Maryland lawyer, teacher to pastor local churches

Dale M. Buchanan of Baltimore, Maryland is looking forward to serving as pastor of the congregations of the Hodgdon and Danforth United Methodist churches beginning September 1, 2011. Pastor Dale will be a student minister as he completes his Masters of Divinity and seeks ordination in the New England Conference of the United Methodist Church. Earlier in his career, Pastor Dale completed two years towards his M. Div. at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.
    Prior to his coming to Maine, he worked as a Baltimore lawyer specializing in education and family law and as a special education and English for Speakers of Other Languages teacher for public schools in Maryland. Pastor Dale taught special education and Canadian law for a year at the Kincardine District Secondary School in Ontario, Canada as a Fulbright Exchange Teacher. In addition, he has taught at international Christian schools in South Korea and Japan. While teaching overseas, Pastor Dale traveled extensively throughout Asia including Mongolia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Viet Nam, People’s Republic of China, Australia, New Zealand and Russia. In Beijing and Moscow, Pastor Dale visited the mausoleums of Mao and Lenin, and he was reminded that Christians worship the God who has an empty tomb.
Pastor Dale’s education includes a B.S. in social sciences from Towson University as well as three masters’ degrees. His M. Ed. in special education is from Coppin State University. His M. S. in general education is from Johns Hopkins University, and his M. A. in Bilingual/ESOL Education is from the University of Maryland Baltimore County. His J. D. is from the University of Baltimore Law School.
In addition to his career as a teacher and lawyer, Pastor Dale served in the U. S. Army in a 29-year career that included active duty, National Guard and Reserves. He rose from the rank of private in the infantry to lieutenant colonel who was a Plans, Operations, and Training Officer in the TRADOC Surgeon’s Office at Fort Monroe, Virginia. Pastor Buchanan’s military education includes graduation from the U. S. Army Command and General Staff Course.
This is not Pastor Dale’s first experience with Maine and its people. Dale’s father was Reverend Jack Buchanan who was the “pinch-hitting parson.” While in his teens, Dale traveled to Maine for summers where his family would work in different United Methodist churches. In 1960, Reverence Jack Buchanan was the minister of a four-church circuit at Waldoboro, Maine. In 1961, the entire family spent the summer living in the parsonage at Patten where Reverend Jack Buchanan was the summer supply pastor. In 1963, the Buchanan family lived in New Harbor where Pastor Dale’s father was the minister at the two-church circuit that included the Methodist Church at Round Pound, Maine. It was during the summer of 1963 that Dale got his first full-time job as a dishwasher at the old Oak Grove Hotel in Boothbay Harbor. Over these years, Pastor Dale developed an enduring love for Maine and its people.
Pastor Dale has worshipped with the congregations at Hodgdon and Danforth, and he can attest to the fact that both of the churches are places where “old fashioned friendliness still prevails.” Pastor Dale and the churches that he serves extend a warm welcome to anyone who comes to visit and worship on Sunday mornings. The service at the Hodgdon United Methodist Church is at 9 a.m. while the Danforth United Methodist Church service is at 11 a.m.