Scott was raised in an unchurched home in Orlando, Florida and through a near death experience gave his life to Christ at the age of 19. He sought mentoring from the pastor who led him to Christ and gained a hunger to teach God’s Word. From the moment he taught his first 5th grade boys class he knew that God was calling him into the ministry.

To begin his preparation for ministry, Scott attended Bryan College where he received a Bachelors in Greek. Following his undergraduate work he moved to Texas and received a Masters in Theology from Dallas Theological Seminary.

During this time Scott came in contact with Pantego Bible Church in Arlington, Texas. This is where he met Donita (in the singles ministry) and they were married in May of 1991. In that same year, Scott began his ministry at Pantego Bible Church. He and Senior Pastor Randy Frazee formed a partnership and friendship that lasts to this day. Over a 10 year period, Scott played numerous roles in the development and growth of Pantego Bible Church serving as Singles Pastor, Pastor of Worship Programming, Pastor of Biblical Community, and Teaching/Executive Pastor. One of the highlights was leading in the relocation from their 7-acre Arlington campus to a new 76-acre campus in Fort Worth in 2001.    
                                                                          
In May 2001, Scott believed, and Donita confirmed, that God was calling him to be a Lead Pastor. Though Randy and Scott would miss working together, they believed it was better for the kingdom of God. After much prayer and exploration God led Scott and Donita to Grace Community Church in Tempe in June of 2002.

Over a five year season of ministry Scott led Grace through a change process to position them for a renewed season of outreach, spiritual formation and community. They were able to see God bring about a renewed passion for worship, a deepening of commitment to Christ, and hundreds of people connecting in community that centered on spiritual formation, reaching out to the unchurched, leadership development, volunteerism, global outreach and community compassion.

This resulted in some powerful moves of God—from people giving $1 million annually to global and local outreach to 800 people placing their faith in Christ—and many things in between. Scott and Donita feel they had a great 5 year journey at Grace. Their faith was stretched beyond belief and their experience with God and his people was inspiring. But they sensed their time at Grace was complete and said goodbye in June of 2007.

In December of 2007, God connected Scott and Steve Lingenfelter together through a mutual pastor friend, Gary Kinnaman.  Steve invited Scott to serve as Interim Teaching Pastor at New Life while he was discerning his next permanent role in ministry.  This season has been extremely fruitful for both Scott and New Life.  During this time, there has been much prayer and many conversations about Scott’s permanent role.  He and Donita knew what the calling of God was on their lives and they wanted to stay true to that.

At the same time, Steve was feeling a strong desire to lead from an Executive Pastor role, a position that he calls his “sweet spot”, and had been praying for God to bring just the right person to take on the Lead Pastor role at New Life.  After much prayer and discernment and many conversations, Steve and the Elder Team invited Scott to serve as the new Lead Pastor of New Life.  Scott and Steve will partner together and operate as the Senior Leadership Team of New Life.

Donita and Scott have been married 17 years. They have two incredible children, a daughter, Morgan, age 12 and a son, Noah, age 9. Scott enjoys golf, movies, the arts, the water, and eating spicy food. Donita loves reading novels, gardening, decorating and having tea with girlfriends. They both love being outside, spending time with their kids and hanging out with friends and neighbors.