Our Founder - David Lorency
David Lorency enjoyed more than 40 years of dynamic ministry characterized with ministry to the underprivileged and poor around the world. His early ministry began on the streets of Virginia Beach, VA where David started Youth Challenge Outreach and served as Chaplain to the Norfolk City Jail. YCO was an umbrella ministry for numerous coffee houses, servicemen’s centers and beach ministry stations, all characterized by reaching the youth of America as they descended on the local beaches. During the next five years, YCO became a part of the Jesus Movement and grew into a ministry reaching thousands of youth, employing nine full-time and seventy part-time staff members.
It was during this time that YCO moved beyond Virginia Beach and into Mexico. The Osborn Foundation donated evangelism vans complete with sound equipment to David. He and his family drove the vans to Mexico holding crusades and establishing churches. Robert Tyndale donated 1,500 Bibles and the American Bible Society donated three million Bibles, Bible portions and tracts. At one point, more than 11 million tracts were taken into Mexico.
The same successful and driven attitude also propelled David into the pastorate. For eleven years, Lorency and his family served three churches across America. At each location, the ministry focused on the needs of the community and encouraging the church to respond. It was this unselfish sharing of resources that caused his churches to grow numerically and financially. Whether in Detroit, MI, Bakersfield, CA or Alabaster, AL, David’s ministry made a global impact upon the poor and those caught in catastrophic circumstances.
Because of Lorency’s commitment, the Church of God asked David to serve as the director for the Metro Church Plant in Northern New England. Under his leadership many new churches were established and remain strong today. David continued to lead on the state level as he served as the Evangelism Director of both Chicago Metro and California. In Chicago, David was responsible for starting many ethnically diverse churches and their strength is evidence of David’s commitment to excellence. In California, David’s emphasis was on strengthening the local church and he accomplished this by developing many conferences and seminars featuring internationally known pastors and evangelists. More than 100 churches were started during Lorency’s ministry.
In 2000, David Lorency was selected to serve as Executive Director of Operation Compassion, a non-profit international disaster relief charity. David has guided and directed the growth and development of Operation Compassion from a small charity handling less than 100 semis per year to a charity handling more than 3,000 semis in 2009. In addition to the growth in the number of semis, Lorency has been instrumental in financial growth as well. David was rewarded for his dedicated service to Operation Compassion when he was named the President in 2006.
Since 2000, David resided in Cleveland, TN with his wife, Laura. David and Laura had four daughters, three sons-in-law, eleven grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
In 2020, David Lorency passed away and went home to be with our Lord. He left behind a legacy of selfless giving, and a love for those he was called to reach. That legacy lives on, in part, through Operation Compassion.