OUR PRIMARY TEACHER

John Goodale

has been a pastor at First Pres since 1995. During his first 11 years, John served as our Pastor of Single Adults, leading this vibrant ministry and teaching a weekly class and our church’s Divorce Recovery Workshop.

In 2006 John shifted ministries and became our church’s Pastor of Caring Ministries, where he now coordinates and provides pastoral care to our congregants.

John grew up in Washington state, and graduated from Seattle Pacific University with a Communication major and Christian Education minor. John also earned his teaching credentials, but then began to sense a call to teach something more than nouns and verbs. This led him to Fuller Seminary, where he earned his Masters of Divinity and eventually Doctor of Ministry. John’s seminary years also included his biggest claim to fame—being on two TV game shows for a total of 6 days (Scrabble with Chuck Woolery and Wheel of Fortune).

John met his wife Deborah while ministering at St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, California, and they were married in 1991. John was ordained that same year at First Presbyterian Church in Lakeland, Florida, where he served until 1995. Early that year John and Deborah moved to Colorado Springs to begin his ministry here. During subsequent years they raised their children, Matthew and Suzanne in this community. Matthew currently attends Princeton Seminary in preparation for ministry, and Suzanne is a Children’s Ministry Director in Castle Rock.