Finding the Way…Reflections From Pastor Eric

God  called me into pastoral ministry after 20 years in medicine.  My training for pastoral ministry has been an unusual one, but I believe effective as God has been with me every step of the way.

My journey has taken me to Andrews University where I studied theology.  This is where I met Pam my sophomore year and we were married one year later on September 14, 1975.  By the summer of 1976 I began preparing to apply to medical school while she studied nursing.  We went to Loma Linda, California where Pam earned her RN and I my MD from Loma Linda University.  Over the course of the next several years, we were blessed with 3 children who have also contributed greatly to our education and readiness for pastoral ministry.

Our Navy experience included Bethesda Naval Hospital, where I was trained as an obstetrician/gynecologist.  The entire family then went to the Philippines to serve at Subic Bay Naval Hospital for 3 years.  This was a rich and valuable experience for everyone in the family.  We learned that there is a cost to our freedom, that home is where your family is, that people all across the world have more similarities than differences and that the differences can enrich our lives, that we are blessed to live in the USA, and that God never leaves us.

After serving in the US Navy, we moved to Rockford, Illinois.  I was blessed to work as an obstetrician and gynecologist in a private practice while Pam worked at home as the mother of our 3 children, Sally, Kelsey, and Eric Jr.  God called me to be the lay pastor of our church in Rockford after we had been there for more than 10 years.  Through this experience, God opened my eyes to His desire for me to dedicate the remainder of my life to full-time pastoral ministry.

And so we arrived in Richland, Washington on July 7, 2004 after accepting a call to pastor the Richland Seventh-day Adventist Church.  This has been a challenging and richly rewarding experience.  God continues to teach me His Way everyday.  And so I have decided to start a blog about the journey that I describe as “FInding the Way.”  None of us have arrived, but like Paul said in Philippians 3:14, “I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, thorugh Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven.” I invite you to journey with me as we desire to stay “in” Christ Jesus.