About the Author

Dr. Dennis Renshaw was born in Brownsville, Tennessee, but grew up in Iran, India and Indonesia as his father was with the United States State Department. At age 15, he climbed Mt. Damavand, Iran, elevation 18,406 feet, the highest mountain in Iran and the highest volcano in Asia. It’s snow-covered year-round. “You have to climb the last 3,000 feet in the dark and summit at sunrise so you can quickly descend due to toxic sulfur emissions caused by the heating of the sun,” Dr. Renshaw said. 

He attended high school at the Tehran American High School and received his B.S. in math and chemistry at Lambuth College in Jackson, Tennessee. He ran track and cross-country on scholarship in both high school and college. He studied engineering at the University of Tennessee Knoxville and graduated cum laude in 1992 from Union University in marketing and management. At Memphis Theological Seminary, he received his Master of Divinity in 1999 and Doctor of Ministries in 2006. He has worked as an industrial engineer, manager of engineering, in industrial sales and as an industrial sales manager.

He is an ordained Christian pastor and has served churches for 21 years as a pastor. Dr. Renshaw hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2013 and 2015. Hiking 2,186 miles over hazardous mountains into steep valleys through every kind of terrain and weather imaginable turned into a 5 1/2 month adventure, especially at the age of 66. Dr. Dennis Renshaw started this trek as a challenge to himself because his research of the Appalachian Trail said only a small percentage of those starting the hike actually finished. 

Newly retired as a  pastor, he felt God’s presence in unique ways as he trekked across the 14 states to Mt. Katahdin in Maine. Read about his adventures, challenges, danger and resolve in being God’s hands and feet as he felt God’s “Footprints on the Mountains. ”Dr. Renshaw is an avid golfer, a certified scuba diver and has a commercial pilot’s license. He built half of his home and can do most maintenance on the home, including electrical, plumbing, framing, woodwork and yard work.

He’s married to Judy Renshaw and they have four children and seven grandchildren. They love to travel in their 5th wheel camper. They’ve traveled to Canada and Alaska twice and 26 states.