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Regner and Della Capener
Born in Astoria, Oregon, April 18, 1942, Regner Alvin Capener was raised in Alaska, spending most of his growing-up years in Eskimo villages. The oldest of two sons of pioneering missionary parents, Alvin & Lillian Capener, he grew up helping his father build numerous churches throughout the arctic.
Living in remote Eskimo villages afforded the Capener boys little opportunity for a traditional education, and when it was time to attend High School, none were available. The State of Alaska provided an opportunity at that time for qualified students in remote villages to get their education through an agreement with the University of Nebraska, so Regner skipped High School, instead taking courses by correspondence with the U of N in Lincoln.
At 17 years of age, he attended Southwestern Bible Institute in Waxahachie, Texas, and later spent a year at Bethany Bible College in Santa Cruz, California before taking extension studies in Greek and Hebrew with Fuller Theological Seminary.
Although he was not ordained as a minister until 1971 while serving as associate pastor at Full Gospel Assembly in Salt Lake City, Regner Capener actually began public ministry at the age of 16. In the years since, he has pastored numerous churches and been involved in various pioneering ministries, following somewhat in the footsteps of his father, grandfather, and some 20+ generations of Capeners before him.
While ministry has been his principal vocation, it has not been the means for supporting his wife and children. Beginning while still in early grade school, he began to develop skills in mathematics and engineering. Inspired by his father’s daily radio program which began when he was seven years of age, he began experimenting with electronics, and as a teenager, built several low-power radio stations in villages along the arctic coast. With a couple of breaks in the intervening years, Regner has been in radio and television broadcasting ever since. Some of his broadcast endeavors include the following:
1957 — 1960: Built and ran the original KBRW radio
station in Barrow, Alaska (now a Public Broadcast station)
1966 — 1967: Engineer & Talk Show Host for KHOF-FM, Glendale, California
1968 — 1972: Announcer & Host for "Waves of Truth" Radio Program, KHOP, Salt Lake City, Utah
1976 — 1983: Founder and President of CBN-Alaska, Inc.
1976 — 1983: Area Director for CBN, and The 700 Club
1984 — 1986: General Manager, Action School of Broadcasting
1988 — 1992: Chief Engineer for KTBY-TV (Fox) in Anchorage
1990 — 1991: Voice for Alaska Airlines and Seattle Mariners TV Commercials
1997 — 1998: Senior Broadcast Engineer, KPLC-TV (NBC) in Lake Charles, LA
1998
— 2001: Voice for Louisiana Dept. of Forestry TV
Commercials & Educational Videos
1999—2003: Chief Engineer for KTLM-TV (Telemundo) in McAllen, TX
Although he holds no patents as such, Who’s Who in Science & Engineering (along with other Who’s Who publications) credits Regner Capener with being an inventor. In the 1950’s, he developed what ultimately became marketed as the Stereo Guitar.
In the 1960’s, while doing research and development for Lockheed Missiles (under a NASA contract), he discovered a means to convert computer code into music, and later developed a computer that would analyze musical chords being played by a musician, and play an accompanying bass note. His invention was later refined, sold outright to CBS Musical Instruments, and subsequently marketed as the Fender Bassmaster.
While attending Bethany Bible College, he conducted extensive (non-academic) research into acoustic principles and reproduction. With a college classmate, Alan Parker, he later formed Intermountain Electronics Corporation in Salt Lake City in an effort to market three-dimensional sound systems. Although efforts to market the original 3-D sound were not successful, demonstrations of the system to manufacturers nation-wide led to the subsequent development and introduction of “Quad” sound, an early predecessor to today’s Dolby Surround sound.
Regner also participated in the development of the wireless microphone, and pioneered techniques for digital audio recording, later putting together an engineering course
approved by the University of Alaska to teach Digital Audio Recording.
Regner and his wife of nearly 25 years, the former Della Denise Melson, have also been active in social work, mostly in conjunction with ongoing ministry. Regner founded Operation Blessing-Alaska as an outreach of the nationally televised 700 Club,
(which Della administered) providing needy families throughout Alaska with food, housing assistance, rental and utility monies, and job-search assistance. When CBN-Alaska closed its operation, Operation Blessing-Alaska was phased over to the Fairbanks and Anchorage Food Banks, and the Salvation Army.
In early 2005, Regner and Della filed paperwork with the state of Texas for recognition of R & DC MINISTRIES, a non-profit Texas church association. R & DC MINISTRIES is the parent association for several ministries -- some visionary, some in progress, and some already operational. They
subsequently transferred those filings to the state of
Washington, and have begun the first phases of
establishing a 24-hour ministry of praise and worship at
River Worship Center in Sunnyside, Washington. Already partially operational are EKKLESIA HOUSE and EKKLESIA RECORDINGS, publishing and distribution centers for books, periodicals and music.
Through
CAPENER (formerly R & DC MINISTRIES) MINISTRIES the Capeners provide assistance to missions in Pakistan and Kenya and expect to add to those endeavors. Their vision for this operation includes expansion into radio and television and film production, along with resumption of a ministry -- REFUGE MINISTRIES -- that provided homes for neglected and abused children and battered women.
Regner was among the founders and served for four years on the board of the Hidalgo County Children’s Advocacy
Center (McAllen, Texas), and has helped to establish two chapters for the Society of Broadcast Engineers.
Political activism has been an ongoing part of his life, campaigning for friends and working behind the scenes to elect and re-elect Republicans such as Congressman Don Young in Alaska and U.S. Senator Ted Stevens. In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, Regner put together TV commercials for Ted Stevens that aired in the native villages of Alaska’s North Slope. Reflecting his personal support for individuals with conservative values and integrity over party labels, he has also campaigned for Democratic friends, including former Lt. Governor Red Boucher, and former Assistant Attorney General Clark Gruening.
In 2003, Regner campaigned for political office, seeking election to the U.S. House of Representatives as the first conservative Republican from the Rio Grande Valley. He was defeated in the Primary in March, 2004 by Austin resident, Rebecca Klein, former Texas Public Utilities Commissioner and one-time White House assistant to President George H.W. Bush.
Regner and Della Capener have composed more than two hundred Scripture songs between them, many of which are sung in churches around the world. They are both musicians. Della plays keyboards and some percussion instruments. Regner plays some 30 different instruments, but focuses primarily on the classical guitar. They have recorded and released
some 17 worship CD’s and tapes made during spontaneous worship gatherings with other musicians and singers.
Regner has written and published numerous works throughout the years,
including a newsletter to Christians titled, Open Letters to the
Ekklesia, and for the past two years has published his
Coffee Break column online which currently reaches some
400,000+ readers on a daily basis.
Together, Regner and Della Capener have eight children, two of whom are adopted Eskimos, and 21 grandchildren.
Della has been in the jewelry business for much of the past twenty years.
Their oldest daughter, Deborah, has worked as a travel agent in Anchorage.
Their oldest son, Christian, is a civil engineer who works on the arctic slope for Arco and British Petroleum, and
has recently moved with his wife, Chelsi, and their four
children to Sunnyside, Washington. (Chris commutes back
and forth to the Arctic Slope on a rotating basis.) Melodie, who is the next oldest daughter, lives with her two sons and works in Portland, Oregon providing healthcare for elderly patients.
Shelley, who is next in line, lives with her husband, Gabriel Mireles, and five children in Mabton,
Washington where she serves on the Mabton City Council, and
works as a chef for a restaurant in the Yakima Valley.
Danielle, daughter number 4, lives with her husband, Anthony Picasso, and their two sons in Anchorage, where she works as a hairdresser.
Rebekah, daughter #5,
lives in Pasco, Washington with her five children. Ariella, youngest of the six girls in the family,
has been living in Portland, and -- like her sister,
Melodie -- works in healthcare. Joshua, who is their second son, and youngest of the eight children,
now works with his brother on the Arctic Slope of Alaska as a
construction welder, also commuting back and forth to
Sunnyside, Washington.
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