If Only Dale Were a Little Nicer

“We do not know what tender sympathies we possess until we try to dry the widow’s tears and soothe the orphan’s grief.” – C.H. Spurgeon

From the moment I started in prison ministry back in 1987, people would occasionally ask me if I felt led to be a pastor, too. My response was always the same. “I’m not nice enough,” I would tell them… and I meant it. At the time, I had a Type-A personality on steroids and was extremely goal-oriented, driven to achieve and accomplish as much as possible.

Those questions about becoming a pastor intensified once I became a licensed minister in 1992 and again, when I was ordained in 2011. But still, my answer remained unchanged. After all, the pastors I knew – Dave, Tom, Bill, Jim, Gary, and many others – were some of the nicest men I’d even met. On a “likeability ladder,” they had all climbed to the top and I was still stuck on the bottom rung.

However, over the past several years, God started to work on my heart to change that perspective. A near-fatal bout with Covid sapped my strength and endurance, reminding me that my days of battling inmates on the softball field and the basketball court were drawing to a close. At the same time, God began opening doors for me to preach more often, first to a group of homeless folks once a month and later as an interim at a church where the pastor had suffered a stroke.

Deanna and I even considered taking the plunge and starting a church at Park Place, the manufactured home community where we lived for four years. However, since our home church was just two miles away and I was already the HOA president, there didn’t seem to be a pressing need and the timing didn’t feel right.

That all changed when we moved back to Vero Beach to be closer to our kids and grandkids. Living in an RV park with lots of mobile homes, we soon discovered that many of our neighbors didn’t attend church for various reasons. Some were too old to drive, others were too poor to own a car. But the good news was that they all could walk or ride their bike or hop into their golf cart and make their way to the clubhouse. And so, when Deanna and I both felt God’s tug at the same time, we launched Midway Bible Fellowship.

I doubt that I am any nicer than I was before, but for whatever reason the dozens of Midway residents who attend our service each Sunday morning seem to like me… and it sure doesn’t hurt having a loving and supportive wife who helps to sand off my many rough edges.

Long story short, after 36 years as a minister, I am finally a pastor… and I love it! I pray that you, too, will find a calling that will also fit you like a glove.

“Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way.” I Corinthians 12:29-31 (BSB)

- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President