Dillon Evans

My wife and I were married when I was 19 years old. We didn’t have much money and came from unchurched, broken, and abusive environments. We worked minimum wage jobs to make ends meet. My wife had a life-transforming experience on March 26th, 2003. I was amazed over the next several months at the change I saw in her. I wanted to know what it was all about. I would read the Bible with her, but it made little sense to me, and I didn’t want it to. In October of that year, I had a near-death experience. I didn’t know much about Christ, but I knew He saved me and we started attending church together soon after where we would be baptized together.

I started to feel the Holy Spirit calling me to become a pastor. I largely ignored it, as I would be the least qualified person in the church to do public speaking. The idea seemed ridiculous to me at the time. As time went on, the feeling increased with intensity. My wife and I had relocated to a different church because we had moved closer to work. A few weeks after attending, the pastor invited me to come on a retreat to an event called CECL (Center for Excellence in Congregational Leadership) in Green Lake, WI. In Green Lake, I surrendered to the call at one of the seminars. The President of Northern Seminary, Alistair Brown, was speaking. I honestly don’t remember anything significant to his talk besides the words, “you have studied long enough, it is time to get out there and do the work God has called you to do.” On the way back home from Green Lake, I discussed my experience with my pastor. He suggested two things; the first caught me off guard. He said, “run far away and when your done running if you still can’t escape the call then you are indeed called.” I replied with, “I am done running.” He then said I would need to enroll in seminary. I told him that I didn’t have an undergraduate degree, and he smiled and stated if it is God’s will, He will make a way. I was granted admission to Sioux Falls Seminary in 2012, and the pastor began to mentor me in a three-year bi-vocational internship. Through this experience, the church and pastor have affirmed I have been called to be a teaching pastor. I graduated in May of 2015 and have pastored two churches since graduation.

My ministry philosophy can be broken down into this phrase, "preach the gospel and love the people." I am an expositor of the Word. I preach through books of the Bible line by line so that the whole counsel of God is preached. I believe every sermon should lead to the cross of Christ. I am spiritually gifted as a teacher. My sermons will reflect that with ample time of preparation devoted to bringing the passage to life in a way that is both accurate to the original hearers and relevant with an application for daily life. I believe sound doctrine trumps gimmicky preaching. While we want worship to be lively, preaching is not a form of entertainment but worship. It is hearing God speak through His messenger, similar to the days of the prophets and apostles.

I believe the model of servant leadership is the best approach. Since it is the model Jesus used, it is the model that His bride, the church, should utilize. I believe you lead by love and integrity, show people you care, and then they will listen. The role of a pastor is not that of an employee but of one who equips the saints for the ministry's work. A man on fire for God can accomplish much through the Holy Spirit, but a whole church can change the world.

I believe counseling is to be spiritual in nature, private in detail, and done in a community when possible. I believe the elders/deacons of the church should be equipped to provide spiritual counseling to the members in matters within the scope of training. The Pastor or pastoral team should handle severe matters. It should always be led by grace, and where matters of sin are addressed, they should be done so with the desire of leading individuals to a right standing before God. When counseling goes beyond spiritual matters, I believe it appropriate to refer to a Christ-centered counselor. I encourage a church atmosphere where when lay leadership struggles with sin and needs counseling. They should be able to step away from leadership until counseling has completed its purpose.

Regarding marriage counseling, I require my wife to be present when counseling couples or only to counsel the man in line with keeping with scriptural mandates for the pastor to be above reproach.