David Newquist
President, Word for Word Ministries, Inc.
David is the founder and creator/composer of The Bible Song - the first singable New Testament in history.
I am an ordained minister, worship leader, composer, math teacher, school psychologist, and Educational Psychologist (LIC #2508). Ministry experience has included Principal of Pilgrims School, a Christian home schooling network; Director of Ministry for Summit Bible College; worship leader, youth pastor and ordained missionary/evangelist for Westminster Presbyterian Church (Yakima, Washington) and Hope Presbyterian Church (Portland, Oregon); and Director of Adult Education at Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Bakersfield, California. Missionary work included preaching, teaching, and helping build an
orphanage in Haiti in my youth and preaching the gospel in many countries in Asia and Europe as an adult. I was also privileged to take books and Bibles to the underground Church in communist countries.
Representative musical accomplishments:
• Composer/music supervisor (5 years) for the Producers Guild of America – Celebration of Diversity Awards (film & television).
• Founder – New Quest Composers Consortium – a network of skilled film and television composers (vitae included) available to expedite this project.
My educational training included ethnomusicology, oceanography, English literature, Biblical studies, educational psychology, and international relations/counter terrorism. The studies were accomplished at diverse universities including: Multnomah Bible College, Portland Bible College, Summit Bible College, Portland State University, the University of Washington, UCLA, Fresno State University, Fresno Pacific University and Fuller Theological Seminary.
I was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, lived in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Washington, Oregon, and California. My father, David C. Newquist directed Forrest Home Campground for Henrietta Mears. Billy Graham and Bill Bright were in the college group he was leading. My father subsequently served as a pastor, and leader of pastors, for 62 years. There is a rich godly heritage on my mother’s side as well. I recently discovered that my maternal great grandfather would sit on the porch in North Carolina and quote entire chapters of the Bible from memory to his grandchildren.
I am blessed to have two amazing daughters. One daughter has worked as a missionary in Mexico, the Philippines, and Mozambique, Africa. My other daughter, a credentialed math teacher, is home-schooling my two amazing grandchildren. Both of my daughters and two of my five sisters also compose scripture to music.
His KLA "why": Kern Leadership Alliance resonates with my heart. One of the main reasons is that I have always been passionate about Christians from all walks of life, ethnicities, and distinctive fellowships working together and in tandem with business and community leaders to bring transformative change in the community. KLA is a unique vehicle for that vision in Kern County. The Board Members all are persons of integrity and have a servants heart. The servant-leader model, in fact, is the model we adopt and honor each year..
Favorite thing about Kern County: Kern County is a diverse county with historic transformative roots. I learned only today that the very first tour of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra began right here in Bakersfield. Wonderful ministries like Youth With A Mission began here in the city of Taft and the first missionaries sent out were from Bakersfield. NASA has retrieved the Space Shuttle here at Edwards Air Force Base and many cutting edge test aircraft have been developed here. The sound barrier was first broken here in Kern County. "Chuck Yeager became the first test pilot to break the sound barrier, flying the Bell X-1 at an altitude of 45,000 feet. It all happened in eastern Kern County at a military installation that would later come to be known as Edwards Air Force Base." The central valley grows food that feeds much of the United States and even the world. We also produce oil to power the world in great quantities. We have a rich musical heritage of not only Country music but other genres. So my favorite thing about Kern County is the diversity of creative, industrial and mostly spiritual energy that impacts our state, nation and the world.
Passion for Kern Leadership Alliance: I am passionate about the unity expressed as pastors of many denominations come together to exalt Christ together - first in prayer and then in service.