Ministers of Life
Tabernacle
Pastor
Rev. Douglas Kelley
Bro. Doug Kelley is the oldest son of
Pastor Kelley and for his entire life, he has been around the preaching
of the Gospel and the Apostolic Pentecostal way of life. Bro. Doug has
had many years to soak up and learn from the preaching of not only his
father, Pastor Kelley, but many of the "old time" ministers,
some of which have gone on to be with the Lord. Obviously, Pastor Kelley
has exerted the most influence and greatest example to Bro. Doug in the
structuring of his ministry. He is an excellent preacher of God's Word,
and like Pastor Kelley, he believes in an unabashed and unwatered down
exposition of the Gospel; God's Word is God's Word and there is no
private interpretation to be diffused from it. There is also no
compromising and no incorporating worldly standards in the Church, as
far as Bro. Doug is concerned.
Bro. Doug is a 1970 graduate of Oolitic
High School. He furthered his education by attending Greer Technical
Institute in Chicago, IL, where he learned the trade of heating, cooling
and refrigeration in the fall of 1970. While in Chicago, he was often at
the mission on skid row that was at that time run by Bro. Coleman. Bro.
Doug was able to see first hand the results of sin in the shipwrecked
lives of the transients who frequented the mission, and he was able to
grow personally from the experience.
Bro. Doug later married and he and his
wife Sis. Linda Kelley, had two boys born to them, Jeff and Darrick,
both of whom are taking a part in the leadership of the church and
growing in the ministry.
In the year of 1980, Bro. Doug actually
began to get his "feet wet" in the ministry, by preaching
sermonettes and developing a feel for the awesome responsibility of
getting behind the pulpit and delivering God's Word to both saint and
sinner alike. Bro. Doug has a great love for scripture and the Church,
which is born out by the intense passion exhibited in his preaching. He
also teaches the New Life Class on Sunday mornings, which is a class
designed to instruct new saints on the Word of God, and is even a good
for seasoned saints as a refresher course.
Along with preaching, Bro. Doug sings
with the Kelley Family, as well as playing the trombone and occasionally
the bass guitar.
Bro. Doug was employed at the Indiana
Limestone Company, where he worked as the supervisor over the production
department. He daily strives to let his life be an example and testimony
to those that he works and comes into contact with of God's infinite
greatness.
Sr. Pastor
Rev. Stanley Kelley
Bro. Kelley, ever since he was a young
man, has felt God's call to the ministry. This call was never for
personal popularity or notoriety, but to be a humble servant of God and
to be the voice of one crying in the wilderness for all to come to
salvation through Jesus's name baptism and the receiving of the Holy
Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues, as laid out in Acts
2:38-39.
He graduated in 1949 from Oolitic High
School, and in November of 1952, Bro. Kelley became an Apostolic
Pentecostal. In 1953-55, Bro. Kelley answered his country's call and was
drafted into the Army during the Korean conflict. He and his wife, Sis.
Georgia Kelley, continued to lead a Christian life, which was made
difficult due to the lack of Apostolic Pentecostal Churches in the area
where Bro. Kelley was stationed.
After serving his time in the Army, the
Kelley's returned home in 1955 and attended the Pentecostal church over
on 15th street in Bedford, IN, which was pastored by Bro. Sipes. During
this time period, Doug, their oldest son was born and later a second
son, Rick, would come along. While at 15th street, Bro. Kelley became
involved with the youth at the church as youth minister, and he
developed a sincere appreciation, as well as an awareness of the
importance of young people to the church. This experience has had a
profound effect to this day on how Life Tabernacle views its young
people and provides the various activities for the youth.
Around the time period of the late 50's
and early 60's, Bro. Kelley began to evangelize full time, to places as
far away as 70 miles from home. He worked at the I.G.A. store on 5th
street in Bedford, IN for 30 years, and often he would get off from
work, go home, get cleaned up, and with his wife and 2 sons, head for a
church service that he would be preaching that night. Many times, supper
would have to be eaten while traveling to church from a brown paper bag;
but these little inconveniences were taken as part of the calling.
On August of 1969, Life Tabernacle Church
was established in a rented store building in Springville, IN, and which
was later moved to two acres in Springville to grow steadily into the
beautiful 300 seat, rustic style building and complex that it is today.
Click on Church History for more
information.
Bro. Kelley's efforts have been blessed,
and he has never lost his love for the Word of God. In a time when many
have lost standards and compromised with the things of the secular
world, Bro. Kelley has remained uncompromising. He preaches the Gospel
straight from the Bible without embellishing or taking away from it
through personal beliefs or bias. If he preaches it, it can and will
be backed up by Scripture.
Undoubtedly, a church is a reflection of
the quality of its pastor. Life Tabernacle is the strong and enduring
church that it is today because of the vision and firm resolve that God
has given to Bro. Kelley on what the church should be, as well as the
direction it should go. Bro. Kelley has worked hard to bring the church
to where it is at and to keep it firmly grounded in the Word of God. He
takes no credit or accolades for the success of the work at Life
Tabernacle, but sees himself merely as one who has made himself
available to be used by God for the glory of God.
Young Ministers
Jeffrey D. Kelley
Bro. Jeff is the oldest son of Doug
Kelley, and married to Sis. Della Kelley. They have a daughter named
Hollie & a son named Austin.
Bro. Jeff began his preaching back in
1991, which is also the year that he graduated from the Springville
Christian School at Life Tabernacle, where he was instilled with an
excellent Christian education. Afterwards, he attended college at IVY
Tech, and earned an Associate Degree in Computer Drafting there; he is
working full time at Indiana Limestone Company as Director of
Engineering.
Bro. Jeff has great resources and
inspirations from which to draw upon for his preaching in Pastor Kelley,
his grandfather and Bro. Doug his father, both of whom he follows
closely in how he views and presents the Word of God when he preaches.
Like his grandfather Pastor Kelley in his younger days of ministry, Bro
Jeff is heavily involved in church youth activities, in fact, he is the
overseer of the youth department, known as the Hyper Club. Also, he is
the church's Administrative Director, helping run the business affairs
of the church. He also sings in the Young Men's Quartet and the Kelley
Family, directs the Church Choir, as well as playing the saxophone and
bass guitar on the platform.
Darrick Kelley
Bro. Darrick is the youngest son of Doug
Kelley, and is married to Sis. Laura Kelley. They have a daughter
named Brianna and a son named Camdon.
He graduated from the Springville
Christian School at Life Tabernacle in 1993, and then pursued a general
studies course at Oakland City University, located in Bedford, IN, in
1993. After completing the course at Oakland City in 1994, Bro. Darrick
attended Mid-America Mortuary School in Louisville, KY, and graduated
from there in 1995, completing the 2 year course in 1 year. He works for
Day and Carter Mortuary as a Funeral Director / Corporate Treasurer.
In 1996, Bro. Darrick began preaching, as
well as becoming one of the leaders in the Sunday morning Super Church
Program, and taking a serious part in a leadership capacity in the
church. He also sings in the Young Men's Quartet, the Kelley Family,
Church Choir, as well as playing drums and the trumpet. Not only is Bro.
Darrick able to look to his grandfather and father for inspiration in
his preaching, but his brother Jeff has been a great source. He sees
himself as constantly growing in his knowledge of the scriptures, which
is also helping him to draw nearer to God and live his life as a witness
to those he is around.
Page written by Bro. Chris Merry cmerry65@yahoo.com
