St. Andrew pastor retiring after 33 years

Faith is not something Chris Kersting has. It's something he does.

Harnessing love for Jesus Christ and putting the Lord's words into practice is something Kersting, 67, has done in Yuba City throughout his 33-year career as the pastor of St. Andrew Presbyterian. That idea — faith in action — is something he's tried to instill in his flock.

"It can't be just a come-to-church-Sunday-morning kind of thing," he said. "You have to put your faith into action."

Kersting will give his last sermon as pastor of St. Andrew Presbyterian Church on Jan. 29. After draining his vacation time, he'll officially retire March 1 after more than three decades of guiding Yuba City's faithful.

"He's always trying to do the very best that he can do, waking up in the morning, knowing this is a new day," said his wife Beckie, 61. "It's a God-given day, and let me see what I can do in this day that Jesus would want me to do, that God would want me to do."

Kersting has put his faith into action, and led his flock to do so.

St. Andrew members helped rebuild destroyed houses after the 1986 floods, which led to the church starting the Disaster Relief Interfaith, a group of half a dozen churches. When floodwaters again drowned homes and businesses, the church relaunched Disaster Relief Interfaith.

For 11⁄2 years, the organization led efforts to import, coordinate and house volunteers who rebuilt homes in the community. Local congregants spearheaded those efforts.

"People from our congregation just jumped in," the pastor said.

Kersting was doing that years before, said congregant Bob Putland in a speech he made before the congregation in 1988 to celebrate Kersting's 10-year anniversary with St. Andrews.

"Under Chris's leadership, the ministry of St. Andrew is reaching out beyond the bounds of our church walls to our local community and beyond."

Those church walls have grown under Kersting's leadership, literally and figuratively.

St. Andrew's congregation tripled under Kersting, from about 200 worshippers in 1978 to roughly 600 today. The swelling congregation burst the seams of the old church, which could hold 250 "using every nook and cranny," said Phillip Cooke, 71, who joined St. Andrew in 1968 and served on the sanctuary building committee. Kersting helped lead an effort to finance and build new offices and a sanctuary that can now hold 400 parishioners.

Kersting has started or helped start a homeless resource center, Hands of Hope, the Mother Hubbard food closet, an emergency winter homeless shelter, the Yuba-Sutter Mexico Mission Trip and a network of churches working together to make sure their complementing, not duplicating, each others' efforts.

It's easy to point at milestones to gauge Kersting's career, but his congregants also appreciate his Sunday sermons, house calls, music talent and counseling.

Judy Putland, 71, has been a presbyterian all her life. When she was a kid and even older, her pastor's words were philosophical and unreachable.

"The sermons were way up here," she said, holding her hand level with her head.

Not so with Kersting.

"He brings in everyday problems we all have," she said. "He puts it on an everyday level.

"With Chris," she continued, "you understand."

"Chris sees his ministry as God-centered, creative, loving and responding to the human needs of the day," according to a pamphlet Kersting distributed in June 1978 when he tried out for the job in front of the entire congregation. After his sermon, the congregation unanimously voted to give him the job.

The search committee and congregation both had music at the top of their list while searching for a pastor. Music, even before Kersting arrived, was important to St. Andrew.

In fact, different music tastes created a rift in the church, leading to two Sunday services, one for fans of traditional music, which featured lots of organ playing, and another for those who preferred a contemporary style, featuring a guitar and a band.

The split, Kersting said, was "divisive" and a "negative experience. The new pastor sought to bring the two factions together.

"I felt they were both missing something," he said, "that both needed something of what the other offered."

Now the organ and Praise Band play at both services in what's known as a "blended" service. The choir rotates each month between the two Sunday services.

"Chris has always been a part of the music," Putland said. "He's up there and he's playing with them. He'll jump up there and be in the choir and singing."

Kersting is not a one-man band. Church elder, congregants and the pastor himself are all quick to talk about what Kersting has done, but in the same breath, they make sure to include his wife, Beckie, as a key reason for his success.

"Chris and Beckie, Beckie and Chris," said John Buckland, director of the Yuba-Sutter Mexico Mission Trip, something he said wouldn't exist without Kersting's leadership. "They're almost synonymous."

A school nurse in Yuba City schools, Beckie Kersting sang in the choir, directed the church's youth musical for years and helped with the church's children's music program.

"I found my places to serve in the life of the church," she said.

She herself has served in the church for half her life. Church policy dictates she and her husband will have to cut ties with St. Andrews once Kersting steps down, at least for a while.

"This is my home. I love everything about where l live and what I'm able to do, and the things God has given me as gifts.

"It's a little unreal," she said of leaving. "It's kind of like grieving. I can't say that it's not sad, because it is."

The Kerstings came to Yuba City in 1978 from Vancouver, Wash., where Kersting was an associate pastor. He wanted his own flock, so when a pastor job opened up at St. Andrew, he threw his hat in the ring.

The application process was long, grueling and complicated. The congregation elected 12 members to the Pastor Nominating Committee in July 1977. The committee polled the congregation to see what worshippers wanted, needed and what sort of pastor they thought would dovetail with a St. Andrew of the future.

The committee received more than 100 dossiers on possible pastors from the church's larger organization.

The committee whittled it down. Members conducted phone interviews, travelled to see candidates preach on their home turf and eventually conducted in-person interviews. They invited six candidates, all from outside the area, to come to Yuba City to preach at for the committee at a neutral location, not St. Andrews.

Kersting rose to the top. "The committee said that's the man. Amen," Bob Putland said.

Thirty three-years later, St. Andrews is again in need of a pastor. Putland's thinking about serving on the pastor search committee to replace Kersting, which can't form until Kersting officially retires.

"Having not had to look for a pastor for 33 years, nobody's really thought about it."

Kersting himself isn't worried. Actually, he's excited for his congregation and himself.

"I feel it's time," he said, laughing. "I really feel it's time for some new leadership that can bring in new ideas and fresh energy."

Kersting said he's also ready to devote his energy to his eight grandchildren and not having to do some of the pastor duties he's grown just a little weary of.

"I'm tired of night meetings," he said.

Cooke is a little worried about Chris leaving a vacuum, and has some Kersting-like advice for his fellow congregants: "I'm afraid there will be people who sit back to see what happens when Chris leaves," he said. "Chris would hope that everyone who has questions about the future be a part of the process."

Kersting has given his flock what they need to thrive in his absence, Cooke continued. "Chris has armed us with what we need to do to go forward and help St. Andrews grow stronger."

Kersting agrees but didn't seem to worried a little more than a month before his last sermon about his congregants getting involved.

"I'm excited about the future of this church," he said. "This church has solid people, solid people who want to keep their faith real."

CONTACT reporter Jonathan Edwards at jedwards@appeal democrat.com or 749-4780. Find him on Facebook at /ADjedwards or on Twitter at @ADjedwards.