Biography
DeWayne Wheaton (born September 25, 1955) is an American musician, information technology professional, and Christian writer. Active since the early 1970s as a freelance keyboardist in gospel and country music, he later built a career in IT consulting and systems engineering, and since 2018 has published Christian content on his self-named web site https://dewaynewheaton.com.
Early Life and Education
Wheaton was born in Plant City, Florida, and moved with his family to Tampa, Florida, while still an infant. His father, Jefferson Harold Wheaton (1931-2026), served as a Tampa police officer before retiring in the early 1980s; his mother, Helen Edith Barfield (1932-2010), was a homemaker until the couple divorced in 1963, after which she pursued a career in information technology as a SAS programmer.
He was raised in the Assemblies of God, a mainstream Pentecostal denomination. He graduated from Robinson High School in Tampa in 1973 and did not attend college, describing his education as an extraordinary informal education from reading and a lot of on-the-job experience.
Music Career
While still in high school, in 1970 Wheaton began traveling with local gospel music singing groups. Two weeks after graduating in 1973, he launched a full-time career as a freelance keyboard player for gospel, country, and country-rock performers. Notable engagements included the Hinson Family (a Dove Award-winning mixed gospel group) from 1974 to 1976; country artist Billy Crash Craddock from 1979 to 1981; evangelist Jimmy Swaggart from 1981 to 1982; and his former spouse, Karen Harris Wheaton Towe from 1981 to 1995. During his freelance years he also performed with Connie Smith, Helen Cornelius, and George Jones, and appeared at the Grand Ole Opry.
From the 1980s until his 1995 divorce from Karen Wheaton, he produced and recorded numerous gospel and country albums.
Information Technology Career
In 1983, drawing on a long-standing interest in personal computers, Wheaton began an informal career in information technology. In 1985 he founded an IT consulting company in North Alabama, later known as MASHNET, which he described as a pioneer in server hosting and remote application services. He sold the company to an employee in 2023. Shortly before the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak, he joined the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as a staff systems engineer. As of 2026 he is the primary non-Wintel (Linux) systems engineer for the CDC's Infrastructure Services Branch.
Music Publishing
A former full-time musician, Wheaton has operated the music publishing company EXALTATION Music (exaltationmusic.net) since the early 1990s. The company's best-known work is the Pentecostal song, Look What the Lord Has Done, written by Mark David Hanby. EXALTATION Music also publishes lesser-known gospel and country songs written in collaboration with other writers.
Writing
Wheaton has been a Christian blogger since 2018. His original site, Reflections and Revelations, was a collection of musings on theological and philosophical themes. A 2026 revamp rebranded the site as LETTERS TO MY CHILDREN, a deliberate double entendre meaning both personal letters from Wheaton to his daughters, their children and to the generations beyond; and, in his framing, messages from the LORD God, to His children, the broader Christian community. His current writing centers on personal relationship with Jesus Christ and the application of scripture to daily living.
Personal Life and Beliefs
Wheaton resides in a northwest Atlanta suburb with his wife, Lisa Marshall Wheaton, whom he married on June 21, 2007, and their dog-pack of two Japanese Chins, Prince and Penelope, and a rescue mix named Bobo. Wheaton was previously married to Karen Harris Wheaton Towe from 1981 - 1995. Wheaton has two daughters from his marriage to Karen Towe and seven grandchildren.
Though raised in the Assemblies of God, Wheaton's adult life has not centered on a single denomination but on various full-gospel churches. Since 2018 he has served as resident keyboardist at Hearts on Fire Church in Atlanta.
He describes himself as an wholly committed Christian who holds to the infallibility of scripture as a guide to daily living, and to the core tenets of orthodox Christianity: that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, born of a virgin, who lived a sinless life, died a propitiatory death on the cross, and was resurrected on the third day as recorded in the New Testament gospels.