Daryle Doden, alumnus of the year

Daryle Doden ’68 has followed a different path than the typical Moody graduate. He’s spent his life not as a missionary or pastor but as a Christian businessman, serving the Lord through a notable level of business success. At Founder’s Week this year, Daryle’s lifetime of Christian service was recognized with the Alumnus of the Year Award.

When Daryle received his diploma from Moody Bible Institute in Sacred Music, he fully intended to serve in church ministry like his father, Chester Doden ’38.

And he did—for a while. He and Brenda Bell ’68, whom he met in the Moody Chorale, did their practical Christian ministry assignment at Chicago’s Ashburn Baptist Church, where Daryle was choir director and Brenda played the organ. After they graduated and married, Daryle served in youth ministry and music at Calvary Baptist Church in South Bend, Indiana, while they completed their Bible and music education at nearby Bethel College. In 1971 they joined Daryle’s father to help pastor a new church in Butler, Indiana.

The church grew, but Daryle was miserable and felt ill-suited for the relational interaction and personal care expected from a pastor. “You don’t take a left-brained, analytical, task-oriented introvert and put him in ministry,” he decided.

Daryle resigned in 1973 but couldn’t find a job, so with little money and a third child on the way, he resorted to doing remodeling work.

When Daryle tried to purchase some concrete-reinforcing bar for a patio project, he couldn’t because of a local rebar shortage. He called Glen Sharp, a Christian man in the steel industry, who found five tons of rebar in Chicago and sent it to Daryle by truck. Daryle and a friend transported it to Fort Wayne, Indiana, made calls from a phone booth, and sold the steel in one day.

Noticing Daryle’s natural affinity for business, Glen suggested they start a company. With $1,400 from Glen and a $600 note from Daryle, they and some partners founded Ambassador Steel Corporation in January 1974. The next month Daryle did $50,000 worth of sales. At 26 years old, he had found his niche.

“I could buy and sell, and I intuitively understood the language and activities of business,” he says.

Eventually, Ambassador Steel would become the largest privately owned steel fabrication and distribution company in the United States. Yet Daryle never lost sight of the church, generously offering his skills, resources, and insight to congregations and ministries in crisis.

“He is always willing to pour his energies into helping others in their time of need,” Brenda says

Daryle adds, “God blessed our efforts financially and spiritually. I had been raised watching my dad integrate his faith into his everyday life, so it was not a stretch for me to integrate my faith into the marketplace.”

His Father’s Influence

Daryle was profoundly shaped by his dad, who spent two hours every morning in Bible study and prayer. Daryle was five years old when he trusted Christ and wanted to be baptized. He told his dad that if he didn’t baptize him, God would spank him. “That was the worst punishment he could think of,” his mom used to say. According to his father, Daryle’s testimony before his baptism would have put an adult to shame.

Showing entrepreneurial promise as a child, Daryle sold newspapers, ointments, and vegetables from his parents’ garden. He loved baseball, became active in a Youth for Christ club, and started a traveling choral group in high school.

Steve Bell ’70, executive vice president of the Willow Creek Association, was Daryle’s classmate and future brother-in-law. “I could tell Daryle was a man with convictions,” he recalls. “He really wanted to be a difference maker, wanted to be a serious Christ follower, wanted to have an impact on the kingdom.”

Applying What He Learned

Daryle and his young family eventually joined Bible Baptist Church (now Lakewood Park Church), where Daryle sang in the choir, taught the young marrieds Sunday school class, and served as an elder. When the church started a Christian school, the Doden children were some of the first attendees.

In 1981, Daryle also helped his church purchase and remodel a nearby Catholic novitiate to house the church and school. Daryle moved the Ambassador offices onsite temporarily so he could oversee the project.

During that time, Daryle’s dad passed away, a great loss to the family. But with more than 150 volunteers from church, Daryle completed the school in time for fall semester 1981, and the sanctuary was ready by Easter services the next spring.

Even in the midst of those busy days, Daryle made his wife and five children a top priority. At breakfast, Daryle would bring out the missionary prayer cards, and each child would pray for a missionary. Monday nights were game night with the kids. And he periodically took one of them on a business trip and would often interrupt his day to see them when they came to the office.

A Wake-Up Call

With all his successes, Daryle was not prepared for a phone call he received in late 1984. One of his employees had embezzled money and could have ruined Ambassador Steel. Daryle became deeply depressed and took time off to get help, including being hospitalized twice. God used those months to reveal “a self-sufficient confidence that had grown into arrogance and a condescending attitude,” Daryle recalls. “He humiliated me so that He could humble me.” 

After recovering, Daryle returned to work, more effective and with a stronger vision for improving his interpersonal and leadership skills. “I am on a lifelong quest to develop greater spiritual sensitivity and emotional intelligence through prayer, reading, and receiving feedback from others,” he says.

Helping the Household of Faith

In 1989, Daryle joined the Moody Alumni Association Board of Directors, serving as its president from 1991 to 1994. He took an active role in planning the Alumni Student Center, particularly the Commons eating area, modeled after the Sweet Shop he and Brenda loved as students.

In 1992, Daryle joined the Cedarville University Board of Trustees, contributing a significant sum to the building of the fieldhouse. The school wanted to name it after Daryle but agreed to honor his father instead.

Daryle and Brenda have a heart for holding retreats to help leaders strengthen their relationships. At the core of Daryle’s business philosophy is a belief that “relationships are the essence of life.” He says, “If all we are doing is trying to accomplish things, life is pretty empty at the end of the day. Success only satisfies for a while, and then we have to go on to another accomplishment. People who are fulfilled in life are people who have deep and meaningful relationships. No amount of money can heal the absence of relationships.”

Since selling Ambassador Steel, his efforts are focused on Ambassador Enterprises, a philanthropic equity firm that invests in leaders and their organizations for the benefit of the kingdom of God and for His glory. “I want to steward the resources God has entrusted to me with the greatest level of wisdom and excellence I can achieve,” he says. “We routinely invest time, talent, temperament, testimony, and treasure for returns that are financial, cultural, and eternal.”

While Daryle never pursued an MBA because it would have taken away family time, he has voraciously read books and asked questions of bankers, lawyers, accountants, and others to increase his business knowledge. One day a businessman said to Daryle, “I know where you got your MBA. You got your degree from Yale. The reason I know is because they emphasize the balance sheet approach to business, like you do.” Daryle thanked him for the compliment and told him he graduated from Moody Bible Institute and Bethel with degrees in Sacred Music and Biblical Studies.

Steve Gardner, who works with Daryle, adds, “He has spent his life figuring out how to live like Christ in the marketplace. The fact that he could be spending his golden years on any yacht of his choice rather than sixty-hour weeks in support of the community he leads by example says a lot about his commitment to our growth and development.”

While Daryle is busy with no retirement in sight, he cherishes time with his children (four of whom live nearby and one in South Africa), 11 grandchildren and number 12 on the way, extended family—and his wife, who still goes on dates with him every Friday night. “He has been a trustworthy husband, father, boss, and friend,” Brenda says.

Dr. Randall Bell ’64, his brother-in-law, adds, “I have not known anyone who has more effectively and fervently used his influence to encourage others to grow in godliness. Daryle’s life has consistently exemplified the highest possible levels of integrity. Daryle deeply desires to become more like Christ and he works at exhibiting Christ’s character more diligently than anyone else I know.”