Hometown: Complicated; from behind the Pine Curtain in deep East Texas to Wylie, Texas, by way of Louisiana. Also lived in McKinney, Texas, by way of England, Scotland, Germany, Greece, Japan, Brazil and elsewhere in the U.S. and around the world.
Present City: Dallas;
Education: C.E. Byrd High School, Shreveport, Louisiana; Baylor University; University of Houston; Leicester University; Glasgow University; Durham University; Mathematics, Physical Chemistry
Profession: Scientist
Tell us about your work.
Systems engineering and analysis: Developing physical and analytical techniques and ethical applications for computing in aerospace, medicine and environmental sustainability, based on chemistry, physics and mathematical and computer modeling.
How about your family?
Married to Cynthia Ann Gillean Tibbals, also a Wilshire member. Brother-in-law to Neal Jeffrey, former Wilshire youth minister.
Any favorite hobbies?
History, music, nature, walking, writing.
What are your favorite places to travel?
The Rocky Mountains, from New Mexico to Canada; new corners of Texas; England and Europe.
What brought you to Wilshire and when?
The first time I visited was to bring my grandfather for the ordination of Neal Jeffrey. In the 1980s and ’90s I attended concerts and events such as a C.S. Lewis study series. I moved my Baptist membership from McKinney to Wilshire when I began work in Dallas for UT Southwestern in 1997.
Where are you engaged at Wilshire?
In Compass Class I’ve led Bible study, participated in community outreach and served on our Curriculum Committee. I served on Wilshire’s study on faith and science and authored a piece on climate change. I share worship, fellowship in times of joy and support in times of grief and loss. I join in prayer, study and deeds of loving kindness. I try to help my brethren in healing creation, making the Church the living embodiment of Christ in the world.
Tell us about your faith journey.
Coming from a very Baptist background of primitive faith, I was fortunate to be immersed in study of the Bible, contemplation, interpretation and disputation of religion, along with a rich music tradition and inspiration by lives of exemplary Christian teachers, pastors and missionaries (not least in my own family). With education came the need to resolve conflicts between science and much of conventional religious teaching. While pursuing a calling in science, I continually devoted energy to religious philosophy from diverse sources. I found it impossible to give up my faith in fundamental Christian truths or the truth of my rational experience. This is an unending journey, in which Wilshire is supportive.
What’s something interesting most people would not know about you?
My background is full of paradoxical contradictions. I am a Kentucky Colonel.