Pastor Gale Dingwell
I never imagined myself becoming a Pastor. I grew up in the Mid-West, in a home where faith in God never made itself into conversation, let alone religious practice. My father was a blue-collar working man, who held multiple jobs to feed and clothe our family of ten. My mother was a registered nurse. Despite both my parents working we always ate dinner as a family and each of us learned to pull our own weight with household chores.
Perhaps the most significant event that happened in my early life was the death of my older sister when I was 12. She was the most caring and loving person I knew and I couldn't make sense of her loss. It was while I was still trying to process her death that I came to Christ. I attended a youth event with a Christian friend and while there someone shared the Gospel with me. I prayed the "sinner's prayer" asking Jesus to be my savior and I knew it was real. This was when I began living a "double-life." You see, although I was saved; born again, I had no one to teach me how to live out this new life in Christ. My momentary joy became a long season of spiritual wandering.
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I joined the military when I was just 17 years old. I started out my career as an enlisted soldier and then had the opportunity to pursue flight training; a life-long goal. It was while I was at flight school at Ft. Rucker, Alabama, that I met the woman who would become my wife, Hyon. She was (is) a fiesty, uncompromising woman who wouldn't even date me unless I was a Christian regularly attending church. The Lord used her to bring me into mentoring relationships where I could grow in Christ and mature in my faith. Hyon and I are now married over 20 years and have three children, the oldest in college and our youngest is a precocious 10 year-old.
It was while serving in the military that I first felt a calling to vocational ministry. Hyon and I prayed about this decision and in faith I resigned my commission and intended to leave the Army. Through a series of events the Lord revealed that we could better serve Him by remaining on active duty and serving as a bi-vocational pastor. This we did, first in a bi-cultural church in Watertown, NY, then in Fairbanks, AK, Chun-chon, Korea, and then in New Windsor, NY. In 2007 I finally retired after 27 years in the military to pursue vocational ministry full time.
My anchor verse is Joshua 24:15, "But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD" (NIV). It reminds me that in order to serve as pastor, I must ensure that I attend to my own personal and my family's walk with the Lord. I must strive to live out Christ's teachings in my life before I can hope to teach anyone else. I can't say that I do this perfectly, yet in the striving we find God's grace.
It is my hope that while I serve the Lord at Ridgecrest we can form loving relationships that will help people to grow in faith and reach out in love. I'd like to hear your story.
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