Chad Pennell knows a thing or two about being raised in church. Having been saved at the age of 5 in his grandfather’s church, and being the son of a pastor, his family has a generational heritage in church. Being a native Canadian from Barrie, Ontario, he would regularly visit the United States to see his mom’s family who lived in Oklahoma. He went to a small Christian school of about 120 students, and it didn’t take long into high school for him to start getting complacent.
It was easy to go through the motions. Unfortunately, being a pastor’s son, a lot of people judge you by your appearance. He knew he had to appear ‘good’ to everyone, but inside he was drifting from God. The way he describes it, it just wasn’t real to him. As he went through high school, one teacher would have a huge impact on him that he wouldn’t fully appreciate till later in life – his high school math and science teacher, Bill DeLong.
Every morning Mr. DeLong would share a devotional from the class, from his own personal devotional. He would share what God was speaking to him that very day, a little encouraging thought. Whenever anyone needed to talk, he knew Mr. DeLong was someone he could approach. He was a good authority figure, and they became close during high school. Mr. DeLong instilled a love of math and science in Chad, and also showed him the importance of a Christian education.
It’s because of Mr. DeLong that Chad wanted to become an engineer. As Chad went to college, he attended West Coast Bible College at the behest of his parents. He did it just to honor them, but he didn’t want to be there. He was going to just do one year. Chad wanted to study elsewhere, get an engineering degree, and ‘make the money’. But Chad couldn’t deny that God was knocking on the door of his heart.
Years of complacency and drifting were met with soft pangs in Chad’s heart where God began to speak to him. He knew he wasn’t doing what he was supposed to be, but after a series of chapel services, dorm devotions and sermons that all seemed to speak together, he finally surrendered. He couldn’t deny that God was trying to get a hold of him, and he submitted to the Lord’s leading. His devotions came back alive, his prayer life was rekindled, and after years of drifting, he finally felt close to God again. God became real to him. He had a peace that he says hasn’t left him till this day and a burden lifted off of him.
He submitted to God’s will to become a teacher himself, just like Mr. DeLong. He would finish his degree at West Coast. A year after his recommitment, he would meet his future wife Genna.
Looking back, he wishes he appreciated more what Mr. DeLong did for him, and listened more to those devotions he shared with class. He sees students in the same complacency he was in from time to time, and he gets it. If it wasn’t for Mr. DeLong, he might have stayed there himself, but God used him as a role model to get him to wake up. He hopes to do the same for students at Valley Forge Baptist Academy.
He now trades notes with Bill. He asks him questions now, not as a superior, but as a peer. He wants to live up to what Chad calls, the ‘DeLong Standard’ for his own students. To Chad the threefold cord of church, school and the home is essential to reinforce and strengthen spiritual development. He wants that for his students more than anything else.
Most people are willing to talk if students are willing to open up, and Chad wants his students to know that. He’s been in their shoes, and he knows the habits developed now of prayer and devotion carry over into adult life – good ones or bad ones. He would ask his students, are you praying? Are you in the Word? He doesn’t want them to travel the same path he took. He now strives to have a meaningful impact for Christ on his students, just like Mr. DeLong did.
And one student at a time, one day at a time, he may just see that become reality.
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