Pastor Phil comes to our congregation from North Park Theological Seminary where he graduated with a Masters of Divinity. Before his three years of study at North Park he served Covenant World Missions by filling a one year English teaching position at Rain Forest International School in Cameroon. He and Kerry were the English department at RFIS. The year he spent in Cameroon was a sabbatical year in his tenth year of service as director of Covenant Park Bible Camp, a small Covenant camp about 35 miles southeast of Duluth, Minnesota. Before his decade at Covenant Park, which he began in 1994, Kerry and he spent two years in Congo (Zaire) as English teachers at UBAC, the Covenant Church's school for missionary kids in Africa.
Phil graduated from North Park College in 1990 with a degree in Business Communication and a minor in Psychology. While he was at North Park, he also completed the Secondary Education program and earned a teaching license in the state of Illinois in English and speech. He did his student teaching at North Park Elementary and Lane Tech.
Though he has experienced only limited success at the plate, he has started as pitcher for the North Park Theological Seminary "Scholars" softball team the last three years. His critics and opponents (more fiercely) have complained about his unorthodox, somewhat elusive back-spin pitch-though to date, there is no rule against the style. He has, however, seen little time on the mound this year, as he has been in contract negotiations with our church. He is looking forward to the 2009 season, as it has been rumored that RECC may need to field two teams, making some room for the new guy.
He and his family love to camp, canoe, play Frisbee golf and ultimate Frisbee together. When his back doesn't slow him down, he enjoys playing pick-up basketball and occasionally volleyball. He's fond of coffee and doughnuts. The word on the street is that he has an occasional hankering for garlic-stuffed olives. (Who likes garlic-stuffed olives?) When he has time, he likes to read all sorts of stuff and has been known to occasionally memorize poetry. He has a passion for Scripture and finds joy in study. He's looking forward to being our pastor and getting to know the people of our RECC. This will be his first time to answer a call to pastor a church-he looks forward to growing with us.