David Watkins trusted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior in his junior year of college in 1969 and was called to preach at that same time. He has served churches as music/youth director, assistant pastor, and senior pastor. David earned a B.A. degree from Oklahoma Baptist University and a Master of Divinity from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. He founded and pastored Heritage Baptist Church in Blaine, Minnesota, for 42 years, and in January of 2025 accepted the unanimous call from the members of First Baptist Church of River Falls, Wisconsin to be their pastor.

 
David and his wife Linda began their home educating journey in 1986, when their first of eight children was age 13, one year before homeschooling became legal in Minnesota.  He was the Chairman of the Board of Directors of MÂCHÉ (Minnesota Association of Christian Home Educators) www.mache.org for seven years before becoming the organization’s first Executive Director in 2011, while Linda served as the Conference Director. In addition to their state responsibilities, David and Linda were board members of the National Alliance of Christian Home Education Leadership (www.alliance.org), a national organization that serves state and provincial homeschool leaders from the United States, Canada, and Mexico. They retired from MACHE in 2020, and from the Alliance Board in 2024. 

David and Linda see the eternal benefits of Christian home education and the importance of encouraging and equipping younger home educating families.  Each of the Watkins children graduated from homeschool and have chosen to home educate their thirty-three grandchildren. Because of their love for Christian homeschooling and its value in discipling children for Christ, David is on the board of The Pastor Plan Initiative (www.pastorplan.org), an organization to help equip churches to reclaim education as a vital part of discipleship.

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