The Center for Messianic Learning

I am the founder and full-time resident theologian of The Center for Messianic Learning, which is dedicated to teaching the Torah and its way of life, HaDerek (the Way), fully centered on the Jewish Messiah, to all of God's people. Messianic Judaism starts with the assumption that Christianity was originally Jewish. Jesus, the apostles, and all the first disciples were practicing Jews who considered themselves part of Israel and the Jewish people. They did not envision themselves as the authors of a new religion; they considered themselves to be a sect within greater Judaism—a reformation movement inspired by the teachings of Rabbi Yeshua (Jesus) of Nazareth and by their conviction that He is the long-promised Messiah King. They belonged to the sect of the Nazarenes (also called The Way), a first-century Jewish school of disciples centered around Yeshua. They did not hold Jesus or the gospel message in antithesis to the Torah (unfortunately incorrectly translated as “Law”) of Moses, but rather held that Torah is fully compatible with the teaching of Yeshua and the Apostles. We therefore agree with them that the followers of Yeshua (Jesus) should, therefore, be considered a sect within greater Judaism, and not a separate religion. We also subscribe to the vision and mission of First Fruits of Zion and the Vine of David for the Church to:
   • bring the Church back to its foundations;
   • eliminate supercessionism (Replacement Theology);
   • establish a Jewish understanding of faith in Yeshua; and
   • bring the Church into solidarity with Israel.

Parkersburg Police Department

The Parkersburg Police Department serves a city of 12.35 square miles in — and the county seat of — Wood County, West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Ohio and Little Kanawha rivers, it is the state's third-largest city with a population of 31,492 at the 2010 census. Its peak population was 44,797 in 1960. The city is about 14 miles south of Marietta, Ohio. I serve the department as a volunteer, currently assigned to staff the South Substation.

IT Coordinator, Parkersburg/Wood County Neighborhood Watch

Neighborhood Watch is one of the oldest and most effective crime prevention programs in the country, bringing citizens together with law enforcement to deter crime and make communities safer. The Parkersburg and Wood County Neighborhood Watch Co-op is chartered by the Parkersburg Police Department and Wood County Sheriff’s Office to organize and coordinate the activities of all the Neighborhood Watch Groups in Parkersburg and the surrounding unincorporated areas of Wood County. I am also the Watch Captain of my apartment complex.

Member, SIRN Regional Interoperability Committee, Region 1

The West Virginia State Interoperability Radio Network is a collaborative effort by state, county, and municipal public safety entities to establish and maintain a statewide interoperable radio network for emergency services. The project is divided into four Regional Interoperability Committees to assist with governing and monitoring the implementation of the SIRN and to assist in establishing goals for the betterment of the SIRN.
 

Amateur Radio Operator

I obtained my Amateur Radio Technician license (KG8NKS) in April of 2010, and upgraded to General license (WV8DOC) in November 2013. I live in a high-rise apartment, so hanging antennas on my residence is out of the question; I work the 2 Meter and 70 Centimeter bands with indoor antennas leaning up against my living room window. Not terribly efficient, but since I mostly work emergency communications and we have a really good amateur repeater network in the county, it meets my needs adequately.

Trustee, Wood County Emergency Communications, Inc.

Wood County Emergency Communications Inc. (WCEC) is an all volunteer Non-Profit organization, created to provide back-up and overload communications to all Public Safety agencies in Wood County, West Virginia and the surrounding counties in WV and OH. Read more in our Mission Statement to see what we do. For more information on Emergency Communicators and Amateur Radio read their "Who Are We?" article. I have been a member since 2010 and a Trustee since 2015.

Amateur Radio Emergency Service

The Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES) consists of licensed amateurs who have voluntarily registered their qualifications and equipment with their local ARES leadership, for communications duty in the public service when disaster strikes.

Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES)

Communications Technician, Tyler County Office of Emergency Management

The Office of Emergency Management is responsible for overseeing and managing all disasters and major emergencies that occur within the county. Tyler County OEM has followed the FEMA Whole Community approach to emergency management. Over the past 20 years a team has been developed that includes volunteers, government agencies and businesses. The groups include volunteers from several disciplines including search & rescue, Medical Reserve Corps, the Tyler County Commission, mayors of Middlebourne, Sistersville, Friendly, and Paden City, local public service districts, Tyler County Board of Education, Emergency Response Team(CERT), cooking crew, Tyler County Amateur Radio Organization, Project Lifesaver and the technology folks. Tyler OEM also works with Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD). We have active volunteers from many counties in WV and the surrounding area. We are also closely connected to nearly every county in WV through our friendship with all the other emergency management agencies!

Electronic Search Technician, Project Lifesaver

Project Lifesaver is a 501 (C)(3) community based, public safety, non-profit organization that provides law enforcement, fire/rescue, and caregivers with a program designed to protect, and when necessary, quickly locate individuals with cognitive disorders who are prone to the life threatening behavior of wandering. The program is structured in a way that strategically combined state of the art locating technologies, innovative search and rescue methods, and community policing courses that educated first responders about cognitive conditions. The search times for certified Project Lifesaver agencies have been reduced from hours, potentially days, down to minutes. Recovery times for Project Lifesaver agencies average 30 minutes, which is 95% less time than standard operations without Project Lifesaver.

Citizens enrolled in Project Lifesaver wear a small transmitter on the wrist or ankle that emits an individualized frequency signal. If an enrolled client goes missing, the caregiver notifies their local Project Lifesaver agency, and a trained emergency team responds to the wanderer’s area. The first responders will then use the client’s individualized frequency to locate the position of the individual. The knowledge given from the community policing courses is best applied in this situation because the first responders will know how to best approach the client once found, and allow them to be brought back to safety.

Federal Emergency Management Agency, COML and AUXCOMM

W5YI Volunteer Examiner

Amateur radio license testing is conducted under the supervision of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (VEC's). Volunteer examiners (VEs) are Amateurs holding General, Advanced or Extra Class licenses who are approved by a VEC may prepare and administer amateur license examinations to applicants. The examinations are given by teams of three qualified VEs who volunteer their time to help the amateur service grow. There are 14 FCC appointed VEC's, but almost 90% of all ham radio testing is conducted by only two of them, the ARRL-VEC and the W5YI-VEC.

SkyWarn® Storm Spotter

To obtain critical weather information, the National Weather Service (NWS) established SKYWARN® with partner organizations. SKYWARN® is a volunteer program with between 350,000 and 400,000 trained severe weather spotters. These volunteers help keep their local communities safe by providing timely and accurate reports of severe weather to the National Weather Service.
   Although SKYWARN® spotters provide essential information for all types of weather hazards, the main responsibility of a SKYWARN® spotter is to identify and describe severe local storms. In an average year, the the United States experiences more than 10,000 severe thunderstorms, 5,000 floods and more than 1,000 tornadoes.
   Since the program started in the 1970s, the information provided by SKYWARN® spotters, coupled with Doppler radar technology, improved satellite and other data, has enabled NWS to issue more timely and accurate warnings for tornadoes, severe thunderstorms and flash floods. SKYWARN® storm spotters are citizens who form the nation's first line of defense against severe weather. There can be no finer reward than to know that their efforts have given communities the precious gift of time—seconds and minutes that can help save lives.

Consulting and Website Design

As time and energy permit, I also provide low-cost or no-cost consulting and web design services for startup non-profits that are directly related to public safety, emergency response, or disaster preparedness.

Deputy Director, Wood County Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)

(Served 2010-2014) Wood County CERT was a nationally accredited, formally trained organization of local citizen volunteers working with First Responders to help grow and strengthen the public safety network in Wood County. The CERT Program, part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), educates people about disaster preparedness for hazards that may impact their area and trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations, all in compliance with the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and the National Response Framework (NRF). Using the training learned in the classroom and during exercises, CERT members can assist others in their neighborhood or workplace following an event when professional responders are not immediately available to help. CERT members also are encouraged to support emergency response agencies by taking a more active role in emergency preparedness projects in their community. Even though Wood County CERT members volunteered well over 2,000 hours providing disaster relief during the 2012 Derecho Event that devastated Wood County and totally overwhelmed emergency responders for over a week, the Wood County Commission and the City of Parkersburg decided (in their infinite wisdom) that citizen volunteers extensively trained to assist their neighbors in times of disaster was not in the best interest of their constituents, and the program was closed down in April of 2014. Visit the national CERT website.

Treasurer, After The Disaster, Inc.

After The Disaster, Inc. (ATD) is a non-stock, non-profit 501(c)(3) public benefit corporation established on May 20, 2019 to provide Lovin’ Hands Kits for victims of disasters such as fire or flood. ATD provides the kits to fire stations to be distributed by the stations to the affected victims at the scene of the disaster.

President, South Parkersburg Unity Plaza Tenants Association, Inc.

(Served 2014-2019) The Association is a 501(c)(4) Social Welfare Corporation, established in 1984 for the promotion of the social welfare of the 160 residents of the three-building apartment complex. The Association serves the residents of South Parkersburg Unity Housing (SPUH) by acting as a central voice in the affairs of all tenants; by promote the general welfare of the tenants of SPUH; and by planning, promoting, and carrying out programs and activities that benefit the residents.