George passed away at the age of 80 on March 12, 2019. He is survived by his beloved wife, Sandra Meisinger. George was preceded in death by his oldest son, James Meisinger, in 2017. He is survived by his daughter-in-law, Shannon Meisinger (wife of Jim), of Portland, OR; son Keith Meisinger and his wife, Ericka, of Plymouth, MN; daughter Michelle Holguin of Lake Forest, CA; and son Joe Meisinger and his wife, Kristin, of Parker, CO. He is also survived by 12 grandchildren: Steven, Sarah (husband Joe Baldwin), John, Luke, Gracie, Allie, Michael, Jonathan, Matthew, Madeline, Hannah, and Hayden.
George’s earthly vessel was interred on March 15, 2019, with close family and friends present. His memorial service will be held on Saturday, April 6, 2019, at 11 am, at Hoffmantown Church in Albuquerque. All are welcome.
George was born in Eugene, OR, on April 21, 1938, to parents George and Priscilla Meisinger. He was welcomed into the world by his older sister Pat, and was followed two years later by his younger brother, Terry. When George was three years old, his father passed away unexpectedly. His mother remarried a few years later to Jim Wiltsey, and later the family was joined by Jim’s grandson, Curt, who became George’s adopted brother.
For many years, George’s mother owned Wiltsey-Weathers, a successful music studio and store in Salem, OR, and passed her love of music on to her children. Growing up, George learned to play many instruments, including the accordion and vibraharp, and performed with his family. After high school he and his brother moved to Hollywood to try their luck in the music industry. He later went to Grand Canyon College in Arizona to study music, and after one year moved back to California to attend Biola College in La Mirada to continue his study of music. While at Biola, he heard professors from Dallas Theological Seminary speak and decided that he wanted to enter the ministry. That same year at Biola he also met a spunky freshman from Walnut Creek, CA, named Sandy Johnson. They quickly fell in love and George proposed after a month of dating. A year later they married, and after George graduated college they drove across the country to Dallas, TX. George enrolled at Dallas Theological Seminary where he majored in Hebrew and Old Testament.
During the seminary years, George and Sandy welcomed sons Jim and Keith. After seminary graduation in 1968, George accepted his first pastorate in Minnetonka, MN. Within the next few years, they welcomed daughter Michelle and son Joseph. During his 17-year tenure at Woodland Hills Bible Church, George saw the church grow from a Bible study of a few families to a church building with several hundred congregants. George loved studying and preaching the Word, and many were hungry for his expository preaching of the Scripture. George, Sandy, and the kids have many lifelong friends from their time in Minnesota. George also made sure to take the family on road trips every summer to visit relatives and friends in other states.
In 1986, George accepted a pastorate in Huntington Beach, CA. The family moved across the country, but without their oldest son Jim as he was now attending the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY. A year after arriving in CA,
George founded Grace Church in Orange, CA. He presided over this church for 20 years, during which time his children married and blessed him and Sandy with 12 grandchildren. Also during his time at this church, he and some other pastors achieved their dream of founding Chafer Theological Seminary. The seminary ran for a few years in southern California, but after a while it became clear that the seminary students struggled with attending the seminary due to the high cost of living in CA. Chafer’s governing board scoured the country for a less expensive place for the seminary, and in 2007 George retired from pastoring and he and Sandy moved to Albuquerque, NM.
George and Sandy have enjoyed their years in Albuquerque. George taught classes at Hoffmantown Church for several years while also acting as President of Chafer Seminary. He continued studying and writing daily in his office, and loved to buy new technological gadgets to make his life easier.In the summer of 2013, George was diagnosed with cancer, which he lived with for the last six years of his life. In spite of the ups and downs of his disease, he was still active in studying, working, and writing a book about the life of King Saul.Through it all George and Sandy trusted in God’s goodness and sovereignty in all areas of their lives. George went home to be with the Lord on March 12, 2019. George and Sandy were married for 56 years.
Dear Sandy and Family
George is in glory, face to face with Jesus Christ. Oh what an honor to have lived a long life as a good and faithful servant and be standing with our Lord whom George loved and shared for most of his life.
My introduction to George Meisinger was a divine appointment for sure; I will never forget it. I was not happy in my secular life pursuits; the Lord sent one of George's flock to my office to be an example of love and grace. I wanted to know where this "religious" person went to church. She shared with me Grace Church at Tamura elementary school in Fountain Valley. It took me months to finally show up, but the first day I did (I think 1986) God used George to open my eyes to His truth. George was sharing the gospel at the close of his teaching, as he always shared at the close of his teaching, something like this...In the quietness of this moment, where you are sitting, if you believe in Christ Jesus, and Christ alone, not in any of your own works, but who Christ is as fully God and fully man, and that He came to earth born of the power of the Holy Spirit with a human mother, lived and died on the cross to save all mankind from their sins, then quoting Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast." you are saved and forever in the kingdom of God. It is by belief, and belief alone that you are saved.
Forgive me George, and forgive me Lord, I can't do justice to the way that George would phrase his gospel, but that is the essence of what I remember. It was in that moment of George's words that the Holy Spirit turned on the "light bulb" for me to see the truth and place my faith in Jesus. My life changed forever. I went from a secular career woman to wanting to have children, having 4 kids, becoming a stay-at-home mom, and homeschooling all of them to boot! Our family sat under George's teaching at various locations, (5 including "The Church of the Upper Room" in our family room) until George and Sandy moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to be a part of starting & developing Chafer Theological Seminary.
We have so many fond memories as part of Grace Church with pastor George, his family, and his flock. If you attended George's church you were going to learn the Bible verse by verse from Genesis to Revelation, with the background of the translation from Greek and Hebrew, along with the historical influences helping to shape the why, how, and what of God sharing with us in His holy word. One of George's analogies he liked to use was about real money versus counterfeit. How can one tell the difference? By knowing the real thing very well! Same with God's word, George made sure we were all taught to be able to discern truth from false doctrine. We are so very grateful for this discernment; it has served us as we had to move on and be taught under new teachers elsewhere when George & Sandy went to New Mexico. We had the ability to think for ourselves with the wisdom under George's tutelage to measure what was true, questionable, and false doctrine.
I know somewhere in our boxes and boxes of photos, there are several photographs of our memorable times with George, Sandy, their family, and our Grace Church family; I just have not had the time to pour through all the photos. The memories I can recount are: pastor's conferences our church sponsored, fall festivals (where the gospel skits were always included), my husband and I and 3 of our 4 children being baptized by George, some fun retreats to R-Ranch in the Sequoias, agape feasts at church, a Messianic Passover Seder by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, several Search Ministries 8 week in home discussions to help other non-believers find Christ, church picnics, and all the wonderful saints we met through our years at Grace Church/Chapel.
George, you were, and are, a man of God with integrity, wisdom, compassion & loyalty. Love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control were your hallmarks as in Galatians 5:22-23. George would always stand for what was right in God's eyes, even if it meant being ostracized by colleagues, family, friends. Thank you George for being such light and salt for our Lord Jesus Christ. We will look forward to being greeted by Jesus, yourself, and all the other beloved saints that have gone before us when we pass from this earth into the arms of Jesus as well... or if we are so blessed to still be on this earth when Jesus returns for all His saints.
In the riches of Christ Jesus,
Kathy & Steve Warren, Andrew, Trevor, Whitney, & Grant
Sandy and family,
Sending our condolences to you sweet lady and to all of Dr. George’s family... praying for you all during this time as you prepare to celebrate his life.
Pastor George was the best shepard. He blessed many, many “sheep” with excellent teaching. He was a man who spent time in the Word each week and then gladly shared with his flock on Sunday morning.
He was passionate about God’s Word and he loved music. He often said, after a moving, special song, “If that doesn’t get you going, then your logs are all wet!”
He will be missed!
It was a privilege and a blessing to have learned about Jesus from Pastor Meisinger.
No doubt he heard, “Well done thy good and faithful servant.”
