On a winter day in northern Minnesota Larry was born in 1938. By age 10 family chores included clearing 3 acres of trees for a large garden and cutting wood for heat. They lived on 23 acres of lakeshore. Gardening was a full time summer job with a fishing break now and then.  When his stepfather got a call for a job out west the family moved to Riverside California in 1953. There they met Marv, a 2^nd Second World War veteran who had attended Life Bible College in Los Angeles. He wanted to start a church and he did so in a small suburb of Riverside.

Larry’s family was not churchy, yet the pastor gave Larry a trumpet and his brother Ted a saxophone and other instruments for a church orchestra. They practiced weekly before they put up a tent for a revival. Larry said the music was awful. From those uncomfortable beginnings Larry went to church camp and made a commitment to Christ that changed his life. A few years later Larry enrolled in the bible college his pastor attended – he was 20 in 1959. Larry says, “LIFE Bible College in Los Angeles was a good thing but the best thing was there he met Mollie and they were married in 1961”. Together they served as associate pastors/ senior pastors from 1961 to 2000. They were blessed with 2 daughters and 1 son. Larry concludes his denominational education was good but he learned more about God from the Bible, the people, his wife and his children. His last pastorate in Kansas lasted for more than 29 years.

Larry studies the Bible for content and context without denominational filters. He was valued for his person and as a communicator. He served as an overseer of Kansas churches and once joined a former Bible smuggler on a mission impact trip to Slovakia. He was invited to Slovakia after they were freed from communist oppression – the new believers wanted to learn about church leadership.

This year Larry and Mollie celebrate their 54^th wedding anniversary. Their 3 children and 9 grandchildren live within 30 miles. Larry believes your greatest sin is to not be the person God made you.