Dale McLemore had just earned his degree in Christian ministry at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and had been approved to become a Mission Service Corps MSC missionary for the North American Mission Board.
DELAND, Fla. – Dale McLemore had just earned his degree in Christian ministry at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and had been approved to become a Mission Service Corps MSC missionary for the North American Mission Board.
MSC personnel are self-funded missionaries assigned by NAMB to strategic situations that have not been funded.
McLemore was awaiting the final paperwork to assign him as a NAMB outreach missionary for extreme sports.
His job would have been to share Christ and help meet the spiritual needs of those involved in extreme sports – sky diving, snow skiing, deep sea diving, base jumping, rock-climbing, etc.
The New Orleans resident – who would have turned 45 on June 16 – died on May 20 after a failed, high-speed competitive jump from an altitude of 5,000 feet in DeLand,Fla.
“It was a sporting accident,” said Sgt. Jim Jusick of the DeLand Police Department. Jusick said that according to eyewitness accounts, there was no equipment failure, that McLemore’s parachute had opened properly.
According to eyewitnesses, McLemore hit the ground after unsuccessfully trying to switch from a vertical jump to a horizontal glide as part of a “canopy piloting” competition.
McLemore was ready to pursue his dream of sharing God’s Word to young adults participating in extreme sports, according to friend and seminary colleague Richard Scoggin of New Orleans.
“He wanted to reach younger generations and felt extreme sports would be a place to do that,” Scoggin said. “His philosophy was to be so full of Jesus it overflowed.”
On May 25, funeral services for McLemore, who was single, were held at the First Baptist Church, Madison, Miss., where he was a member. He is survived by his mother, Mary Alice McLemore, two sisters and one brother.