Born at Sewanee, Tennessee in 1949, John attended the University of the South and graduated with a degree in English and a minor in philosophy. While at Sewanee, he studied for a term at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. After graduating, he taught English at the Baylor School in Chattanooga and while there developed the Baylor Mountaineering Program. Seminary years took him to Virginia Seminary (Honors graduate, 1976); and he earned a Doctor of Ministry from Fuller Seminary in 2000 (with course work at St. Andrew’s University, Scotland with Allen Torrance and Christopher Seitz). John is married to Laura (author of Faithfully Fit, Word Publishing), and they have three children (Ramsay, MacReadie, David), and four grandchildren.

He retired from serving as Rector of the Church of the Holy Comforter, Sumter, South Carolina in 2014 and now lives in Columbia with his wife, Laura. In years prior he served parishes in South Carolina, the Mississippi Delta and was the Rector of Christ Church, Mobile. He served as a Dean of the Diocese of South Carolina and now serves as Chairman of the Commission on Ministry for the Diocese, and a member of the Board of Trustees of Kanuga.

Most recently he has enjoyed teaching at the Anglican Leadership Institute and AP English Literature at an independent school. Other delights are being a grandfather, fly-fishing, sometimes playing the fiddle and clawhammer banjo, and always the high privilege of watching the grace of God reconstruct lives.