Pastor Donn Fisher’s journey to Christ allegedly began at a young age. His parents would say that he gave his life to Christ when he was 5 years old at a Lutheran church children’s event …but he doesn’t remember that all. What he does remember is growing up as a pastor’s kid in the Evangelical Free denomination. As the oldest of four kids moving around from small church to small church with their dad, Donn knew enough about Christianity to talk the talk and keep up appearances. It felt like he was always at church, but Donn had no real relationship with Jesus. He was living two different lives….until Jesus got a hold of him as a young adult.
Donn began his educational journey as a music education major, he quickly realized that was not for him and dropped out after two years. He decided to change his goals and focused on finding a Bible College to attend. Because there were not really any great options in New England for Biblical schooling, Donn narrowed his focus down two schools. Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and Calvary Chapel Bible College in Twin Peaks.
At the time, there was not a Calvary Chapel presence in New England, but Donn had heard the teachings of Chuck Smith on the radio and enjoyed the verse by verse teaching. With that in mind, Donn attended CCBC Twin Peaks and earned his Associates degree.
After his time in California Donn became the Senior Pastor of a small unaffiliated church in 2000 called Agape Chapel. In 2012 Donn led the church through the affiliation process with Calvary Chapel, renaming the church Calvary Chapel Raynham.
Consumed with pastoring and ministry, Donn didn’t think about school again for about 15 years. In 2017 he began to consider completing a Bachelor degree, but he didn’t know where to turn… then one day while scrolling through social media, Donn discovered Calvary Chapel University.
Donn loved the fact that CCU would line up with his philosophy of ministry and that he could complete his degree at his own pace, without having to sacrifice ministry opportunities.
“I thoroughly enjoyed my studies…I was not sure that I would, since it had been so long since I had taken courses in any setting. The professors were professional, and the interaction with fellow students online, was a huge part of what made the courses special as well.”
In 2017 Donn earned his B.A in Biblical Studies. Having had such a great learning experience with CCU Donn chose to continue his education and in 2019 earned a M.A. in Biblical Leadership.
One of the things that Donn really enjoyed about his time with Calvary Chapel University was the opportunity to take everything he learned each week and immediately apply it to the ministry at hand. For example, during his M.A studies, Calvary Chapel Raynham was going through some leadership restructuring and Donn found his course work essential in helping him think through leadership goals and vision casting for the church.
In fact, Donn’s experience was so great with CCU that his daughter is enrolling in CCU’s Biblical Counseling program this fall, as she prepares for the mission field.
What would Donn say to pastors considering enrolling at Calvary Chapel University?
“My encouragement to anyone considering CCU….do it! The Lord will see you through every hesitation, and you will find a support system of like-minded pastors, professors, and students”