D. E. “Gene” Mills Jr. Is New Archivist

The Dixon Pentecostal is pleased to announce that D. E. “Gene” Mills Jr. has joined our team as archivist.  With a rich heritage in the Church of God, Mills brings a wide range of experience to the position. Born in upstate New York while his father served as the Church of God State Youth Director, Gene also lived in New Jersey, Illinois, Alabama, The Bahamas, and Hawai’i while growing up. This formed a multicultural sensibility and a flexibility, which has influenced the types and locations of his ministry.

Now a fifth-generation, Ordained Bishop in the Church of God, God called Mills into the ministry while in college, and Gene has gone on to serve in Chicago Metro (now the Great Lakes Region), Hawai’i, Alabama, Tennessee, Eastern North Carolina, North Georgia, Florida, and Kenya. He has served in local, district, state, and national positions in children’s and youth ministry, adult discipleship, benevolence, senior and associate pastoral ministry, and ministerial development.

Mills has trained as both a theologian and religious historian at of Lee University, Pentecostal Theological Seminary, and Emory University, with advanced training in religious history at Florida State University. He has taught at the college level for more than twenty years in various settings and served as the President of Discipleship College in Kenya for 5 years.

Mills’ work as a historian makes him an ideal fit for the ministry of the Dixon Pentecostal Research Center, having researched in numerous public and private archives, special collections, and research libraries. His training and experience, when paired with his unique, personal involvement and connection with the history of the Church of God and the broader Pentecostal movement, will enhance the center’s commitment to collect, preserve, and make available those historical resources that continue to shape our movement.
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Gene and his wife, Tanya, live in Cleveland, TN near their two adult children and their families.

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