Lakeside Assembly of God welcomed its new pastor, who has traveled across the country and around the world, in March.

The Rev. David Applegate, 52, said his first Sunday as pastor of Lakeside was Palm Sunday, March 28. He was voted in as pastor with 96 percent approval on Feb. 28, and he and his family have enjoyed being in Moultrie.

“We feel blessed to be here,” Applegate said. “We are enjoying the kind and loving people, and we have a great church family that is very passionate about reaching this city.”

Applegate said he grew up in western Pennsylvania with parents who went to church all the time. He received his call to do ministry as a boy, and he attended Central Bible College in Springfield, Mo., studying ministry and graduate from there.

After Central Bible College, Applegate said he attended Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Okla., as a graduate student, earning a master’s degree in historical theology. In addition to studying at the university, he taught undergraduate classes there as a professor’s understudy.

Applegate said he went from Oklahoma to Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., earning a master’s of divinity degree. He also served as a youth minister and taught classes in the theological department at Patten University in Oakland, Calif., for three years while there.

The final stop for Applegate in his educational endeavor was Northern Theological Seminary in Chicago, earning a doctorate of ministry. While there, he also became pastor of his first church, First Assembly of God in Kankakee, Ill., where he stayed for eight years. The church saw significant growth in his time there, going from only 17 members when he started to 90 when he left.

“It was a real win for the Kingdom,” Applegate said. “That church is a great light house for the community. God blessed it.”

Applegate said he moved to O’Fallon, Ill., and worked as a senior associate pastor for two years before moving to Bethel Temple in Forth Worth, Texas. He was there for about eight years when he and his wife Debi, the church’s music minister, felt they were approaching a new season in their lives when God opened the doors to come to Moultrie and serve at Lakeside.

“We felt the Lord was leading us here,” Applegate said. “We received the call to visit the church, and we sensed it was a way God was leading us to come here.”

“We want to be able to create a community at the church where we can all do life together,” Applegate said. “We’re trying to help people who don’t know Jesus to find the Lord and find the real reason and real purpose for their lives.”

In addition to his travels across the country, Applegate said he has been given opportunities to teach and preach in Bible schools all over the world. He has preached, spoken and helped missionaries in Africa, Mexico and El Salvador.

Applegate said he met Debi while they were working together at a church in Cincinnati, Ohio, despite both attending college in Springfield, Mo. She attended Evangel University and graduated with a degree in piano performance. They have three children, Audrey, 19, Emily, 15, and Zachary, 4.

Outside of the church, Applegate said he is an avid reader. He also likes outdoor activities such as golf, running and riding bicycles. He and Zachary have also become fishermen since moving to Moultrie, but both practice the catch and release method of fishing, he said.

Despite all of the moving around Applegate and his family have done, he said people have always remained the same and all have the same needs. He wants to be the pastor the people of this community need in their lives.

“It might be a different setting here,” Applegate said, “but people still need the Lord, they need help and still count on you to be there. Our heart is to love the people of Moultrie and be there to help them.”