Pastor Recognized for 30 Years of Ministry to Deaf Congregation

High fever took H. Bill Gipple’s hearing at age three, but
in Gipple’s family, skipping church wasn’t an option. Though he understood
nothing and the church offered no interpreter, throughout his childhood, his
mother made him go to church and sit there.

But neither did his family understand the liturgical service:
It was all in Latin.

Gipple became a self-described “full blown long-haired hippie”
who in 1970 began studies at the National Technical Institute of the Deaf. For
six months, Gipple’s roommate at the Rochester, New York, school invited him to
a revival service. At first Gipple mocked him. Then he went.

“I got the Holy Spirit, and it changed my life,” says
Gipple, 72, who hadn’t been searching. His physical changes that included a
bright face plus spiritual and emotional changes that amazed him and others who
saw the differences. But the supernatural manifestation didn’t stop there.

“Not only did I actually speak in tongues, but I heard
myself, a Deaf man, speaking in tongues,” he says.

Gipple was 17 years old.

The Lord then called him to pastor. After graduating from
Central Bible College in 1978, he went on to serve 16 years as lead or
associate pastor at two California Deaf churches before become lead Deaf pastor of Orange County Deaf Church part of Orange County First Assembly in Santa Ana, California.

Gipple has been part of the AG Deaf National Multi-Cultural Fellowship for 30
years, 16 of which he served as vice president. For three years he served as
the North America Representative for World Deaf Assemblies of God. His heart calling is shepherding
the Deaf, mentoring the denomination’s pastors and beyond.

In July, the church honored Gipple
for 30 years of pastoring the Orange County flock. General
Superintendent Doug Clay, who has studied American Sign Language and had connected with Gipple at other
AG gatherings, attended the milestone celebration.

In 2012, the United States’ Deaf population was 27.7 million. According to Emory K. Dively, founder and president of the World
Deaf Assemblies of God Fellowship and AG Deaf National Multi-Cultural
Fellowship, 28 Deaf churches are AG-affiliated. More than 1,000 hearing AG
churches in the United States provide interpreter services for the Deaf. Eight AG U.S. Missions workers minister to the Deaf as do 17 through Assemblies of God World Missions.

Deaf pastors note the ministry challenges. Deaf congregations
are small, typically in the low double-digits. Gipple began ministry as nearly
all ministers to the Deaf: bi-vocational. For a season he worked three jobs
including a newspaper delivery route and at a bank to support his family. Gipple’s
position as Orange County Deaf pastor is a full-time church employee, which is
rare.

Over his decades of ministry, he’s found that his challenges
stemming from deafness have helped him share Jesus. One supernatural encounter
happened in a Florida town where a teacher at a Deaf school who practiced voodoo
invited Gipple to his home where several voodoo witches were present. Gipple,
who is non-verbal, took his hearing girlfriend along.

She was terrified. The stench of burning sage was horrific.
The place was full of black magic symbols. The teacher’s aggressive German
shepherd snarled at them. “I wasn’t scared. The Lord had anointed me with
confidence,” Gipple says. “I started telling them about Jesus.”

As Gipple began sharing the gospel with the witches, the
girlfriend heard the dog start whimpering and cowering. Gipple wasn’t aware
that he had stopped signing and began to speak with his voice.

“My girlfriend said, ‘You’re speaking, and you don’t sound
Deaf!’” Gipple recollects. “I had no idea God was speaking through me.”

Gipple, who knows only American Sign Language (ASL), led a
US Deaf mission to Nicaragua’s AG-planted school for the Deaf in Managua, where
the native children and adults only knew Nicaraguan sign language. His first
day he picked up only a few words in the language. But the next day when he
began to preach, although the school had an ASL interpreter, Gipple discovered
the Lord had given him the ability to preach and speak in Nicaraguan and needed
no interpreter.

“I didn’t learn it overnight,” he says. “The people there
were fascinated and in awe.”

Debbie K. Stiles,
pastor of Austin Spirit of Life Deaf Church in Austin, Texas, met Gipple in 1980 and has connected with him through the
decades since then in national AG Deaf leadership. “Bill (Gipple) has been a
wonderful pastor and shepherd,” Stiles says. While smartphones, livestreaming
and Zoom technology have made video a readily available tool that’s reduced
costly travel that Deaf ministry once entailed, Gipple still flies across the
country and the world as needed to encourage and mentor ministers.

“He is deeply committed to seeing Deaf souls eternally adding to the kingdom of God,” Dively says. “He has a unique ability to unify Deaf churches and pastors, especially in California.”