Meet Joe: the View’s newest reporter

Hello... my name is Joe.

For the past dozen years I’ve lived in Wimberley with my family after moving from southeastern Louisiana. We’re native Texans but spent thirteen years in “foreign missions service” – read “on the east side of the Red River” – while attending graduate school at New Orleans Baptist Seminary. I researched and wrote for seminary publications, state and national Baptist Press articles and authored a few too many research papers in pursuit of advanced degrees. We extended our stay, serving as pastor of a small church outside of Baton Rouge until 2010.

I am a graduate of Rockwall High School, home of the Yellowjackets, then Stephen F. Austin University (I love my Lumberjacks!) My career journeys through multiple positions where I conducted interviews and honed active listening skills to find underlying themes and stories. Combined with a love for sports and a voice trained for preaching, I began doing public address duties in Wimberley introducing the “Spirit of Texas Marching Band” in 2014. Subsequently, I added junior high, 9th grade, and JV football before becoming the PA “Voice of the Texans” for varsity football.

With the help of John Brown, then programming director of KWVH (Wimberley Valley Radio,) I began interviewing coaches and players at Wimberley High for broadcast. Those brief, pre-recorded segments grew into a live two-hour per week show named “The Voice of the Texans” providing an avenue for our students to tell their stories.

I’ve been blessed to meet the best educators, coaches, students and parents in the Texas Hill Country. (I’ll admit: I may be a bit biased.) The move to sports and feature writing at The View allows the combination of great passions as I seek to celebrate the successes of our kids in the community and dig deeper into the stories that make Wimberley a hidden gem and a wonderful piece of Texas.

When Tracey and I set our minds to move back to Texas from Louisiana, everything fit to get us to Wimberley. My faith informs me that there are no accidents but that all things are working for good toward a specific goal. I have no doubt that being here in this valley, connected in community with our families, friends and acquaintances is part of a divine conspiracy. For that, I am grate- ful.