Dale Slusser has designed hospitals in Africa, orphanages in the Caribbean, and other mission facilities across 39 countries. He’s never boarded a plane. He’s unable to drive on a highway. And he’s never left the United States. This is a glimpse of his story — and it’s a powerful reminder that God can use anyone, anywhere, exactly where they are.
Dale was born a twin, but unlike his brother Dean, Dale came into the world with Goldenhar Syndrome – a hole in his aorta – along with significant facial deformities and only one good eye. At six weeks old, he underwent his first open heart surgery. Eight more surgeries followed to create an eye socket that could hold an artificial eye.
When the twins were five, their father died, leaving Mom alone with six children ranging from a newborn to young teens. The following year, Dale and Dean were sent to Milton Hershey Home for Boys in Pennsylvania, where they would spend the next eleven years. It was there that Dale first encountered the love of Jesus.
His houseparents, “Pop” and “Heidi,” brought Good News Club to the student home. During this time, the boys would hear Bible stories and participate in hymns and songs. Dale was in sixth grade, struggling with insomnia. On several nights, he’d wander to Pop and Heidi’s apartment, and Pop would let him sleep on the sofa. Every morning, Dale would wake up in his own bed – only later realizing that Pop carried him there each night so the other boys wouldn’t have a reason to make fun of him. That quiet act of love left a lasting impression.
Discovering His Calling
After graduating from Milton Hershey, Dale attended Millersville State College and earned a Bachelor of Science in Education and Library Science. While his twin brother found work soon after college, Dale struggled to land a job. Eventually, he decided to pursue another interest – architecture – and enrolled in a two-year Architectural Technology program in Harrisburg.
While searching for housing, Dale found an ad for a small efficiency apartment. It was being rented out by a missionary couple with Bible Christian Union. He moved into the unit and became friends with the couple, Ken and Helen. Ken and Helen weren’t typical missionaries – they weren’t church planters, evangelists, or Bible translators. They didn’t even have seminary degrees. Instead, they were using practical skills to serve in mission: Ken as a maintenance director with 25 years of experience as an electrician, Helen using her gift of hospitality to run a mission guesthouse.
One day, Ken invited Dale to a job site where Helps International Ministries – at the time, a missions organization specializing in design and construction for other missions – was working on a renovation project for BCU. Dale got to see how architects and tradesmen were serving as missionaries, and was able to volunteer on the site alongside Ken.
Over the next two summers, Dale volunteered his vacation time to work alongside Ken and the HIM crew. In November 1986, he visited the HIM home office in Harlem, Georgia and met the Architectural Planning/Design team. “I returned home to Pennsylvania knowing that God had confirmed that this is where I was to be!”
Dale applied to Helps as an architectural missionary, began raising support, and in May 1987 moved to Georgia to begin his ministry work. In 1993, Helps moved back to Asheville, North Carolina, where the ministry first started in 1976. Dale moved with the organization and purchased a home near the Helps home office.
A Love Story
In 1995, a friend introduced Dale to Susan Waldrop, who lived two hours away in Charlotte. They began writing letters. Susan’s father had passed away, and she wrote to Dale before Thanksgiving: the only things missing for the holiday were “her Dad and her Dale.” Dale took the hint and caught a Greyhound bus to Charlotte to spend Thanksgiving with her. They were in love!
The next January, Susan visited Dale in Asheville. He took her to the Sunset Terrace restaurant at the Grove Park Inn, overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains. “Isn’t it beautiful?” he asked. She agreed. “Couldn’t you spend the rest of your life here, with me?” They were soon married, and Susan became the architect missionary’s wife.
Dale and Susan were married for nearly 25 years before Alzheimer’s took her to Jesus on February 13, 2022. Dale cared for her selflessly until the end.
After Susan’s passing, Dale found a note she’d written before they married: “I don’t care if Dale is the only chance at marriage I’ll ever get – he’s the only one I ever want.”
A Legacy Built One Design at a Time
Dale retired this past January, nearly 40 years after he began serving full-time with Helps Ministries. From his office desk, he has designed hundreds of facilities for ministries in at least 39 countries – everything from latrines that improved health, to hospitals that saved lives and orphanages that became homes.
Dale faithfully continued in the work God entrusted to him amid an ever-evolving ministry landscape. As Anjie Clifton, our Finance Director, reflects: “Dale has grown and adapted to the changes of the ministry and helped shape Helps Ministries into what it is today.”
Even though he has stepped down from full-time ministry, Dale plans to continue serving as a part-time associate with Helps. In addition to his planning and design ministry work, Dale is also an historian, published author, and active board member of Asheville’s Historic Preservation Society.
Dale’s story amazes us. Not because he overcame so much – though he did. But because he said yes to God’s call and stayed faithful through every season: through the chapters of our ministry, through the joy of marriage and the grief of losing his beloved, through decades of quiet, faithful work that changed lives around the world. Our individual limitations never limit God’s calling on our lives.
We’re so grateful Dale discerned God’s call to ministry all those years ago. Our organization wouldn’t be the same without him. Our prayer is that Helps Ministries continues to be a place where God’s people can pursue the ministry He places on their hearts – whether that leads them across oceans or keeps them right at home.