New pastor at the helm

Michele Marr

Rod Randall has been making history of late at Harbor Trinity

Church in Costa Mesa.

In June last year, he became the church’s interim pastor when

Bruce Merrifield, senior pastor at the church for 18 years, left to

accept a new position with the North American Baptist conference,

where he will develop adult leadership training centers at local

churches within the conference.

Six months later, on Dec. 22, the congregation asked Randall to be

the church’s new senior pastor.

The invitation marked a recording-setting transition, not just for

Harbor Trinity Church, but for any church seeking to fill the seat of

a senior pastor who has left after a long, successful tenure.

“We ask the congregation to be patient and not to get anxious,”

said Ric Olsen, pastor of college ministries and missions at the

church.

He said the search for a new pastor can often take many months --

in some cases, years.

Harbor Trinity, with more than 300 members, a strong family focus,

a host of ministries for all ages and a wide range of outreach

programs that have grown out of its deep commitment to the community

where more than 80-percent of its member live, sought someone

spiritually well grounded, visionary and yet pragmatic to lead them.

The board of elders at Harbor Trinity reviewed almost 60

applications for the position before recommending Randall to the

congregation. The congregation voted overwhelmingly in favor of the

recommendation.

Olsen described the transition as “remarkably smooth and quick.”

On Sunday, Feb. 2, the congregation will officially install Rod

Randall as its new senior pastor, the sixth in the church’s 48-year

history. Members of the City Council and the Police Department are

expected to attend the installation.

Pastors from the community and former pastors of Harbor Trinity

will be there, too. Connie Salios, who was senior pastor at the

church from 1969 to 1976, will present what Olsen described as “a

challenge ... a pep rally” in her talk to the congregation about

working with its new leader.

Randall brings a wealth of energy and experience to the task,

together with a love for ministry and, even more, a love for the

Gospel.

Randall grew up in Covina. He went to college at UC Irvine, where

he earned a bachelor’s in English and discovered that he liked to

write. While at the campus, he was active in Campus Crusade for

Christ.

It was at a Crusade Summer Project that he met Leigh, his wife now

for 18 years. They have two daughters and a son.

While at UC Irvine, Randall lived on Balboa Island and “fell in

love with this area,” he said. His favorite pastimes still include

scuba diving, surfing, lobster hunting, ocean fishing and writing.

He is the author of many magazine articles and a popular series of

books, “The Misadventures of Willie Plummet,” for readers ages 8 to

12.

He earned a master’s in divinity at Western Seminary in 1989 and

was ordained the next year.

He returned to Southern California when Merrifield hired him as

youth pastor for Harbor Trinity in 1990, and has been at the church

since, the last two years as its senior associate pastor.

As its senior pastor, he hopes to expand on its heritage as a

family-centered, community church and on its capacity for worship

that is inspiring and engaging for all ages.

He wants to convey, “Let’s take everything we have been so blessed

with and share it.”

He has challenged each member of the congregation to “take one

year to join one activity -- the historical society, the garden club,

the homeowners association, the PTA -- to reach one person for

Christ.”

While interim pastor, he found himself, for the first time in his

life, preaching every week. He said, “I fell in love with preaching

and I knew I was being called to a preaching ministry.”

As the congregation’s senior pastor, he will begin his preaching

in the Gospel of John. It’s the book that is often regarded as the

best place for Christians who are reading scripture for the first

time to start.

Randall sees a journey through the book as a fitting starting

point for this new relationship -- between senior pastor and

congregation.