Southside Baptist Church
Paris, Texas 75460
903-784-6154

• Education: I have a B.S. degree from Sam Houston State University in Criminology and Corrections. I hold a MDIV from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.
• Experience: I have served as a pastor for 5 years. My non-ministry related experience includes USAF security Police, Security work while going to school, even a SHORT stint as a prison guard in my early twenties. All of this police type work was preparing me to be a Baptist preacher. Just kidding.
• Comment to those looking at my sermons: I pray the Lord will use the thoughts he gave me to impact your life, or to help you prepare a message for your congregation.
• Sermon or series that made a difference: In my previous church, I began to preach through the seven churches in revelation. God really moved during this series and a small group of people in the church caught fire. We embarked on a visitation program that saw many people saved and brought into the church. It was a small country church. We never dreamed that we would ever experience that kind of growth. People began to open up to the Lord. It didn’t make the church perfect, but God used it to produce a change that lasts today.
• One of my favorite illustrations: I have many favorites.
• Family: I am married to Linda Cox. Linda is currently working on her Master’s thesis. She is also a graduate assistant. I have two boys. Tommy is 15 years old. He is a high school freshman, involved in sports and very interested in academics. Jamie is an enthusiastic 7th grader who is also active in sports and is very out-going. I have my hands full.
• What my parents think of my sermons: They have been supportive. My Mother once said I was going to be the next Billy Graham. That was before she heard me preach. She never said that again.
• What my spouse (really) thinks of my sermons: She’s tired of hearing them. Not really. She is a pretty good critic I think. She does try to encourage me though.
• Best advice given to me about preaching: It was a Ravenhill quote. He said, when he preached he had no friends or enemies he just preached the word of God. When I was a brand new preacher, preaching maybe my third sermon,I was very discouraged because there were a couple of people sleeping. I called my old pastor, Lionel Barrett, an Evangelical Free preacher that I had in the Air Force. He said, "Scott the Bible Says He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saying... Then he said, "not everyone has an ear to hear".
• Books that have had an impact: I have a Christian And Missionary Alliance background. Therefore, I seem to gravitate to anything written by A.W. Tozer. I really enjoyed Ray Steadman’s "Authentic Christianity" as well. I read Finney’s stuff and Spurgeon’s stuff. I love to read old Puritan Sermons on the net. I like the dead guy stuff. You know, the old classic preachers. Finney slices me to bits though. Brother Lawerence’s book "The Practice of The Presence of God" impacted me quite a lot.
• Hobbies: I should probably get one.
• If I could Preach one more time, I would say...: To the Christian I would say, cultivate a love relationship with Jesus. Be open to the Holy Spirit. Glorify the Father in all things. To the non-believer I would say recieve the benefits of Christ’s shed blood and body given for you. Trust in Jesus and experience eternal life.
• Something funny that happened while preaching: I put an altoids in my mouth before I got into the pulpit. While I was into the sermon there was white spit, from the mint, collecting on the corners of my mouth. It looked sort of like I was foaming at the mouth while I was preaching. I got some strange looks, and a kind church member pointed it out to me after the sermon.
• What I want on my tombstone: He knew God.