John is currently an elder emeritus and retired church pastor. He was born in Columbia, South Carolina, in 1943. He lived his early years there. He graduated from Dreher High School in Columbia in June of 1962. He is a veteran of the Vietnam war and was stationed in Qui Nhon, Vietnam. He enlisted in the U. S. Army and during his tour in Vietnam, he was promoted to the rank of Specialist Fifth Class. He holds a Master of Pastoral Studies from Grace Communion Seminary, a Bachelor of Arts in Bible from Southern Methodist College, and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of South Carolina. He has also held many other positions in the business world in addition to being a pastor. He was an office manager for a manufacturing firm that produced plastic pipe, a home-office accountant for a large construction firm, and retired in his capacity as a raw materials planner from Rockwell Automation that produced reducers for many industries worldwide.