Rev. Dr. Donald R. Plemons

Rev. Dr. Donald R. Plemons

Biography of Rev. Dr. Donald R. Plemons

Rev. Donald Ray Plemons was born August 1, 1940, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Dillard and Dorothy (Dodd) Plemons. He was privileged to grow up in a Christian home with parents and family who surrounded him with love, prayers and godly influence. Perhaps his greatest mentor besides his parents was his uncle, Rev. Elbert Dodd, who was the Louisiana District Superintendent of the Church of the Nazarene for many years and in his latter years was General Moderator of the Bible Missionary Church, where he was also closely associated with Rev. I. Parker and Edith Maxey, parents of Dr. Gary S. Maxey.

Donnie committed his life to the Lord as a young lad and as a youth God called him to preach. He graduated from high school in 1958 and from Bible Missionary Institute in 1961 with a Theological Certificate. It was at BMI that Donnie first met Gary Maxey, in 1958. During his time in Bible college Donnie met Rebecca Michael, one of his fellow students. In 1961 they were married and began a life of pastoral ministry that has now stretched to forty-eight years. Their lives have been richly blessed with not only very successful ministry but with a beautiful marriage, including four wonderful children, their spouses and fourteen grandchildren, all of whom are involved in serving the Lord in their own churches and spheres of influence.

Donnie has pastored seven churches over the past forty-eight years and in addition has ministered in numerous church camp meetings across the USA—as a preacher, and together with his wife as singers and musicians. He also served for several years as a district superintendent, both in Arkansas and in Illinois. He has served across the years on countless district boards, school boards, missions boards and, for a time was Missions Director for the International Fellowship of Bible Churches. He has served on the board of the International Fellowship of Bible Church (of which Dr. William Sillings, the Friends of WATS chairman, is the General Superintendent) since its beginning. Over the years Donnie’s missions travels have taken him to Canada, Mexico, the Philippines, Nigeria, Guyana and Barbados.

Especially over the past fifteen years Donnie has carried out an exemplary wholistic ministry from the Grace Bible Church in Moline, Illinois. There he has had a successful outreach to those in prison, and those who have been released on parole who need help and counsel. He has organized a year-round outreach to families in need of food, and has especially excelled in food drives that have reached out to many hundreds of needy families during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons. Even though his own personal resources have never been very great, Donnie Plemons is known throughout the region around him as a man who is ready to help anyone in need. He is an indefatigable worker who always has a smile, and word of encouragement, and a Christlike helping hand to offer.

There has always been a very big place in the hearts of Donnie and Becky Plemons for missions. For the past ten years Donnie has faithfully served on the Friends of WATS board in the USA, and when the Friends of WATS were looking for an office in 2004 Donnie offered to provide one and furnish it, and Grace Bible Church became home to the first full-fledged office operated by Friends of WATS. Much more significantly, though, is the fact that over the past twenty years, since the establishment of West Africa Theological Seminary, Donnie has worked untiringly to ship dozens of overseas containers to the seminary. Over the years that Gary and Emma Lou Maxey have been in Nigeria Donnie Plemons has shipped more than forty overseas containers to Nigeria. Over the past ten years virtually all of the containers (which in recent years have averaged not less than two yearly) have been 40’ “high-cube” containers, with maximum shipping capacity. Donnie and his faithful helpers at Grace Bible Church, in Moline, Illinois, have done an outstanding job for which far too little recognition has been given. Donnie has served this congregation for more than fifteen years. Week after week they collect materials that will be useful at WATS, including tens of thousands of books, computers, office equipment and supplies, building supplies and furniture, and even recently a beautiful tractor. Donnie has repeatedly found ways to cover the shipping costs of these containers, and has spent hundreds of hours every year making this ministry possible. The blessing to WATS has been incalculable over the years. We owe a great debt to this great and humble man of God, and we pray that God will raise up more heroes like him in the coming days!

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Praise God for these men of God who support WATS!

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