Our Pastor |
Rev Dale Durnell, OSL, joined us at Henryetta 1st following Annual Conference 2009. He has a passion to help people come to know his best friend, Jesus Christ, and to proclaim the word of God's loving and saving grace. Dale truly loves preaching and teaching.
A native of California: born in the San Juaquin Valley, and raised in the San Fernando Valley, his earliest years in the church were in the Church of The Brethren. However, he began attending and soon joined The Methodist Church at the age of 12. Compliments of the United States Air Force, he moved to Oklahoma and has now lived in the "Sooner State" longer than any place else in his life.
Dale entered the ministry as a "second career" in 1994 after retiring from the U.S. Air Force in 1991. He served over 27 years on continuous active duty and returned to his Wesleyan roots in response to God's call on his life to become a minister of the gospel. He was ordained a Deacon in Oklahoma Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church by Bishop Dan Solomon at Boston Avenue, United Methodist Church in Tulsa, in May 1996 and ordained an Elder by Bishop Bruce Blake at Boston Avenue UMC in May 2000. He earned an A.A.S. in Communicatons-Operations Technology from the Community College of the Air Force, a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts from Oklahoma City University, and a Master of Divinity from Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.  He is a member of The United Methodist Church's liturgical Order of Saint Luke, a religious order dedicated to sacramental and liturgical scholarship, teaching, and practice.
While attending seminary, Dale served the congregations of Wanette UMC and Saint Mark's UMC (at Maud) in the Ardmore District from June 1994 to June 1998. He then served the congregations at Edgewood UMC (serving Hartshorne and Haileyville) and Dow UMC in the McAlester District from June 1998 through December 2002. From January 2003 Dale served at Cordell 1st UMC in the Clinton District, before coming to Henryetta in June 2009.
In May 1967, Dale and Donna were married in Portales, New Mexico while he was stationed at Cannon Air Force Base and she was attending Eastern New Mexico University. They have two children: Bryan (a third generation native Californian), who lives in Norman, OK, and Chestena (a third generation native New Mexican), who lives in Choctaw, OK. Bryan has two sons and Chestena has a daughter and son (all four of whom are native Oklahomans).
Dale says he hates theological labels. But, if you have to give him one, he's willing to claim to be an evangelical, ecumenical, orthodox theologian. As an evangelical, he believes in the great commission, and both our task and privilege to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. He also believes that our Wesleyan task is to spread scriptural holiness. While Jesus is definitely "the way, the truth, and the life," Dale does not believe that any one Christian denomination is "the only" denomination because Jesus told his disciples that he had sheep that were not of that fold, and on another occasion said that if the others are not against him, then they are for him. And as for being orthodox, Dale is reminded that Justo Gonzalez eloquently demonstrates, in the opening segment of the Christian Believer program, that Christianity has guidelines and boundaries outside of which it is not orthodox Christianity. However, within those lines, there is room for a lot of play on the field and Dale is honored to serve his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in The United Methodist expression of the Christian faith.
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