Meet Pastor Dwight

Dwight Warden has been the pastor at BEFC since March of 1989. He grew up in suburban Cleveland (think Detroit without the glamour) and Columbus, Ohio (home of Ohio’s most successful professional football team, The Ohio State University). He was raised in a church going home, but it wasn’t until he was in the 9th grade that he really understood what it meant to have a personal relationship with God through Jesus.

During his high school days he believed that God was directing him into full-time ministry. He attended Grace College (Winona Lake, IN) for three semesters and then transferred to Biola University (La Mirada, CA) where he received a BA in Communications in 1979. He then attended Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) and received a Master of Divinity degree in 1983.

After finishing his class work at TEDS he did a one year internship at the Johnston Evangelical Free Church in suburban Des Moines working with student ministries. At the end of the internship he was hired as a permanent youth pastor. He served in that role until leaving for Blackduck in 1989.

While he was at Johnston, he proved that most men marry way above themselves when he met and married Lorraine Deitirck.  Lorraine is a native of Iowa (please no Iowa jokes), a Trinity College graduate. At the time she was working at the county hospital as a psychiatric social worker.  They have three children (Alicia, a May 2009 graduate of Iowa State, Elliott, a senior at Wheaton College, and Emily, a junior at Bethel University). Their love for each other is obvious in the photo on the right.

Dwight is currently working on his Doctor of Ministry degree at Trinity.

Favorite

Food: Chicago style deep-dish pizza, Chinese, Mexican, BBQ, connivence store hotdogs (the ones on the hotdog roller coaster)

Beverage: Diet Coke, Arnold Palmer

Restaurant: Famous Dave’s, Minnesota Nice, Backyard BBQ, any slightly dodgy Chinese place

Vacation Spot: Pawleys Island, SC

Music: U2, David Crowder Band, Chris Tomlin, Van Morrison, delirious?, classic 60′s Motown, Alison Krauss,  Coldplay, Handel

TV: The Office, Mythbusters, Pardon the Interruption, Dirty Jobs

Movie: Lord of the Rings,

Teams: The Ohio State University, Browns, Twins,

Spare Time: Reading, watching sports, playing golf, amateur carpenter/handyman, learning to play the bass guitar

What I’m Reading Now: Last Call: the Rise and Fall of Prohibition, The Meaning of the Pentateuch