John Bowling
Associate Minister
John Bowling was born in Ft. Benning Georgia to Jack and Jean Bowling in 1955. He was raised in near Los Angeles, California and later the Steele/Ashville/Gadsden-area in Alabama.
John played football and track in high school. He had two part-time football scholarships offered, but chose a full-time track scholarship at Oklahoma Christian University (Oklahoma Christian College at that time). He met Cheryl in the school laudro-mat and the rest is history. They married after their first year in college. He ran track for one more year, and then they moved to Ashville, AL.
John and Cheryl have been married for 47 years, and have lived on various small farms/houses in the Gadsden area (the first farm-house being a converted chicken house) and now live on a 93 acre farm in Attalla with various animals over the years, including cows, horses, a donkey, a pony, a pig, cats, dogs and occasional scary critters.
The Bowlings have two children: Their daughter Della was born in 1980 and their son Wil was born in 1986. Della and her family (Patrick and children Dylan and Sunny) live in the Gadsden area. Wil lives in Lubbock, Texas. The children and grandchildren are John and Cheryl’s absolute delight.
John worked industrial construction in Birmingham for ten years and then took employment as a pipefitter in the Goodyear Tire plant, retiring recently.
John has been attending Rainbow Church of Christ since he was 11 years old in 1966. John served as a deacon at Rainbow for approximately 9 years and then as an elder for approximately 24 years. He then accepted the role as the Associate Minister in November 2021. John loves Rainbow with all of his heart.