David Sisler was born on February 17, 1947, in Loch Lynn, Maryland. His father, Melvin, was a retired school board employee and his mother, Elizabeth, was a retired postal worker. His brother, Kyle, is retired (and David wonders how his younger brother got to pick up Social Security checks before he did). David graduated from Southern High School in Oakland, Maryland, in 1965 and from Frostburg (Maryland) State College in 1970 with a Bachelor of Science degree is in history and teaching. He received the Master of Divinity Degree from Erskine Theologial Seminary in 2008.
David married Bonnie Belle Carter on August 24, 1968. Bonnie has a master's degree in education and mathematics from the University of South Carolina. She retired as the head of the mathematics department at Hephzibah High School, and formerly taught at Augusta State University.
Bonnie loves being retired. She said if she knew it would be this much fun, she would have done it years ago. She enjoys crochetting, taking morning walks, and gardening. She reads "Murder She Wrote" novels, and enjoys endless reruns of the TV show. During special events at Macedonia UMC, she was widely known as the "Kitchen Angel," supervising meal functions for Vacation Bible School and Christmas at Cedar Rock.
The couple has four children, and ten grandchildren.
God called David Sisler to the ministry on Father's Day, 1959.
For four years he was editorial assistant to the editor in chief of Church of God publications. Here he shared editorial responsibility for editing the denominational magazine. David was book editor for Pathway Press as well as a consultant in publications to the World Missions Department and the Radio and Television Department.
David has one published book: FINISHED! Living Words from the Dying Savior.
He has written adult Sunday school literature for New Life Curriculum and Radiant Life Curriculum. In addition, he has developed devotional material for "God's Word for Today" and the Evangelical Sunday School Commentary. His writings have been featured in New Wine for Christians Today and Doveline. He was a contributing writer with Aiken County Magazine and The Metropolitan Spirit. David was also a ghost writer for an international radio ministry.
David wrote "NOT FOR SUNDAY ONLY," a weekly column of Christian commentary, for fifteen years.
When David is relaxing you will often find him in the kitchen fixing his "World Famous Spaghetti Sauce," or his "World Famous One Skillet Breakfast," or his "World Famous Steak and Mushroom Gravy," or his "World Famous LeRoy's Bean Goulash," or... well, you get the idea. Other hobbies are watching the classic version of "Star Trek", listening to the Broadway musical "Cats", and bemoaning another loss by the Pittsburgh Pirates (he is totally convinced that Sid Bream was out).
David and Bonnie spent the three summer months of 1993 as the missionary pastors of Maranatha Christian Center's sister church in Samara, Russia. David made 14 trips to Samara through 2008, and lived there for a total of two years. He remains in constant touch with believers in Russia and Moldova, through the work of MIR Children's Foundation, a non-profit corporation they founded.
In January, 1999 MIR delivered Christmas Shoe Boxes to almost 700 orphans in Ekaterinburg and Samara. In September, 1999 MIR undertook a second annual project, delivering children's vitamins to orphanages in Samara, Otradney, Ekaterinburg, Vilikie Novgorod, Malaya Vishera, and Valdye. In March, 2000 MIR went to Orel, Russia and became multinational intercessors for relief when they went into Moldova for the first time, ministering in Chisinau and Beltsi. A 20-foot container filled with 1,000,000 children's chewable vitamins and presents for 3,000 orphans were delivered as part of that trip. A second container was shipped to Moldova in October 2001, and a third in June 2003.
From June 23, 2002, until June 15, 2014, David was the pastor of Macedonia United Methodist Church. In retirement, David and Bonnie spend as much time as possible on cruise ships where he serves as a guest lecturer.