Raised a
Catholic, I came to know Christ as my Savior through a dramatic
conversion in my mid twenties. I attended Northwestern College in St Paul
Minnesota. I was called into ministry in 1978 in my small Baptist home
church located in Cheshire, Connecticut.
In 1980, I married my
wonderful wife, Denise and shortly after we had our children Samantha, Vinny
Jr., and Danny.. The boys still reside with us, as does my eighty-seven
year old mother, Rose. Samantha and her husband, Ben live in New Mexico
with their five children, Marisella, Chris, Aaron, Joshua and Isabella.
Within the next few
years, I helped in two church plantings in our local area. Then in 1983, I
began a small Bible study in our home that eventually grew into Living Faith
Christian Church with several hundred members.
We believed in reaching
the lost for Christ and so we went a step beyond regular church teaching and
started a Bible School for those who were serious about serving the Lord
full time. Local students were joined by others from overseas. Many were
sent out to serve on foreign mission fields for short-term and long-term
assignments in Haiti, England, Italy, Russia and Africa.
Their going out into
these mission fields made it necessary for them to be credentialed as
legitimate ministers of the gospel and so the birth of A.C.T.S.
International Fellowship. Soon after other churches, ministers and
ministries who felt a need for accountability joined us. We moved our
headquarters from Connecticut to Georgia in 1995.
Before the conception
of A.C.T.S. I had been a member of a couple of different ministerial
organizations; I had even been a State Director of a national association
but did not feel a connection with the leadership or other members. Adding
to their numbers rather then building personal relationships seemed to be
the main objective. That is why it was important to me that A.C.T.S. be
different. A.C.T.S. stands for Actively Committed To Serve
and not to serve self but others.
I know what the
struggles are that come with a small size church and that is why we direct
our efforts to helping them. It is not our directive to grow to mega size.
We are happy being a small Fellowship so we can actually have personal
relationships with all our members and them with each other. The types of
relationship we offer are those that will stand through good and bad times.
Undergoing these
diverse experiences through many years I believe has equipped me to help in
the areas of church planting and leadership training. I have done and still
do leadership conferences helping those in leadership develop their full
potential for ministry.
