Dot Pogue

Joe Foss High School Coordinator

Dot was born and raised on a farm by Timber Lake, South Dakota. She is one of twelve children and was so blessed to grow up with amazing parents who took her to church every Sunday and helped her know the love that God has for her. Her grandmother was the one that taught her about Jesus and how He had died for her sins. The real commitment came when she was 16 years old and was asked to attend a High School retreat in the Black Hills. It was there that Jesus became the real deal for her and not just a story, and she fell in love with him. Her journey continued through college in Rapid City and eventually meeting her husband and having two awesome children who have blessed her life in ways that she can’t even begin to describe.

Her faith journey was a roller coaster as she spent ten years taking care of a sick husband who eventually died from cancer that was contracted from Agent Orange in Vietnam. The death of her Father was her biggest loss and biggest lesson in life because it was then that she realized that her Love was far greater for her biological father than it was for her Heavenly Father. After a year of intense grief and pain, the Lord brought an amazing priest into her life that showed her just how much Jesus loved her and wanted to heal her broken heart.

This renewed love for Jesus eventually led to twelve years of high school and middle school youth ministry for a local church. It was there that she realized just how much the youth of today need mentors in their life. It was also there that God put on her heart the beginning of one of her greatest passions: to fight for the unborn! She knows that is why God has brought her to Joe Foss where there are so many pregnant girls. She knows that she can make a difference by helping them understand that this child and every child is a gift from the Lord. Psalm 139:13 says, “for it is you who formed my inward parts: you knit me together in my mother’s womb.”

When Dot began her journey of ministry, her commitment was to always tell everyone how much Jesus loved them and so her message is this, “no matter where you go or what you do, always put Jesus first.”