SPOTLIGHT ON STAFF: DANNY GINGRICH

Danny Gingrich serves the Community Center as its English teacher and also as the coordinator of the Computers for Refugees program. His work for the Center is characterized by dedication, humility, and passion for Christ and His mission. Danny says he feels blessed to be involved in this ministry and appreciates the witness of each staff member and what God is doing here.

Danny Gingrich serves the Community Center as its English teacher and also as the coordinator of the Computers for Refugees program. His work for the Center is characterized by dedication, humility, and passion for Christ and His mission. Danny says he feels blessed to be involved in this ministry and appreciates the witness of each staff member and what God is doing here. Danny’s wife, Laurie, is a nurse. They have two married daughters and three young grandchildren. Danny and Laurie are members of Grace Baptist Church of Lancaster.

After graduating from Warwick High School and Lancaster Bible College, Danny took classes at Millersville University but put his studies aside when he and Laurie accepted a one-year mission opportunity in France. Upon return, he worked for a local water company for many years. When company structure changed, Danny felt God leading him back to his studies at Millersville, 28 years after his initial classes there. He earned a Masters of Education in English in 2008.

Danny Gingrich serves the Community Center as its English teacher and also as the coordinator of the Computers for Refugees program. His work for the Center is characterized by dedication, humility, and passion for Christ and His mission. Danny says he feels blessed to be involved in this ministry and appreciates the witness of each staff member and what God is doing here. Danny’s wife, Laurie, is a nurse. They have two married daughters and three young grandchildren. Danny and Laurie are members of Grace Baptist Church of Lancaster. After graduating from Warwick High School and Lancaster Bible College, Danny took classes at Millersville University but put his studies aside when he and Laurie accepted a one-year mission opportunity in France. Upon return, he worked for a local water company for manyears. When company structure changed, Danny felt God leading him back to his studies at Millersville, 28 years after his initial classes there. He earned a Masters of Education in English in 2008.

Danny met Joel Peña in a Saturday class at Millersville International House and began teaching English one day a week at the Center in January 2008. When he realized that semester-based classes and a one-month module did not fit the schedules of the persons he served, he changed his plan to provide individual tutoring to equip his students for the next step, calling this new approach “Bridging the Gap.” His schedule expanded, as did the services he provides: teaching business English and medical English, networking with organizations like the Literacy Council, and connecting virtually with a Cuban pastoral couple in Colombia and a student in Mexico.

Danny says that he does not enjoy technical things, so it is rather ironic that he is in charge of Computers for Refugees. God does move in mysterious ways! When he realized that two students—a doctor and an architect in their countries of origin—had only phones and no computers, Danny connected with a member of the nearby Laurel Street Mennonite Church who “loves tinkering with technology.”

The program began with 10 donated desktops that his friend upgraded and gave to Danny to distribute.
Computers for Refugees grew as Danny networked with IU13, Church World Service, and the Migrant Education Program. He is now able to equip his students with computers. The Community Center showed its support of this program by providing a special workroom for the computers as part of a recent renovation.

Many years ago when Danny came to Christ, he knew he wanted to do missions. God has enabled him to be in full-time Christian work as an English teacher. Through internet connections, he is in world-wide mission with opportunities to make the Gospel known right here in the Community Center and beyond.