If you would like to remember the life and ministry of David Winecoff, please submit your message to the Google Form here: https://forms.gle/z7rczwov7KgX4Npa7.
Rev. Winecoff was a professor of preaching at Knox while I was there. He and his teaching have made a great impact on my life. I rarely prepare a sermon or lecture without thinking of him holding up a sign that says, ‘What do you want me to do?’ I will forever be thankful for his teaching.”
Dr. Samuel Lamerson, Distinguished Professor of New Testament, Knox Seminary
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One of my treasured memories is when Jane and David came to Rhode Island at my request to preach at my ordination and installation service in 1988. I met David and Jane sometime in 1977 and considered both David and Jane not just a good friends (along with my late wife Jayne) but a wise counselor in both understanding God’s word and pastoral questions that I often needed his advice on. Even now I often wonder what David’s sage advice would have been on the critical issues of the Church which David so dearly committed his life to.
I still vividly remember with grief the day that a mutual friend, George Devlin, called me out of a meeting to tell me of the accidental death of our great friend. David was one of the very best friends I have had – I miss him still today but rejoice that he is with our Savior.
Bob Korljan
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I loved David as a brother because he was devoted to the Lord Jesus and to building a strong congregation according to Scripture. He and I spent a lot of time praying together, studying together, and we did a lot of evangelism together. He was a hero to me. I had the great privilege of working with him at Providence Presbyterian Church where he taught me many practical things. He loved Jane and his children and was devoted to them. We also had many mutual friends from his days at Furman Univ,. and Covenant Seminary. His love for the brethren was contagious and his pastoral care for people was a great example for my to take into my ministry. He was also aggressively competitive so we had some great times playing basketball and other physical sports. … I think of him often and consider him to have been one of the giants of the faith. He certainly was a great preacher of the Word.
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“One of my favorite stories was a fall Sunday while we were meeting at the mason’s lodge. David arrived in the morning to an empty building and then called Don Simon in a panic, “Don there is no one here setting up chairs”. Don replied, “David, did you set your clock back last night? We will be there in an hour.” For several years after that Don sent David a message to remind him to turn his clock back.”
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“David was my college roommate, my mentor and a dear friend. When I first heard of his climbing accident I was stunned. To this day I find it hard to believe he is really gone on to be with the Lord. His memory puts a smile on my face for the fun and spiritual development he nurtured in me. He was my friend and I will miss the opportunities we might have had to share joys and struggles.
One of my favorite memories involved our days together after his graduation from Furman. He was marking time at Look up Lodge with his dog, Micah, and he brought me in to do grunt work. I am afraid I was more of a liability as I drove a jeep off of an embankment, broke the key off in the ignition and broke several axe handles splitting wood. He was patient with me and it was time to learn through my failures.
My deepest condolences to his family.”
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Thank you for the opportunity to share some of the many blessings we experienced during the eight years that we worshipped under the ministry of David Winecoff.
Bill and I were a young married couple when we arrived at Providence. We were happy for all of the Biblical guidance and clarity that David’s preaching provided. He helped us greatly as a genuine, kind, and respectful minister during his Sunday worship services and during smaller, casual events like home Bible Studies and family gatherings.
David’s commitment to helping individuals as well as families increase in their love for God and pursue a lifestyle of holiness was inspiring.
Our family grew during those eight years, and David’s ministry, by his own family’s example and the Biblical framework he and the leadership of the church provided, grew and strengthened the children of our families, to learn to love the Bible and thereby love the Lord.
Pastor David will always be missed. And we will always be grateful for having had him as our pastor throughout those very precious years.
In loving memory,
Bill and Barb Hoover
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“David was my pastor in St. Louis and he married my wife Maggie and me in 1990. I still remember an illustration he used in his homily at the wedding. David recounted the history of the building of the St. Louis Arch and pointed out that the Arch’s foundation was designed by engineers who spent a great deal of time making sure the bottom legs of the structure were placed in the ground at very specific locations. Without their precise measurements pertaining to the size and location of the building foundation and without the builder’s compliance with those measurements, the two legs of the Arch would not have locked into place at the top. What a great vanity and humiliation for those engineers and builders if that were to happen! He also pointed out that in our marriage, we needed to give the same attention to detail as we laid the foundation of our relationship together and God, the perfect engineer, has given us all the information we need to know how to build a strong foundation that our life together would meet beautifully and perfectly at the top, sparing us from any threat of vanity or humiliation.
David was someone who was passionate about learning the blueprint for life that God gave us in His Word. He used that blueprint to build strong foundations for his personal life, his family life and his church. His dedication to teaching that blueprint to his church was deep and pure and he understood that God would never deceive us when giving us instructions on how to build the foundation and edifice of our lives. David Winecoff was a not a deceiver and any suggestion to the contrary would be pure deception in itself.
I’m thankful for David’s lifelong pursuit of learning God’s word so that he might share his gifted insights with me and my wife. My only regret is that I wasn’t able to spend more time under his teaching and pastoral oversight. May he long be remembered as someone who was gifted and passionate about helping people build their Christian lives on the firm foundation of God’s Word.”
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“David was my pastor, friend. and client (as his hairstylist) for his time in St. Louis.
David was a wonderful pastor, true to the Word of God, and deeply committed to his flock. He cared about our sanctification as he did his own.
David and Jane his wife, embraced us as family. I carry their impact on my life with me today. I especially remember a group of us attending a conference in Pensacola in the summers . I have many sweet memories of our times there, filled with serious study and raucous fun.
The grief after David’s accident was palpable and many tears fell at Sunday services. Our loss, his gain. Today, I remember him as a faithful, godly, servant of the Lord and he is still missed.”#
David was funny, adventurous, and a great storyteller who was truly committed to Jesus. I can still see him standing up at Campus Crusade meetings, on Sunday nights at Furman University, saying Galatians 2:20, 21: “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” He believed it and he lived it.
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