He was born and raised in Savannah, Georgia, and Shirley in Hendersonville, North Carolina. They both attended & graduated from public High Schools, & then attended Southern Missionary College where he met his wife Shirley. They both received their BA degrees in Religion from SMC.  They soon moved to Berrien Springs, Michigan to attend the Seminary at Andrews University.  The Georgia-Cumberland Conference sponsored him to pursue a Master of Divinity degree there, which he did, completing the course in September of 1974. Shirley later chose to enter the nursing field, earning her LPN license from Chattanooga State University and an RN license from Walter State College in Morristown, TN. She is currently retired after working in hospitals for 36 years, the majority of which was dedicated to the ER.

He spent 25 years as a pastor in the Georgia-Cumberland Conference, serving churches in both states but mostly in East Tennessee.  He had the opportunity in 1999 to transfer into the Kentucky-Tennessee Conference where he has remained for the past 26 years.  Pastor Dennis noted, "I'm so very glad that God is not done with me yet but has opened the door to further ministry in the Tullahoma SDA Church."