After serving four years in the Army, he worked various jobs, including as a bartender and in metal stamping, before receiving his theological education. He is a graduate of Kuyper College and Calvin Theological Seminary, both in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is ordained as a Minister of the Word and endorsed as a chaplain by the Christian Reformed Church in North America. He completed his CPE residency at Swedish Medical Center in Denver, Colorado, and worked in hospitals in South Carolina, Tennessee, Indiana, and Maine. He has been working with the Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System at the New Horizon Community Living Center since March of 2016.