Add "author" to his resumé.
Randy Dignan, who has been pastor at Bible Baptist Church in Jefferson City for about 22 years, developed worldwide evangelism and youth ministries and created "The Listening Heart" television program on Christian Television Network, is now the published author of "Heart Language: Let's communicate like Jesus and change the world."
The book explores ways in which God communicates with man.
Dignan uses his own life experiences as examples - having grown up with two deaf parents - to illustrate how God communicates.
"We have five generations of deafness in my family," he said Thursday. "We even had a deaf dog once."
One day as he was thinking about the communication challenges he witnessed he realized that family members' deafness gave him insight into different ways of communicating.
He began to realize, he said, that many of the world's problems are based on race, stereotypes and prejudice.
"Having grown up in the front-row seat of the deaf culture, having best friends that were hearing and best friends that were deaf, I decided to look at Jesus' teaching," Dignan said.
To communicate well with other people, we really need to look at their cultures, he said, and be open to them.
The book encourages people to rethink the way they communicate.
"What we communicate and who we communicate it to are not as important as how we communicate," Dignan said. "If we get that right - the 'what' will come through."
Everybody has a single language in common, he said, the language of the heart - we all grieve, we all laugh.
Dignan uses personal stories to illustrate his message.
The first chapter looks at a moment when he was 8 and his parents were invited to attend a school program.
He was mortified they were asked to spend the evening pretending to listen to music they couldn't hear.
For their son, they went anyway - never hearing any of the program.
"I know there's not going to be an interpreter that day for my mom and dad. My loving parents show up. That is an example of heart language," Dignan said.
The book has done well during its first two months of release. It can be found on Amazon as either a paperback or e-edition.
Deaf people are excited because it puts a spotlight on their world, he said.
And it's unfortunately a time when people look around and see negativity everywhere - hate in how people communicate with each other.
"Keyboard cowards" on social media can be so hateful and critical, Dignan said. Words really do hurt, he added.
It's a good time to consider his book.
The book is a peek into the deaf world "spotlighting deaf people," he said, "faith and how we can communicate."