My Journey...

Like many others in ministry, it was never on my radar screen as a planned destination… it just happened.  God has a way of surprising us all at times, as He did with me in 2006 when He catapulted me into the ELM program (Education for Lay Ministry)  ...but, I digress.  Let me rewind a bit to give you some perspective.

Faith, as a core belief, was never a part of my childhood.  Religion in my parent's home was like the good china which was brought out on special occasions.  Like many kids of our time, my brothers and I attended Sunday school, some of us were church acolytes, and we all learned to serve "God & Country" in the Boy Scouts.  However, "faith" was never discussed in our home as a guiding light.  But, in all fairness to my parents, faith wasn't part of their upbringing either.  To their credit, however, they made sure we were exposed to opportunities to explore faith on our own, even if it wasn't an expressed part of their lives.  It wasn't until years later, when my wife & I were blessed with children that "church" and faith became a significant parts of our family life (...having children will do interesting things to people besides depriving them of sleep).

My experience in the pulpit began innocently enough.  It started in the early 80’s, during a pastoral change at our church, the Ralston United Church of Christ (RUCC).  Being a younger member of an older congregation, I was asked by the President of the church, an elder founding member, to lead the Search Committee for a new minister.  During the pulpit vacancy, I was also asked to fill the pulpit periodically to keep the worship schedule full.  After calling our new pastor, the Rev. Gene Loftis, I was asked to head the Pastoral Relations Committee as a way to provide continuity for our new pastor and the church congregation.  In the years to come, I also served as the church President and Trustee chairman for multiple terms, along with serving on a variety of other boards and committees.  In a short time, the church had become a major part of our lives, and I've never regretted it.

During the following seventeen years of Gene’s RUCC ministry, I was asked to fill the pulpit when he was on vacation, or in the case of an emergency.  Filling the pulpit at the RUCC continued as a blessing in the years following Gene’s retirement from ministry. (For those who knew him, this was only a temporary “retirement” as Gene resumed the ministry he loved for many years, continuing until shortly before his death in 2012.)

Through the early 2000’s, I was blessed to fill the RUCC pulpit on many occasions during two pastoral transitions until our current minister was called to fill our pulpit in 2007.   However, it was during our last pastoral transition,  in November of 2006 when God grabbed my shoulder and led me into the ELM program... in church vernacular, I felt "called".  For Him, the waiting was over.

Much earlier, Gene had encouraged me to consider the ELM program following its inception in the late-90's.  However, I was already managing a full-time career, in addition to co-owning a family business with my wife.  Taking on another commitment was not on my to-do list (…notice the emphasis on “my”).  Then God weighed in on the matter in 2006, as mentioned above.    With the support of Sharon Shields, the Cotner College Executive Director, and with Gene Loftis as my friend & mentor, I found myself entering the ELM program mid-way through the first year of a three-year program.  Sharon was instrumental in helping me transition into a class which had already spent five months bonding together.  With God's support, and Sharon's help working in the sessions I missed earlier, I graduated with the other members of my ELM 5 cohort, in 2009.

The years following my ELM graduation were anything but peaceful.  However, returning from my detour of several years, I now find God firmly grasping my shoulder, once again, leading me back into the ministry.  The “good news” of my long journey to this point is that I’m much richer for the experiences along the way, like many of my fellow ELM graduates.  And, the blessing from those Life experiences is that it provides a lot of material preparing for a Sunday morning, speaking to a friendly congregation which has shared many of those same Life experiences.

I look forward to being of service to you and your congregation.  ...Paul