There was no doubt in Dr. Charlie Wingard’s heart about what he wanted to do with his life.
Even as a teenager, he knew he wanted to preach the Word, spread the Good News. He made that commitment and has never looked back.
“By the time I was 14 years old, I knew that I wanted to be a gospel preacher,” he said, in his new office in Yazoo City. “I always knew that this was something that I wanted to do.”
Wingard, now 58 years old, has spent close to four decades dedicated to his ministry. And it all goes back to the most important decision he made as a young preacher’s son.
“My father was a Presbyterian preacher,” he said. “I grew up in a Presbyterian home, and my father took me on hospital and home visits. He made me a part of his ministry whenever he could.”
Wingard brings his years of service to Yazoo City as the pastor of First Presbyterian Church on Washington Street.
He arrived in the community last August to serve as the church’s supply pastor. He will be installed at the new senior pastor on Feb. 14.
“I am so glad to be back in a small town, especially a town with such a rich history,” Wingard said. “I love history, and I learning the history of Yazoo City and the Delta. So far, it has been a wonderful experience for me.”
Before Wingard and his wife of 13 years, Lynne, settled into the local community, he called Conway, Ark. home.
He was one of five children of Rev. George and Roberta Wingard. The Wingard family spent most of their lives in middle-Tennessee, where young Charlie spent of his childhood.
Wingard’s father was a preacher, his mother a homemaker. And they were part of the Rock Island Presbyterian Church family.
“It was a church out in the country,” he recalls. “It was a very small place, with three rivers that ran through it. It was a great place to spend your high school years.”
Wingard accepted his call into the ministry when he was only 14 years old.
“I believed in the call of the Lord all my life,” Wingard said. “And I was heavily influenced by my father who was there for people in their times of celebration and sorrow to minister God’s word to men and women.”
Wingard took that desire to spread the Word and began his education after high school. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn.
Right after college, Wingard served as a church pastor for about a year before returning to Vanderbilt to earn his Master of Divinity. He would continue at the Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, where he earned his Doctorate of Ministry.
Yazoo City will mark his fifth assignment.
Aside from preaching and pastoral visitation, Wingard is eager to give back to the local community as well.
“I would like to reach out to the community with the gospel,” he said. “I plan to build friendships and share in the life of the community.”
Wingard also serves on the faculty of the Reformed Theological Seminary’s Jackson campus. He has served as assistant professor of practical theology since January of 2014.
Wingard is also a Rotarian, and his hobbies include walking, running and reading political and military history.
He and his wife Lynne also love to travel.
“Right now, the place I would like to travel to is the Delta,” he said, with a smile. “I want to learn about my new area.”
The couple has four sons and two grandchildren.
“I love the Lord, Jesus Christ, the Bible and people,” Wingard said.
