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Straight from my mother’s womb, I made my home in Pompton Plains, New Jersey. (If you know where that is, either you were born there yourself or you won a Geography Bee in elementary school. In any case, it’s upstate, not terribly far from New York City.) When I was two, I’d had enough of the East Coast and moved my parents west to California. We eventually settled in Torrance, where my sister was born and where we lived for eleven years.
After my parents divorced, when I was thirteen, my mother remarried and we moved to Bakersfield. It was there that I received my call to ministry, becoming heavily involved in the First Presbyterian Church and eventually serving on staff there before leaving for seminary. I did my graduate work at Fuller, where several of my mentors in ministry had attended before me. One year in, I married Anita, who was gracious enough to spend her first few years of marriage in a tiny campus apartment in Pasadena.
From there we launc
hed into the great unknown for my first ordained call. God placed us in Great Falls, Montana, a place neither of us had ever been or even knew existed. It was a tremendous experience: six years of working with youth, leading various mission trips, and enjoying the beauty of a landscape that only God could create. Our daughter Leah, now nineteen years old, was born there, saw her first white Christmas there, caught her first fish there, and numerous other things that will last in our memories for a lifetime.
In 1997, I was accepted into a Doctor of Ministry program in preaching at San Francisco Theological Seminary. I graduated in 2001, broader and wiser in my theology and ministry. Also, in 1997, I accepted a call to serve as pastor/head of staff at Bethany Presbyterian Church, Portland, Oregon. When I arrived, the 135-year-old church had seen its share of pastors, especially in terms of pastoral longevity: the average stay was only five years. I served twelve, and in the process established friendships and laid down patterns for ministry that serve as the basis for what I do now at St. Andrew’s.
Speaking of St. Andrew’s, I have been here now for 2 ½ years as pastor. I am continually amazed at the gifts for ministry possessed by this congregation and their willingness to love, serve and initiate. Their faith is contagious, and you will see marks of it throughout the pages of this website. Enjoy your perusal of it, and if you feel led, come pay us a personal visit. I would love to meet you!
Blessings and peace,
Dr. B
