On a personal note, I am a writing/journalism graduate of Wheaton College in Illinois with a bachelors degree and the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, with a masters. I also have a certificate of graduation from the School of the Japanese Language in Tokyo. I was a war correspondent in Vietnam, have had assignments in Tokyo, West Berlin and the Philippines and traveled in 35 foreign countries. I was an investigative reporter, city editor and editor of three newspapers in Louisiana and Texas and served in the Louisiana State Senate representing the City of Shreveport.

My most recent book is The Commissioner, published by the Pelican Publishing Co. of Gretna, Louisiana, released in April of this year. Others include Days of Anguish, Days of Hope published by Doubleday in New York City, now in its fifth printing; Joy Comes in the Morning (Fellowship Foundation), Shreveport, Louisiana ; and 12 other books.

My wife Vivian Marie and I live in the Piney Woods of East Texas and have six children in our blended family: Tara Rose, Kim Westfall, Richard Keith, Miguel Mendez, Lindsay LeBell, and Marisa Murphy. We have 11 grandchildren.