Ed grew up in Keyser, West Virginia. He enlisted in the United States Army after graduating from high school and was stationed in Germany where he met Julia Lynn Shafer. Ed and Julie were married eighteen months later and the following year Sergeants Ed & Julie left military service to attend college.

Julie and Ed graduated from Marshall University in Huntington West Virginia in May 1983. Ed was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Signal Corps and was assigned to Fort Gordon Georgia for training and then to the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii. Two years later Lauren was born at Tripler Army Medical Center.

In 1993 Ed was stationed at Fort McPherson in Atlanta Georgia where he, Julie and Lauren joined Mount Zion United Methodist Church (UMC) in Ellenwood. While at Mt. Zion Ed taught Sunday school and was recommended by the SPRC for Ordained Ministry.

Ed has a Doctorate of Ministry from Erskine Theological Seminary, a Master of Divinity from Emory University, Candler School of Theology, a Master of Public Administration from the University of Oklahoma, and a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice from Marshall University.

Julie currently works at Floyd Medical Center as a Pharmacy technician. Ed & Julie have one daughter, Lauren. Lauren is married to Adam Neal, and they have three children, Sinclair Judah Neal, Ruth Esther Neal & Octavia Elizabeth Neal. Lauren and Adam are graduates of the University of Georgia, Emory University Candler School of Theology, and Liberty University. Lauren teaches special needs children in the Meriweather county school system.

Ed is an ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church, North Georgia Conference. Ed served as pastor to New Hope UMC June 1996 – 2001; Forest Park UMC 2001 – 2006; Saint Paul UMC 2006 – 2007; and Morrow First UMC 2007-2015. He has been serving at Summerville First UMC since June 2015.  

Ed believes God called him as a teenager to teach and preach God’s Word and that God has been preparing him all his life to fulfill that divine calling. The center of Ed’s theology is the Wesleyan emphasis on sanctification, which calls all God’s children to grow daily in faith and in relationship with the living God.