Meet Pastor Doug Ley

A Passion for Mission

If after a conversation with Pastor Doug Ley, you don’t want to go out and share the gospel with everyone you meet, you must be spiritually flatlined. This energetic and passionate guy doesn’t mess around when it comes to his love for Jesus and for those who don’t yet know the Lord. He recently started his new position as Senior Associate Pastor of Mission. We thought you might want to learn a little bit about his spiritual journey, his family, and his vision of what it means to be missional.

So, fasten your seatbelts, here we go.

Doug grew up in Tallmadge, and began dating Paula when they were 15-years-old. Both were non-believers, and Doug admits, “We were little sinners. I guess you could call me a big sinner for those who knew me back then. Praise God for grace!” When his mom remarried, her new husband started taking them to The Chapel. On July 7, 1980, Doug went forward at church, and two months later, Paula committed her life to Christ. They started going to the high school youth group when they were seniors. “After a really dramatic conversion to Christ, we started going to the high school group when Rory Wineka was the youth pastor.” Doug recalls, “These kids had all grown up in the church, and I could not relate to them at all. So Rory really took us under his wing, and discipled us.” After high school, he went to Cedarville for a year. Again, he really didn’t fit in among the “Christianized” kids, so he dropped out. He wanted to marry Paula, but what could a college drop-out, with no money, no job, no car have to offer? His step-father asked him, “Do you believe that if you obey God’s Word that He will provide and take care of you?” That changed his life, and at age 19, they were married at The Chapel in 1982, and God has been taking care of them ever since.