Our Pastor & Family

Michael Dionne Jr. was born July 28th, 1980, in San Diego, Ca. Some of his childhood was spent growing up in Long Island, NY, and as a young child he would move to Pennsylvania where he has been ever since. He would eventually end up moving to Hamburg, Pa at the age of 12, where he met his longtime childhood friend Mike. Pastor Mike always gives a big chunk of his testimony to him and for good reason.

Mike went to church growing up. He went to a Baptist church that preached the gospel. As a teen and young adult for many years he walked away from the Lord and God would eventually get ahold of him and change his heart and life. God used Mike to be a faithful witness to Pastor Mike and Mrs. Dionne, and because of being that faithful witness, they both would get saved. Pastor Mike was saved on October 5, 2003, shortly after Mrs. Dionne was saved, they were then Baptized and then married on April 10th, 2004.

Pastor and Mrs. Dionne have 8 kids. 6 boys and 2 girls. The 3 oldest are out on their own, a daughter who passed away when she was 19 months old, 4 children still at home, with 2 grandsons.

Before starting Goodwill Independent Baptist Church, the Dionne family were at their home church for over 15 years and have served there in many different areas. They started becoming active in ministry by going out with Mike and his family to the nursing home and eventually that is where Pastor Mike would preach his 1st sermon.

Through some different things going on in their lives at the time, back around 2016 is when God put it in Pastor Mike's heart to start an Independent Baptist church over in the area of Kutztown, Pa. God started to work and show him what He had for him and would start the process of figuring out what God would have him to do to move forward. He would share with his Pastor what he believed God was asking him to do and his Pastor encouraged him to move forward. He would then start studying, training, and being guided by his Pastor, Pastor Kurt LaCapruccia, at his home church, Keystone Independent Baptist church in East Greenville, Pa.

They started a bible study at their home in the summer of July 2021 and have planted Goodwill Independent Baptist Church which held their 1st church service on April 3rd, 2022.