For decades, an undercover narcotics officer also worked as a pastor — an intermingling of law enforcement and faith.
Dale Sutherland’s story is a fascinating and dynamic journey. Known as “The Undercover Pastor,” the preacher spent 29 years working as an undercover cop “buying drugs and helping those with fewer opportunities rebuild their lives through his ministry work as a pastor,” according to an official biography.
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One of the most compelling facets of his story centers on the tension he faced: placing people behind bars while also desperately working to offer them freedom from spiritual bondage. Sutherland told CBN News his journey into law enforcement began in Bible college.
“I did a security job, met some police there, and started hearing them talk about it,” he said. “And I also wanted to work in an urban environment. I thought that’s where my ministry needed to be.”
Sutherland was intrigued by their stories and wondered what it would be like to try working in law enforcement for a few years. So, he joined, assuming he would learn more about the streets while honing his ministry skills.
“I joined with the idea that I would get kind of an extra biblical education,” he said. “I would learn not just Bible college, but I was learning people in the streets.”
Ultimately, though, law enforcement became a career, with Sutherland staying for a total of 29 years. Along the way, he found himself sharing the Gospel not only with fellow officers but also with people he had arrested. And for the last 12 years of his police career, he served as a youth pastor at his church, living out a deeply intriguing dual role.
Sutherland said he often saw men who were incarcerated find Jesus behind bars. Tragically, there wasn’t much street ministry reaching them beforehand, but being arrested sometimes changed everything for these criminals.
“[Behind bars] there’d be chaplains and there’d be ways,” he said. “And I’ve talked to many guys who came to faith while locked up.”
He recalled even helping lead a cartel member to Jesus in his office one day near the end of his career.
“He prayed the prayer, committed his life to the Lord, wanted to get out of the business,” Sutherland said. “And so I’ve had that experience, but boy, I’ve had a million other experiences where there was nothing.”
Another guy who went to federal prison for five years ended up getting out and becoming a pastor. The two now do ministry together, helping spread the Gospel.
Sutherland is also the founder of Boost Others, an organization that takes calls from social workers, cops, firemen, and teachers to help families in crisis. He said the organization doesn’t “do everything,” but works to fill in service gaps.
In one incident, Boost Others brought comfort to a terminally ill child going through cancer treatment. The family lacked the funds to buy the bags needed to hold liquid for the child’s IG tube, so the organization provided the $200 needed to get formula and the bags, helping the family until the child was healed and became cancer-free.
In another example, a sexual abuse survivor decided to become an attorney and worked hard to overcome her trauma — and to get into a good school. With a lack of resources, she wasn’t able to get a computer.
“God opened the doors for Boost to provide the brand new computer of her dreams,” the organization explained. “She is on her way to recovery and to fulfill her dreams in spite of this attack.”
