I was born and grew up in Pasadena, California, where I attended Bresee Avenue Church of the Nazarene, Pasadena College (BA, MA) and Fuller Theological Seminary. I graduated from Nazarene Theological Seminary (M.Div 1974), and received at PhD in American Religious History and Thought from The Pennsylvania State University (1987). I’ve worked in the church my entire life in a wide range of roles: youth and children’s pastor, Sunday school teacher, board member, guitar player, among others. I began my teaching career at Asbury University (1977-80) after which I was Professor of the History of Christianity for 38 years at Nazarene Theological Seminary where I taught a wide range of courses from general church history and American Christianity to courses on Women in ministry and world religions, which involved post-doctoral study at Hartford Seminary’s Duncan Black Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations and included study trips to Turkey and Jordan. I have published extensively over the course of my career including many articles for church educational materials, a history of Nazarene Seminary, co-author of Our Watchword and Song (a history of the Church of the Nazarene), as well as numerous papers published in academic journals and presented at academic conferences in the U.S., Britain, and South Africa. I am married to Joy (Atteberry, PC ’68), and we have two wonderful children, Erika and Derren, and four grandchildren. We are retired and live in Olathe, Kansas.