In 1973, he graduated from the University of California Santa Barbara with a degree in Religious Studies and then attended Virginia Seminary, graduating in 1977. He served at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco from 1977 to 1979. He moved south to become an associate at St. James' in the mid-Wilshire District of Los Angeles from1979 to 1983. He was then called to be rector of Epiphany, San Carlos, California and finally rector of St. Matthew's, Pacific Palisades from 1993 to June, 2008.