PASTOR DAVE

God’s Path in My Life
Although I was only four years old I can remember well the day I accepted Christ as my Savior.  At the conclusion of the lesson, my Sunday School teacher asked if anyone wanted to "ask Jesus to come into their hearts."  I didn't fully understand the many great theological aspects of salvation, but I knew I wanted Jesus in my heart.  The details are fuzzy, but the confidence of Christ in me has always been strong.

Being raised in a Pastor's home, I was inundated with church services and activities.  This may have kept me from seeing the value of my Christianity as much as I do today.  I was never an outwardly rebellious child, nor did I try to run from the Lord.  But neither did I run to Him with any intensity.  The high point of my childhood spirituality was my baptism around age twelve.

I continued in my spiritual mediocrity until my freshman year at Western Baptist College (now Corban College).  It was then that I began to understand that my inner lack of joy and peace were due to the tepidness of my relationship to Christ.  God very vividly challenged me through an experience as a camp counselor during the summer after my Freshman year at WBC.  As I looked at the campers in my cabin I realized that they were looking to me for spiritual leadership and yet I knew that I had none to give.  Toward the end of my sophomore year, after a year of "negotiating" with God, I realized that God wanted me to give Him a “blank check”.  For me that meant allowing God to lead me anywhere, even to the pastorate or the mission field.  Although I feared these, my desire to be close to God and grow in Him caused me to open my life fully to Him.

Immediately I sensed His leading to pursue pastoral education and be open to the possibility of vocational ministry.  My fear of the ministry was replaced with excitement toward it and a burden to help young people have a fulfilling Christian life, not a stagnant one like mine had been.  Over the next three years of school I had many opportunities to test the waters of ministry especially through traveling ministry groups which represented WBC.  I sang, led singing, preached, counseled at camps, and exercised leadership in various settings.  As I continued to serve God, He continued to confirm that I belonged in the pastorate.

I met and married my wife during those last three years at Western Baptist.  Before our marriage we discussed my expectation of full time ministry and how that would affect her.  God had prepared her to be open to vocational ministry long before we had met.  She has been a wonderful wife, mother, and fellow-servant in ministry for these past 28+ years.  Over the past twenty-seven years of ministry I am very aware that we have been a team in many ways.  I could well say “we” in place of “I” many times.

Our greatest teamwork has been the rearing of three great children.  God blessed us with a son and twin daughters.  They are all serving the Lord in the Northwest.  I can truly say with the apostle John, “I have no greater joy than to know that my children walk in truth.”  What great Christian fellowship we have with all six of our children.