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Don Pardoe (3)

Don Pardoe was born in Houston, TX and grew up in a single-parent household. His Mother did her best to support their family of two on meager wages. As early as 3 years old, Don would sit close to the piano and listen closely to every sound it made when pressing the keys. By the age of 8, Don was beginning to write lyrics and support them with melodies and simple chords. As he was entering his high school years, Don and his Mother moved to Tyler, TX. By that time he was involved in band - playing clarinet. He also began singing and accompanying a local church youth music program. Although Don never received piano lessons and couldn't read music, he would take recordings home and learn them by ear. This became his primary method for learning and playing music, and he soon excelled at this method. The next three years was a huge growing time for Don both musically and spiritually. He began seeing the impact music could make when packaged in lyrics that shared God's truth and love. It became his passion and led him to surrender to full time service at age 17, just a year after surrendering his life to Christ. After completing High School, Don attended Arlington Baptist College under a full music scholarship. Toward the end of his freshman year, Don auditioned for a touring group called Sonlight, and then spent the next 8 years touring with the group. During that time, Don met his future bride, Michelle Smith, while on tour in North Carolina in 1985. They married in December of that same year. Michelle joined Don on the road and the journey continued. In 1988 Don and Michelle packed up their belongings and their newborn son, Eric, and moved from Austin, TX to Nashville, TN. The early years in Nashville were challenging for their young family. But over time, various artists began picking up and recording Don's music. He was also involved in some road work and recording. While in Nashville his second child and first daughter Emily was born. The time in Nashville came to a close with one of the most rewarding experiences in Don's career. He met singer/songwriter Vince Wilcox and they soon became the Christian Country duo Wilcox & Pardoe. In 1995 the duo was named New Artist Of The Year by Christian Country Music Association. The project Till They Know How Much You Care gained several #1 songs and numerous awards. Wilcox later became Vice President of Marketing for a major recording label. Soon thereafter, Don became keyboardist and vocalist for Christian group GLAD. At that time, Don and his family moved to Leesburg, Virginia. Don was a part of the renown music group GLAD for close to 8 years. In that period of time they travelled nationally, recorded over 5 projects, and toured Indonesia with Compassion International. When not on the road with GLAD, Don worked with the worship ministries of Leesburg Baptist Church and Christian Fellowship Church of Reston. While serving with GLAD, Don and Michelle had another daughter Anna. Don enjoyed singing with Glad, the demanding road schedule was difficult. Being home with his family on a consistent basis became a high priority. Don moved his family back to Texas in 2003, where he served in ministry with Green Acres Baptist Church of Tyler and then became Worship Pastor of Crossroads Fellowship in Odessa. In September of 2006, Don became the Worship Pastor for First Baptist Church of Whitehouse, Texas. Don served FBC Whitehouse, Tx for 11 years. Currently he is the Worship & Outreach Pastor at First Baptist Church Bullard, Texas. Don has also continued to use his gifts outside the church. In 2014 Don landed an instrumental project on the Hobby Lobby’s “Audio Ambiance” series. Out of only six projects chosen for the series, Don’t was the top selling two CD set. He also signed a contract with Discover Worship, an on line music resource for churches Internationally to release three projects both in audio and print. Over the last few years he has been honored to have songs on their annual top 20 songs of the year. In 2018 & 2020 Don was commissioned to write and record the theme songs for a campaign sponsored by the Motorola Company. The songs were written and recorded for an International campaign for First Responders. Don continues to enjoy a variety of opportunities to use his music to reach others. Don Pardoe has been in music ministry for over 4 decades. He traveled for 10 years while in full time in Christian Music Ministry and then in Northern VA for 7 years while performing with the Christian Group GLAD. He believes Worship matters because it is what we were created for. Don met his wife Michelle in North Carolina in 1985 and were married that year. Family is huge to Don! Church ministry is rewarding.