Doug McDonald

I have been married to the same beautiful person for going-on 43 great years together. Alice is the life of the party, the love of my life, and, thankfully, the one here on earth who makes our lives work.

We have four married children who – along with their spouses – are heroes to us and through whom God has given us 15 wonderful grandchildren. This collection of kings, queens, princes and princesses make up a kind of ‘kingdom of heaven on earth’ for us. We are truly blessed and are enjoying this phase of our life to the fullest.

Having been touched (that’s right, I just admitted it) by God with an upgrade to the gospel I had been carrying around for years, I’ve become a gladiator for truth. In an arena where the odds can sometimes seem stacked against truth and attacks against it can seem constant and vicious…I am at rest.

The truth truly does make one free. Religion, rejection, regret or routine cannot coax me out of this love-lobotomy place of enjoying my Father and learning from Him. The old, external self-measurements have given way to internal, unselfish pleasures of contentment and discovery as I now enjoy life without the old titles and false expectations.

Although I still enjoy teaching anyone with honest questions and a willingness to learn along with me, I don’t consider myself to be that “pastor” any longer – a title I have worn since 1976.

One thing must be made clear: I have great respect for modern pastors and all they go through due to the pressures of the job and the sometimes cruel expectations of others. However, I have found I suffered more abuse from my own expectations of myself, within a system of my own making, burdened down with presumed expectations from God under a gospel that was at best…only partial Good News.

I now consider myself a commissioned missionary that is presently on assignment within the wastelands of western church culture. I’m sent to demonstrate and declare the riches of the glorious gospel of grace to those held captive by religion within a Christianity that proclaims a Good News that is… not nearly good enough.