V I T A

Brad Boydston
4105 Crowell Road
Turlock, California 95382-0200
(209) 667-6768




PURPOSE:
I define my purpose as helping people make vital connections and as facilitating growth in the lives of individuals and the church. Since August of 1995 I have been the pastor of Cornerstone Covenant Church in Turlock, California. Before moving to Turlock I served congregations in Selah, Washington and Bedford, Texas. I am an ordained minister in the Evangelical Covenant Church with a special interest in Christian leadership formation, as well as in helping to start new churches, and in the revitalization of older congregations.


HOME IS:
Turlock, California — A great place to ride a bike (flat)! We are an agriculturally-based town of nearly 70,000 people within close driving distance to some of the best tourist destinations in the west — Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, San Francisco, and Monterey. We’re also culturally diverse. As I work in the garden I hear my neighbors speaking Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Punjabi, and Assyrian. This is a great place to live.


HOME HAS BEEN:
San Jose, California; Scotts Valley, California; Berkeley, California; Pasadena, California; Tempe, Arizona; Chicago, Illinois; Selah, Washington; Euless, Texas


SCHOOLS:
Willow Glen High School in San Jose, California (Class of '74); BA, Arizona State University; MDiv & DMin, Fuller Theological Seminary. I also studied at New College Berkeley and North Park Theological Seminary.


TEACHING:
In addition to the standard pastoral fare of weekly preaching and teaching adult and youth classes (I love teaching the confirmation preparation classes for junior high students) I have:

+ taught Building Bridges with Mormons (Cornerstone Covenant Church).

+ taught Introduction to Church Planting in the Covenant Church (annual meeting seminar)

+ taught the spontaneous church planting component of the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course.

+ taught an Introduction to the Internet for Christians (Mission Springs Conference Center)

+ presented at the Re-envisioning Your Ministry seminar (Covenant Midwinter Conference)

+ presented on “church planting in the denominational context” in Aubrey Malphurs’ church planting class at Dallas Theological Seminary.

+ presented in the Introduction to Christian Doctrine calss at Pacific Island Bible College in Guam.


OTHER RESPONSIBILITIES & SERVICE (past & present):

+ President of the Covenant Ministerium.

+ Secretary of the Covenant Ministerium.

+ Member of the Evangelical Covenant Church’s Board of the Ordered Ministry and its executive committee.

+ Church planting coach (anglo & “ethnic” congregations)

+ Chair of the Management Advisory Committee at Covenant Village of Turlock.

+ President of TEAM (Turlock Evangelical Association of Ministers)

+ Member of the Turlock Community-University task force.

+ Volunteer chaplain at Emanuel Medical Center.

+ Field education supervisor for students from Dallas Theological Seminary, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary.

+ Area representative for North Park Theological Seminary.


DIVERSIONS:
I enjoy discussing and learning about early church history, Eastern Orthodoxy, Lutheranism, European Pietism, Anglicanism, Ecumenics, theological education, distance education, and electronic culture. I have been a member of the Society for the Study of Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism.

I run an email list, Abet, for the purpose of discussing issues of mission, leadership, and church health.


FAVORITE THINGS:
Meandering around town on my bike...

Winter cycling in the Sonoran desert...

Saguaro National Park, Arizona...

Clear, warm, sunny, winter days...

Southwest Florida...

Satsuma mandarin oranges and cara cara navels...

Key lime pie...

New churches...

Old churches...

“I Know That My Redeemer Liveth”, the soprano aria in Handel’s “Messiah”...

Birkenstocks on my feet (way over-priced but comfortable)...

The Family...

Betsy -- high school senior
Kent -- 2nd year at UC Irvine (political science)
Cheryl
myself
Kirk -- 4th year at UC San Diego (linguistics)



Gardening -- veggies, cacti, citrus, tropical fruit (mangos & guava)...

Arizona...

Guam...

Films with subtitles...

Icons...

Bach...

Mango-A-Go-Go...

Walking on the beach with Cheryl...

Most anything CHOCOLATE but especially Scotchmello dark chocolates from Sees’ Candies...