I was born and raised in Oklahoma City, in a home steeped in church life. Ours was a worldview shaped by tradition.  Southern Baptist pews on Sundays, youth group on Wednesdays, purity culture, and the rising tide of conservative evangelicalism. That was the air I breathed, and it shaped how I saw myself, my family, and the world.

For more than two decades, my professional life revolved around building. First as a homebuilder, then as a developer of office and retail communities. I thought my work was about houses and buildings. But in hindsight, I see it was teaching me something bigger: how blueprints can change, how structures can be torn down and rebuilt, and how even the strongest foundations can be reimagined.

I’m not a Republican or a Democrat. I don’t fit neatly into boxes like conservative or liberal. I’m not an activist, and I’m certainly not an influencer. I serve no agenda but to love my daughter better, and to help others find a way to do the same with their LGBTQ+ someone. I’m just a dad who found himself without a map, learning step by step how to navigate toward love without conditions.

I’m not a theologian, and I don’t claim to have all the answers. What I do have is dirt under my fingernails from the renovation within, shaped by experience, by mistakes, by grace, and by the voices of those who helped me see Scripture, faith, and love through a different lens. I’m still searching, still learning. But I believe the greatest work of my life isn’t measured in square feet. It’s measured in love.

This isn’t just my story, it’s ours. My wife, Deziray, has been my best friend and partner since 2002. Her faith was formed in small-town Baptist churches, across two dozen moves in her childhood. Together, we raised three kids: our oldest daughter, Alessondra, our middle daughter, Giavauna, and our youngest son, Xavier. My mom, Cindy, also lives with us, making our home the center of multiple generations and voices.

When Alessondra came out at age 13, the blueprint we had been following no longer matched the reality in front of us. This wasn’t a topic for debate or a distant issue; it was right here in our living room, at our dinner table, and in the silences of our faith circles. Having spent years surrounded by voices that largely thought and believed the same way, those silences were magnified. Some were only perceived, others were real. Either way, they were deafening. For Deziray and me, it meant unlearning much of what we thought we knew. For our kids, it meant learning to navigate a world that often asks them, and their grandparents, siblings, and extended family, to carry the weight of other people’s opinions.

It hasn’t been simple, and it hasn’t been easy. But it has been good. Over time, we discovered that love without asterisks isn’t just a phrase, it’s a practice. One we had to live out together. And in the process, our marriage deepened, our parenting shifted, and our family grew stronger. Not in spite of our differences, but because of them. For Deziray, that journey even reshaped her medical vocation, leading her into a new specialty in mental health, where she now helps others navigate the very kinds of complexities we once faced ourselves.

LOVE* was born out of silence…not only the quiet we felt in our own faith circles on this topic, but also the absence of the guidance I went searching for. One of the first things I looked for, years ago, was a podcast for Christian parents of LGBTQ+ kids. I didn’t find one. The external expectations of faith communities, family, and culture offered no blueprint for how to love our daughter without conditions.

Now, nearly a decade later, I’ve begun hearing from other parents who find themselves on the same road, reaching out to me with the same questions I once carried. Their voices reminded me of that void I felt, and of the difference it would have made to know I wasn’t alone. That’s what led me here…not because podcasting is naturally “my thing,” but because the gap is too important to leave unaddressed. I never set out to be a producer or a host. I’m a builder by trade and a writer by necessity, and over time those words grew into stories, some of which now live in a companion project called Metamorphosis. All of it, together, is part of the same effort: to create what I once needed most, and to offer it to others who are searching for a way forward.

This isn’t a Christian podcast. It isn’t a “woke” podcast. It’s a human one. It’s based on the story of my family, yes, but it’s also the story of thousands of other families who feel the weight of tradition colliding with love. It’s for parents, siblings, and friends…anyone who wants to show up for their someone without flinching, even when the blueprint they inherited no longer fits.

Here, we’ll wrestle with the noise, redraw the plans, and walk through the renovation together. Not to hand you easy answers, but to offer better questions. To remind you that you’re not alone in the silence. And to invite you into a love without asterisks—...love that stays, love that rebuilds, love that doesn’t qualify or condition.

Because in the end, the greatest of these is love.