Pastor Gordon & Melissa Deuel are no strangers to Red Rock Camp.  In fact, the two met at camp in 2002 and have been working together in ministry ever since.  They are thrilled to be invited to serve as the camp missionaries this year at Red Rock Camp, not only sharing about their journey into church planting and the work God is doing in the Elko New Market community, but also equipping and sharing practical ideas about how we can engage our own communities for God’s kingdom.

Pastor Gordon began his ministry with CROSSROADS CHURCH in the Fall of 2002 as an intern.  In June of 2006 Pastor Gordon was appointed to Little Prairie United Methodist Church in rural Dundas, where he served as Pastor until June of 2013.  In 2013 he was appointed to Heritage UMC in New Prague and to plant a new church with CROSSROADS in Elko New Market.  Gordon & Melissa now serve the new start in Elko New Market area full-time.

Melissa has been attending Red Rock camp since 1993.  It was at Red Rock camp that she first committed my life to Christ.  Red rock camp is also where she met her husband, Gordon and first felt called to ministry.   Over the past several years, Melissa has been following her own sense of God’s call, moving out of the classroom as an educator and into ministry.  She is currently in the candidacy process to become a local Licensed Pastor.

Pastor Gordon grew up in a small town in southwestern Minnesota.  It was there that he first remembers praying to receive Jesus into his life and first felt God calling him to ministry.  “I remember I was about 9 or 10 years old when I was sitting in church one day listening to a missionary share about a recent trip she was on.  I remember going home that day and saying, ‘that’s what I want to do with my life, I want to serve God full-time.’”  Since then it has been a journey of discernment as he has listened for and followed God’s call in his life.