Peterson Preaching at West End Baptist

Rev. Dale Peterson began serving as West End’s interim pastor in January, 2019, after leading two Sunday services in December, 2018.

Peterson, a Norfolk native, retired from Yale Divinity School in 2015 to care for his late mother, Mary Margaret Peterson, who was 92 at the time, in Chesapeake, Peterson had been the dean of students there for 15 years after serving 12 years as a Yale chaplain.

His mother died in February 2016 at the age of 94. He’s since helped with his family’s estate following his mother’s death, along with his father’s and sister’s passing in 2007 and 2014, respectively. He said it felt like a good time to settle down and deepen his roots in Tidewater, making the West End Baptist opening a fitting opportunity.

It seemed like I was ready to put down some deeper roots here in Tidewater and make (a full) transition to this area,” he said.

Peterson graduated from University of Virginia in 1977, where he majored in religious studies. He later received his Master of Divinity from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

He was ordained as a minister in 1987 in Waco, Texas, and has spent more than three decades fulfilling his responsibilities with a willingness to care for others. In a church that means your congregation, he said. On a college campus it’s the student body, or anyone else that crosses your path.

He said a good pastor works alongside the church congregation to fulfill the needs of the surrounding community. He and his congregation at West End Baptist intend to facilitate that outreach as he gets to know more about the people of Suffolk.

You need to know how to work with people and organizations and be a part of the community,” he said. “That’s what’s been fun about getting to know Suffolk over the past few weeks.”

From the Suffolk News Herald article “Peterson preaching at West End Baptist”
By Alex Perry