 He became a Pentecostal preacher at age 17, and married his childhood girlfriend, Tammy Sue.During his teen years and early adult years as a Pentecostal preacher, he found himself attracted to younger boys in his church congregation.He would lure boys aged 10 to 14 years to the back roads of Henderson County, North Carolina, with the promise of teaching them how to drive, but instead perform oral sex on them, calling it "God's special way for his people to love each other."