Pastor John David Doerfler, a man who truly never seemed to tire, claimed the promise of his baptism on Saturday, November 4th, in his home surrounded by his loving family at the age of 74.  A memorial service honoring God and celebrating David's life will be held on Thursday, November 9, 2023, at 10:30 a.m. at the Chapel of the Abiding Presence on the campus of Texas Lutheran University in Seguin. A reception will follow in the Timmerman Room at Hein Dining Hall at Texas Lutheran University. The service will be live-streamed at https://tinyurl.com/ycxzua44 .

All pastors are invited to robe in white and process in.

David, born in Mason, Texas on July 17, 1949, is the child of Alfred and Rosa Lee Marguerite (Wolters) Doerfler, the only boy of five children. There was no question that he got plenty of attention.  He loved sports and was an impressive athlete. In David's junior year of high school, the family moved to another parish making him ineligible to play football his senior year.  That was a pretty tough loss, but he put his head down, trained hard on his own all year, packed on over 25 pounds of muscle, and ran track in the spring.  Missing senior year football, he had to walk on as a freshman at Texas Lutheran College.  Fortunately, they figured out he was very good, very quickly.

So good in fact, that he nearly broke the school's rushing record with 832 yards in 204 carries as a 5'10, 160-pound fullback, and was given the nickname "Toy Bulldog."

The headline of a 1970 Austin American Statesman article profiling David is entitled Small But Mighty Warrior.  His teammate and offensive tackle Floyd Medearis remarked: "I don't guess there's any way to measure how big his heart is…I don't know how he does it.  He's strong physically for his size – he can bench more weight than I can – but he doesn't have the power to break tackles. He just keeps squirming and looking for the holes."

This could very well be the perfect metaphor for how David embraced all obstacles and opportunities that came his way.

At Texas Lutheran (class of 1971), David was President of Kappa Pi Alpha Fraternity, named Most Valuable Freshman Football Player, 1967; Most Valuable Football Player, 1970; and Team Captain, 1969 and 1970.

David went on to Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa, to earn his Masters in Divinity where he was also the Assistant Football Coach at Wartburg College in 1973.

While in seminary David formed a bond with 5 other wonderful men and their wives.  The guys would meet every Tuesday at 6 AM in the attic of the Hassells to pray, reflect, pass along their theological beliefs and, we're not sure, but there might have been some bread and wine (or maybe beer) from time to time.  They aptly called themselves "The Sacred Six." Now they usually just call themselves "the Sacreds''.  We are so blessed to have all of them here with us to celebrate David's life, except Jim Heilman, who we are sure welcomed David into the eternal kingdom on Saturday morning.  Blessed be their memories.

After graduation, he quickly returned home to TLC to be campus pastor from 1975 to 1979.  Of course, he also had to coach the Bulldog Football team and served as Assistant Coach with Jim Wacker in 1975 - 76 when the bulldogs made history as the 1975 NAIA Division II National Champions and 1976 NAIA Division II National Semi-Finalists.

David relished memories of that magical time.  He believed with all his heart that the time spent together as a team, the brutal agonies of defeat and exhilaration of victories, the relationships, were what it was all about.  David devoted incredible effort to creating The Gathering of Champions, an annual event held on his beautiful ranch, bringing together six generations of football players and families for fellowship.  In recognition of all his work with alumni and current TLU students, David was added to the Athletics Leadership Wall of Honor in 2022.

After serving as campus pastor at TLC, he was the Pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Bandera, Texas, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Dessau in Austin, Texas from 1979-93.  From 1993-2006, he assisted in numerous roles within Gethsemane Lutheran church with his beloved friends, Pastors Kent Bohls, Susie Schnelle, and Karl Gronberg. Before returning to Austin, David and his wife were members of Good Shepherd Church where he formed a lifelong relationship with Pastor Travis Fitzgold.

Life was not just football and church however for David.  His career within criminal and restorative justice was revolutionary, boldly going where most would never want to go.  He worked with people and prisoners who were restored by David's insight and grace. He was frequently photographed with Governor of Texas Ann Richards and District Attorney Ronnie Earl, who along with David were at the forefront of the Restorative Justice Movement.

As the State Coordinator of the Texas Victim Offender Mediation/Dialogue program he developed a process and program for victims of violent crime to meet with their offenders in order to facilitate a healing, "re-ordering" process, including death row cases.  His work was nationally and internationally recognized, including in Texas Monthly, CBS 48 Hours, Rolling Stone, HOPE magazine and in the books Signs of Hope—In Praise of Ordinary Heroes and When to Forgive, and an appearance on the Rolanda Talk Show.

David went on to train many in the work of victim - offender mediation.  He also served as Chaplain with Hospice Austin and at Christopher House for several years.

He was gifted in his ability to sit with profound grief.  One of his many insightful sayings was, "What do you do when you can't change the past, you grieve." His empathy, compassion, and kindness were extraordinary.  David truly believed everyone was a child of God, and all adults - "all sinners" - were welcome in whatever form of church he created.  He provided counsel and comfort to thousands, overseeing countless baptisms, confirmations, weddings, and funerals.  David always made sure to celebrate others' accomplishments.

David was incredibly blessed.  In addition to his children, no doubt one of his greatest blessings was the love of his life for 28 years, Cindy Doerfler.  Cindy made sure David lived so many dreams on a beautiful ranch in Smithville, Texas with horses, cows, donkeys, goats, chickens, catfish, ducks, cats, and dogs.  He had every toy imaginable.  Nothing gave him more pleasure than to work from dawn till dusk. And he loved having his grandchildren at the ranch sharing his passion for being a cowboy (or cowgirl).  Memories of the grandkids as toddlers feeding cubes to the cows and Georgia asking a mamma cow if she could hold her baby (unfortunately the momma cows never said yes) are too numerous to recant.

David always wanted to be with his children: Ashley, Meredith, Andi, and Lizzy, and grandchildren: Simon, Pierce, Chloe, Grayson, Georgia, Yuri, and Crosby.  He loved projects like building ziplines and forts and giving them all sorts of things they could hurt themselves with.

We will miss him greatly.

David is preceded in death by his parents, mother-in-law Georgia Laughlin, father-in-law John Laughlin, brothers-in-law, Gene Brown, Jerry Boemer, and Byron Hanna, and nephew Jeffrey Boemer.

He is survived by his loving wife Cindy Doerfler and his children, Ashley de Jong and her husband Frank, children Simon, Chloe & Pierce; Meredith Leigh Theroux and her husband Chris; Andi Gaspard, her husband Justin, children Grayson & Georgia, Lizzy Seedhom and husband Yousif, children Yuri & Crosby, faithful dogs Beau and Piper, as well as his sisters Kathy Pancoast, Ruthie Hanna, Christine Brown, Valerie Doerfler, numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, other loving family members and many friends.

In lieu of flowers, gifts made in Pastor David's honor to the TLU Athletics Department or the Verne Lundquist Athletic Center at TLU would be greatly appreciated c/o Texas Lutheran University, Development Office, 1000 West Court St., Seguin, Texas, 78155-9989.