Doug was born and raised in Loudonville, OH. Upon graduating from Loudonville High School in 1992 he attended Mount Vernon Nazarene University. It would during his time there he would be called into the ministry. He graduated from MVNU in 1997 with a B.A. in Religion and a minor in Biblical Languages. He then attended Ashland Theological Seminary where he graduated with a Masters of Divinity in 2000. While pursuing his masters he was the youth pastor at Loudonville First Baptist.
After graduating from Seminary he began looking for jobs. Cactus Game Design, a Christian gaming company he had done freelance graphic work for, contacted him about taking a full time position as their art director. After much prayer, "I felt as though God was directing me to take this position." said Gray. "I didn't understand the logic behind it. I was called into the ministry. But I have learned that following God is always the best thing to do, even when you don't know where the path is leading."
So, he married his fiancee, Leslie, and they moved 700 miles south to Hayesville, NC. "When we moved to NC I didn't think we would be there for more than a few years." Gray said. "I had no idea a few years would be nine." Looking back on it now, Gray can see the things God was doing. "I really needed some time away from the ministry. I had burned myself out as a youth pastor. I saw too many needs and tried to meet them all. I needed a break. It also gave Leslie and I a good chance to establish our marriage. Ministry is tough. Leslie admitted that early on she was not ready to be a pastor's wife. Over the last nine years she has really grown in maturity and wisdom." Gray also commented that he had considerable time to study. "The downtime really gave me a tremendous amount of time to tighten up my theology. It also gave me time to pursue my growing hobby as a Christian symbologist. It took me well over a year of spare time to get my web site www.christiansymbols.net up and running . That is something I would not have had time to do while in the full time ministry."
In the summer of 2008 Gray lost his job at Cactus due to financial cutbacks. "I had always prayed that God would close the door before I left Cactus. I didn't want to leave too early. Cactus is doing such a unique ministry I wanted to leave when it was the right time. Losing my job closed that door." It would be 9 months before God would bring the right church along for Gray to get excited about. "I have had opportunities come my way but the churches weren't places where I could really fit. I have a very conservative theology but a semi-liberal methodology. Finding a church like that was going to be difficult. Millersburg Grace really fit that description. Their theology is conservative yet they are not afraid to use overhead projection systems and use a praise team with a various instruments. I was every excited to see they had built a very functional building with chairs instead of pews. Here was a congregation that was ready to move forward."
So what does Gray have planned for Millersburg Grace? "My big concern is that we remain faithful to God. I am called to preach the Word and administer the ordinances of the church. I am going to work extremely hard to do that to the best of my ability. If those are done properly it will drive people to really love God and love their neighbor; thus fulfilling all of the commandments. I believe God will honor that and start to increase our numbers through the conversion of the lost."
Pastor Gray would like to extend an invitation to all those who are seeking to grow in their understanding of God. "I don't mince words when it comes to preaching the Bible. Every bit of it needs to be preached, even the extremely difficult passages. It is in the deep theology where the power of God resides. I want the church consistently immursed in it."
