youth ministry. I went to get trained in the Bible at Southeastern Bible College. Up until 2001 I worked with youth or was a youth pastor for seven years. At the Christmas of 2001 I asked for a backpack, a tent, and a sleeping bag. When I received those things that Christmas, it dawned on me that this is what God wants me to do.
I began praying and reading. I had gone on day hikes and campouts, but nothing compared to what I was getting into. I needed to be trained. I found a place in Virginia (one of the most beautiful states in America), that trained people in wilderness survival. The two instructors were former Air Force S.E.R.E. instructors. God lead me there. For the next few years we took groups out into the outdoors on a part-time basis.
For the next few years God continued to open doors as my experience in the outdoors has grown considerably. In 2006, I was told that I needed to contact Globeworks International because they were looking for a camping ministry. Globeworks is a mission agency that has about 55 missionaries around the world. At the time I did not know what to think of it, but I contacted them. The rest is history. Time On The Mountain is now an affiliate of Globeworks.
God continues to show himself faithful to me, my wife Naomi, and my children Ethan, Adeline, and Noel.