Dale Thomas
I was raised in Upstate New York in a religious, but not Christ-centered family. My father’s family was Methodist and my mother’s Baptist. Since I spent every moment I could on my maternal Grandfather’s dairy farm, I grew up attending both churches about equally. They were liberal, so I saw very little difference in them. However, I did come to understand that the Bible was God’s Word- although we never read it. Having rejected organized religion during my college years, I never attended church except to marry my high school sweetheart Ginny Kellogg in 1968.
Upon graduating from Rochester Institute of Technology with a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering I went to work in the Advanced Development Group of Xerox Corporation working on Laser Facsimile. Here I encountered several men who were born-again believers. It was through their witness to me that I came to understand that I was lost and without hope of eternal life. Over a period of a few weeks I came to understand my hope was in the person and work of Jesus Christ and at the end of July 1972 I came to faith in Christ as my personal savior. I took my faith home with me and three weeks later Ginny was saved. We joined a Baptist Church and started our journey as disciples of Christ and were baptized together on December 31st of that year.
In the ensuing years, while reading many of the books I was selling at our church’s bookstore and taking several post-graduate courses in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, I served the Lord as a Sunday school teacher, Deacon, Elder, Chairman of our Christian School Board, Chairman of the Church Building Committee, and co-leader of our youth group. Moving to Lilburn, Georgia in 1990 I served as a Sunday school teacher, outreach visitation member, jail ministry member, and choir member. We joined Helen First Baptist in 2001 where I have served as a Sunday school teacher, church assimilation strategist, discipleship training and new member’s teacher, mission’s director, and Kenya mission trip leader. Finally, on August 31st, the day of our 40th wedding anniversary, in 2008, I was ordained as Missions Pastor of Helen First Baptist Church.
Ginny and I have three children, all of whom are believers serving in their respective churches, and nine grandchildren. I have my own consulting business, Electronic Design Consultants, which the Lord blesses to make provision for us. Indeed, God has truly blessed me and it is a privilege to serve Him here at Helen First. My desire is “that every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil. 2:11)