 He is a deacon of the First Baptist Church, and a member of Dexter Kiwanis Club, the Missouri Farm Bureau, the American-International Charolais Association, the Missouri Delta Center Advisory Committee, the Missouri Veterans Home Foundation Board, and the Stoddard County Gospel Mission Board.He was first elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 2000, and served in that body through 2004.That year, he was first elected to the Missouri State Senate and was first elected as President Pro Tem at the start of the 2011-2012 legislative session.