Doug macclean7/20/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() God, by His grace, has enabled us to be involved in missions around the world, including the blessing of being able to start and maintain a child sponsorship program in the Dominican Republic and, from that ministry, establishing a church in the Dominican Republic.Ībove all, I am thankful to be saved, to be a child of the living God. Over the years, we’ve been blessed to see lives radically transformed, coming to faith in Christ, equipped for ministry, and sent into the world to represent Him. I’ve been encouraged to see what the Lord does through the simple teaching of His word. Subsequently, I went through the affiliation process and was approved to become a part of Calvary Chapel Outreach Fellowships (an association of Calvary Chapel ministries throughout the world).Īs I’ve been teaching through the entire Bible, verse by verse, it’s been amazing to watch the Holy Spirit work. Then in November, I was ordained and sent with Calvary’s blessing to start Sunday morning services in Delta. After a few months, 50 people were gathering weekly to worship and study God’s word. The next week, 20 people gathered for the first Bible study. The first Sunday evening we met, 12 people gathered for prayer. I went to the pastor, we prayed, and sensed the Lord opening a door to minister to those who were driving from Delta for church. They said they had and had been praying for someone to teach one. Knowing they had traveled quite a distance, I asked if they had ever considered having a home Bible study. Then one evening I met a few young men who had made the journey from Delta to Calvary for the mid-week Bible Study. I was praying diligently, seeking for direction and where to begin to teach a Bible study next. While waiting for more direction, we began to serve any way we could at Calvary-from helping set up for services, to watching toddlers from teaching Sunday School to teaching new believers from leading home Bible studies to serving on the Board. I thought we were going to be missionaries in a foreign country and we began to prepare to go. I sensed a call on my life, but didn’t know the details. The pastor was teaching through Daniel, line by line, verse by verse. Then through a series of events, the Lord eventually led us to a Calvary Chapel. We heard expositional teaching on the radio and loved it we wondered, “Why doesn’t a church simply teach the Bible?” We spent years searching for a fellowship. The Lord has blessed us with five children-two boys and three girls.Īs we sought the Lord, we longed for a fellowship centered on God’s word. In July of the following year (1990) we had our first child. Through the process of digging into the Bible seeking answers, both Susan and I individually entered into a relationship with Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior, surrendering our lives to Him. I discovered life-changing, impacting truth in God’s Word. Over the next several months, we read the Bible and listened to radio Bible teaching. We grabbed a Bible and began to read, looking for hope. In that moment, I remembered that the Bible was God’s word. When Susan heard the news we quickly gathered some things to head to her parents’ house in New Jersey. He had just discovered that his wife had cancer throughout her body. My life changed when Susan’s dad called one day. One good thing that came out of my time there was that I met my wife, Susan. In just a few short months, I was worse than before. I was fine for a few months, but then I got bored and decided to join a fraternity. ![]() I reasoned that my choice of friends had led me down the wrong path, so I transferred to a different school after my first year. When I left home to go to college, I left many moral barriers behind. The truth I knew didn’t affect the way I chose to live. I learned a lot about the Bible, but beginning in my teenage years, I began to live life my own way. They sent me to a Christian elementary school. My parents faithfully took us to church every week. I grew up south of Baltimore in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, with my mom, dad, older sister, and younger brother. It’s a joy to be able to serve the Lord as pastor here at Calvary! It wasn’t my plan, my idea, or my objective but I’m thankful for the way the Holy Spirit redirected me and brought me to this place.
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