About Lee
Lee grew up at the last house on a dead-end road in rural TN.
Lee dreamed of playing college and even pro baseball and was a 4-sport athlete in high school. Lee began learning as a teenager how to deal with disappointment as he underwent 5 reconstructive knee surgeries by the time he had graduated from high school. Torn ACLs, constant rehab, full-leg casts, and even experimental surgeries ultimately led Lee to redefine and recalibrate his life-long dreams.
After high school, Lee attended and graduated from Carson-Newman University in Jefferson City, TN with a degree in business management and a minor in accounting.
Lee began a 15-year banking career with a few different community banks in East Tennessee. After serving as vice president of commercial lending for many years, he resigned from banking. While in banking, Lee was involved in hundreds of large and small business deals and found all of that fulfilling and even fun. During his banking career, Lee worked in accounting, credit analysis, HR, employee management, consumer lending, and commercial lending.
He left banking and immediately began a seminary education where he earned his masters degree in Christian Education from New Orleans Theological Seminary.
From there, Lee served as the pastor to young couples and families at Eden Westside Church in Pell City, AL before moving to Cookeville, TN in 2009 to become the Executive Pastor at Stevens Street Baptist Church. The Executive Pastor role at Stevens Street handles HR, facilities, pastoral responsibilities including counseling, performing weddings, speaking often to the congregation and management of staff.
Throughout all of these stops, Lee has found himself in front of groups both large and small teaching, encouraging, sharing and even entertaining.
Family
Lee’s parents were high school sweethearts and married young. At age 4, Lee’s mother tragically died from complications related to a sinus infection. Lee, his father and younger brother, Jackson, all moved in with his aunt – who Lee describes as an angel on earth.
Lee’s dad remarried and introduced Lee and his brother Jackson to the world’s greatest “stepmom” ever. Stepmom being in quotes because they never thought of her as anything but their own mother – another angel on earth.
In 1993, Lee married the love of his life, JoAnne and together they have lived an adventure-filled life and still love every minute together. Lee and JoAnne have worked together on over a dozen marriage and parenting conferences/retreats to teach and encourage families.
They welcomed into their lives 4 children, Max, Levi, Emma and Audrey. Lee and JoAnne (mostly JoAnne) homeschooled all four of their children through high school. Each one of the children are unique and special and are working to find out ways that they can be a small piece of the solution to the world’s problems.
