Calvary Church

Years ago in high school, I was part of a Bible study with kids from my community who were just discovering that they could be forgiven and have a place where they could be genuinely cared for and loved. Real faith was new to them. I had made the step from faith being an intellectual assent to faith being a deep need for God and connecting with him, so this study was my first taste of being part of helping other people make that same transition. That same hope and vision still drives me: that faith is the need to connect with God personally and emotionally, to really love him, and to really love others the way that God loves us, and then to be able to stand in the gap with one another.

What I get to do here at Calvary is express genuine care for people who are hurting or in crisis. Along with the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, I get to bring some guidance into their lives. I’m not alone in that; all of the pastors and most of the ministry staff do some kind of care, mentoring, or counseling. 

The most important thing that I do is develop teams to meet the broader pastoral care needs of our church. We are called as pastors to equip the saints. Our job is not only to do the work but also to train others to do the work. So a lot of my time is spent in recruiting, training, and implementing ministry with lay counselors and facilitators, which is really my passion! God redeems people’s past pain and difficulties for the good of helping others and that’s a beautiful thing. 

We raise up people to walk alongside the grief-stricken, those in divorce recovery, and those in marriage crisis. The vast majority of requests for pastoral care fit these 3 areas. I ask everyone on our team to memorize Galatians 6:2 because it perfectly captures what we’re doing: “Carry each other’s burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

My wife Diane and I have been married for more than 40 years. Our son Bryan and his wife Amy live here in town with three of our grandkids, our daughter Laura – who swore she would never go into ministry – is in youth ministry in Minnesota, and our daughter Erin and her husband Jeff are also in Minnesota with our other amazing grandchildren.