I grew up in a Christian family of seven
children in the small town of Ferndale,
Washington. I came know the Lord at the
young age of four as I listened to the
gospel being presented by one of my older
brothers to another older one. In the quiet
of my bedroom, I placed my faith in what
Jesus Christ did for me, dying for my sins.
I didn’t feel a call to the ministry until
after attending Western Baptist Bible
College in the early 1970’s. It was there
that I met and married my wife Sandee, and
began adding to our family. Casey, our
firstborn, is now a graphic artist in
Portland, Oregon. Daulina came along next,
and is now married to a Seattle
firefighter. Our twin boys, Barry and
Berney are youth pastors in the Tacoma area,
and are currently attending NBS along with
Barry’s wife, Rachel.
The twins were about two years old when God
began to call me to full time ministry.
Through God’s providence, we pulled up
stakes in Wenatchee, Washington and moved to
Tacoma to attend NBS. After paying for the
UHaul, we had a mere $300 in our pockets and
no job or house nailed down. Through our
five years of seminary, God supplied and met
each and every need we had, even when I was
without a job. I remember during one
difficult time, when the bills at home and
school were weighing heavily upon Sandee and
me, that we decided the answer might be
joining the Air Force Reserves. I took the
test, qualified for whatever I wanted, and
was planning to sign up for electronics
school. But two week before I planned to
sign on the dotted line, we received a call
from the seminary informing us that our
entire school bill had been anonymously been
paid in full. Needless to say, I didn’t
join the reserves. This is one of just many
examples I could give of God’s wonderful
provision for us during our schooling days.
I graduated in 1984 and God graciously
called me to a little farming community
church in Wilson Creek, Washington. I was
there for 4 years until God called me to
another farming community in Connell,
Washington for 8 years. I have now been at
Faith Baptist Church in Salem, Oregon for
over 9 years. I can say without a moments
reservation that Northwest Baptist Seminary
did a wonderful job preparing both Sandee
and me for the ministry. I have a passion
to preach and teach the message of Christ to
God’s people, so that they might be equipped
for the work of the ministry (Eph. 4:11ff).
In an evangelical climate of pragmatic
theology and practice, NBS stands firm in
training God’s servants to preach, teach,
and live uncompromisingly the Christian
faith. I thank God for that preparation,
and pray God will continue to work in my
life in the days to come.
Doug Gorsuch
