Update 29Nov 

It saddens me beyond words to write this tonight… but my precious love, Rich, went home to be with his Saviour. He is rejoicing evermore “absent from the body, and… present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). No more pain, no more suffering, only glory.

Please pray for my family and for our dear church family. This loss is beyond measure, and our hearts are broken. But we know our God is near to the brokenhearted, and His grace will carry us.

Thank you, from the depths of my heart, for every prayer, message, and act of support during this journey.

If you would consider helping us with Rich's final expenses it would be amazing thank you. 

For 33 years of marriage, God has blessed our home with seven beautiful children and a life filled with love, ministry, and faith. But the story of Rich’s life is one only God Himself could have written.

Rich graduated with an engineering degree, but doors never opened the way we expected. What felt like disappointment at the time was really God redirecting his heart. One simple invitation from his mom—
“Why don’t you come to church with me?”
—became the turning point of his entire life.

It was there he trusted Christ as his Savior. Soon after, God called him to preach. He went to Massillon Baptist College, and in 1993 we were married and stepped into ministry side by side. In 2000, God brought us to Independent Baptist Church of Pleasantville, where he served faithfully as Youth Pastor. And on February 16, 2003, he became the Pastor.

Rich has always been a man who loved deeply—he loved preaching the Word, he loved his church family, and he loved us. He poured himself into people, whether it was weddings, funerals, hospital calls, counseling sessions, or simply being that steady friend the community could always count on. His testimony has always been unwavering, humble, and Christ-centered.

What touches my heart the most is that even yesterday, in the midst of this unbelievable trial, he wrote three simple words that perfectly capture the way he has lived his entire life:
“Christ, Church, Family.”

Update:
As many of you know, my husband had heart surgery on November 11th, and it’s been one complication after another. He struggled through three attempts with the ventilator, then needed a trach. Last night, November 25th at 5:11 PM, he coded. They worked on him for 30 minutes before God allowed them to get his heartbeat back.

He spent 5.5 hours in emergency surgery, was placed on bypass, and by God’s mercy they were able to get him off. He is now on life support. He is not responding, and he’s in a comatose state. The doctors said the next 72 hours will tell us more—whether he wakes up, and if there is any brain injury.

My heart is breaking. Our children are heartbroken. He is our hero, our rock, our pastor… our everything here on this earth. But we know God is still able.

Please, please be praying—for a miracle, for no brain injury, and for God to breathe life and healing into his body.

That is who he is.
That is who he has always been.
Faithful. Steadfast. Courageous.
A man of God to the very end.

Rich is amazing.
He is our hero.
And his life is and has been a living testimony of God’s grace, love, and faithfulness.

“For with God nothing shall be impossible.” — Luke 1:37 (KJV)

Thank you for lifting him—and all of us—up before the Lord. Your prayers mean more than you know.

“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”
—2 Timothy 4:7 (KJV)