my.northtexas - LFTL 2018 Pledge

Rick DuBose

Rick and Rita DuBose live in Maypearl, Texas. Just about 30 miles south of Downtown Dallas, they enjoy being close enough to all the activities of the big city, but far enough away to be able to slow down the pace a bit. Slowing down is all relative, especially when the family gets together. All 3 of their children live relatively close by and it’s not uncommon for them to just spend time in the living room officiating the “fun” had by all 7 grandsons! Even though it can be a bit hectic, those moments are the ongoing fulfillment of a legacy that brings such honor to God and truly does bring joy to this couple.

Their children are all involved in full-time vocational ministry. Jason and Renee Exley are the Lead Pastors of Life Church in Midlothian and have 4 sons. Ryan and Lauren DuBose are Youth and Worship Pastors and also live in Midlothian with their 2 sons. Eric and Rachel Jenkins have one son and minister to the Young Adults at Life Church alongside Jason & Renee.

Rick and Rita have served in pastoral ministry at several churches. They began their ministry as Youth Pastors in Mesquite, Texas from 1981-1984. While in Mesquite, Rick served the North Texas District Youth Department in several support roles at camps and with Speed the Light. They then pastored a small church in Hallsville, Texas from 1984-1987. Pastoring in a small East Texas town like Hallsville had its challenges, but God provided for them personally and they saw growth and health come to the church. In 1987, God called them to lead 17 people at a church in Sachse, Texas, which is just north of Dallas. From 1987 – 2005, they saw God do incredible things in Sachse and the church grew to 1,000. Sachse A/G vaulted to the lead in North Texas of missions giving and growth and continues to grow strong today.

Throughout his ministry, Rick has served on many boards and held positions in the governmental structure of the Assemblies of God. He has been voted into many of these roles by his peers. He was voted to be an Executive Presbyter of the North Texas District of the Assemblies of God in 2003, then to be the Assistant Superintendent in 2005, and was voted as the Superintendent in 2007, where he presently serves. He was also a North Dallas Section Presbyter from 2001-2005, served on the National A/G World Missions Board, was North Texas Missions Director, chaired the National Church Planting and Development Board, and is currently the chairman of the Board of Regents of Southwestern Assemblies of God University.

In the midst of all of these responsibilities, perhaps his greatest and most fulfilling challenge currently is leading the largest district in the General Council with a goal of someday reaching a total of 1,000 healthy churches. Target 1000 is the vision in North Texas that God gave to Rick several years ago. The heart behind that vision is that every community in North Texas would have a healthy Spirit-filled church that plays a powerful role in seeing lost people come to Christ. One thousand healthy churches seem to be an enormous goal, especially since North Texas currently has around 560 churches. But that vision of faith is what has led Rick and the leadership of the district to undertake the largest restructuring in its history and has seen the framework built for a God-sized vision to become a reality. Since Rick became Superintendent, North Texas has planted 80+ churches and has helped 200 of their pastors participate in a very intentional Church Life training model. This vision and the process of birthing healthy churches has also led Rick to author his first book, The Church That Works, which has been a great resource to districts all over the nation.

Rick DuBose is not afraid to dream big dreams. His wife, children, family, and all the staff would all heartily agree with that! But they would also point out that the foundation of those dreams happen in a far less dramatic setting. It’s usually around 5 am each morning, cup of coffee in hand, sitting in his home office and simply opening up the Word and letting God speak. Rick is a living example of making sure he hears from God first before he opens his mouth to speak anything. His adamant commitment to his personal altar time has led the district and ministers but most importantly his family to a renewed devotion to daily times with Jesus.

Rod Loy

Rod Loy is Senior Pastor at First Assembly of God in North Little Rock, Arkansas, a 104 year old church. Under Rod’s leadership, the church has grown to over 5,200 in average weekly attendance on six campuses, gives over a million dollars to missions every year and has helped plant more than 1,350 churches in 63 nations. Rod’s unique approach to leadership has led him to adventures in the “Real World”, including working as a volunteer lifeguard and a teacher’s assistant in a low-income, academically challenged public school.A former children’s pastor, Rod helped develop the Faith Case curriculum for children and is still actively involved with kids. At the 2015 General Council of the Assemblies of God, Rod was re-elected as an Executive Presbyter, representing the Gulf Region. Rod and his wife, Cindy have two sons, Tyler and Parker.

Rod has written three books:

3 Questions
Immediate Obedience
After The Honeymoon

Reinhard Bonnke

Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke is principally known for his Great Gospel Crusades throughout the Continent of Africa. The son of a pastor, Reinhard gave his life to the Lord at age nine, and heard the call to the African mission field before he was even a teenager. After attending Bible College in Wales, and his ordination in Germany he pastored a church and then went on to start missionary work in Africa. It was there, in the small mountain kingdom of Lesotho, that God placed upon his heart the vision of ‘the continent of Africa, being washed in the precious Blood of Jesus’– an entire continent, from Cape Town to Cairo and from Dakar to Djibouti that needed to be reached and to hear the proclamation of the signs-following Gospel.

He began holding meetings in a tent that accommodated just 800 people, but, as attendance steadily increased, larger and larger tents had to be purchased, until finally, in 1984, he commissioned the construction of the world’s largest mobile structure – a tent capable of seating 34,000 people! Soon, attendance at his meetings even exceeded the capacity of this huge structure, and he began open-air Gospel Campaigns with an initial gathering of over 150,000 people per service! Since then, he has conducted city-wide meetings across the continent with as many as 1,600,000 people attending a single meeting using towering sound systems that can be heard for miles.

It has now been some forty years since Reinhard Bonnke founded the international ministry of Christ for all Nations (CfaN), which today is based in Orlando, Florida, and nine international offices in Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, Nigeria, South Africa, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong and Brazil. Succeeding Reinhard Bonnke as President and CEO in 2010, Daniel Kolenda, now teams with Reinhard Bonnke around the world in campaigns and evangelistic outreaches. Evangelist Kolenda has authored three books including the new, bestselling book, Live Before You Die. He has also had the privilege of personally leading over 15 million souls in the prayer of Salvation, through CfaN’s massive open air meetings where hundreds of thousands attend regularly.

Since 1987, through a host of major events in Africa and other parts of the world, the ministry has recorded 75 million documented decisions for Jesus Christ.

As part of the discipleship-training program, 190 million copies of CfaN follow-up literature have been published in 148 languages and printed in 55 countries. Millions of books have been printed and freely ‘seeded’ in nations around the world. All this is in addition to the‘Reinhard Bonnke School of Fire,’ an online, self-study course, aimed at inspiring others to Holy Spirit Evangelism and leading to either a certificate or university credits. Reinhard Bonnke is also recognized for hosting ‘Fire Conferences’ in many different countries of the world, events that are aimed at equipping church leaders and workers for evangelism; for distributing over 95,500,000 copies of Minus to Plus, a profound salvation message, to homes around the world; and for seeking every opportunity to reach and to save the lost. He spent several years developing the ‘Full Flame Film Series,’ a series of eight inspirational films aimed at stirring and challenging the church to Holy Spirit evangelism.
In April 2013, Evangelist Bonnke announced he would, for the first time, launch a series of events in the United States meant to inspire Americans to draw nearer to a relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit. God approached Bonnke with the city-to-city tour, telling him to start crusades in America because America’s time for salvation is now. He is known as one with a burning passion for the Gospel, a vision for Africa, and a message for the world. Evangelist Bonnke is married to Anni, father to Kai-Uwe, Gabrielle, and Susie, and grandfather to eight grandchildren.