That realization inspired me to pursue training, education and vocations that have equipped me to grow personally, and to help others. For over thirty years I have counselled families, marriages, students, leaders, and professionals; and developed community and corporate leaders locally and globally in North America, Central and Southern Africa.

Seeing people grow into their highest potential gives me great satisfaction. From an early age, while growing up in Kinshasa, Congo I was fascinated by the richness of cultures around me. I was also profoundly-moved by the needs of people at all levels of society, and the common desire to live well no matter what circumstances people found themselves in.

In the ensuing years I have had numerous vocational opportunities to help people. My intention is to help people realize their full potential. Typically this involves discerning the wisdom for making good choices and an openness to new adventures and new perspectives. By helping integrate the strands of a person’s life (good, bad, or ugly) into a purposeful harmony, I help them focus on what really matters. At the heart of this is growing the core relationships of a person’s life.

I have a variety of interests. Outdoors, I love kayaking, canoeing, cycling, camping, hiking, gardening and travel. Indoors I enjoy reading, movies, woodworking, kayak and canoe-building. My wife, Sharon, and I are grateful stewards of an acre-and-a-half of land in Niagara, on which we raise chickens, keep bees, garden, and have built a geo-thermally-heated home with solar panels.
I have been married for 38 years, partnering with Sharon in international work as well as in co-pastoring and co-parenting. We have three married children, and seven grandchildren.

An experience a few years ago reveals a bit of me and what’s important to me: I was camping in northern Botswana with my father-in-law, uncle, a colleague and two Batswana guides. As we stood by an enormous fig tree, under which we had set up camp, a large bull elephant began approaching us across the grass plain. As he drew nearer, my colleague said, “I’m afraid of elephants”, and so he clambered up the fig tree. My uncle said, “If the guy who’s lived in Africa 15 years is climbing the tree - so am I”. And my father-in-law and uncle followed him up the tree. The elephant was quite close now. I looked at my three friends in the tree, and the Batswana guide beside me. I asked, “are you afraid?”. He shook his head. I pondered this a few seconds and then decided that I would sooner trust the judgment of this African, with generations of experience with wildlife, than the fears of my friends. So I stood by his side as the elephant came right under the tree and then stopped twenty feet from us. The elephant reached its trunk up into the tree - right into the area my friends had climbed to - and began picking figs. It had come in our direction - not because of us - but because it smelled the fresh figs. It didn’t even know we were there. But as it fed, it began moving towards the branch where the men were sitting. The guide decided to avoid any potential trouble and called out and waved his arms. The startled elephant whirled around and left in a hurry, while my sheepish friends climbed down from their “safe” spot. My take-aways? Don’t be guided by other’s fears; if you wait and observe, things often turn out to be different than you at first thought; Follow the guy who knows what’s happening; and never lose your sense of humour.