Pastor Bob Gilfert – Chino Valley UMC, Chino Valley, AZ

As Ken Kesey would say, “What a long strange trip it has been. Sorry, couldn’t resist. My call to ministry came from literally growing up in church. My mother was the head of the drama department for a good sized Baptist church in Fern Creek, Kentucky. Many days were spent rambling through our historic church as my mom attended to working on the next drama. My first exposure to The United Methodist Church was attending our Scout meetings which were sponsored by the local United Methodist Church. Scout Sunday gave me a realization that their form of worship was very different from the way I had been exposed to worship. I liked it! Fast forward many years and many explorations in different schools of spiritual discipline and I became involved in The United Methodist Church, first as laity, then the call came, and some 25 years later here I am. Eighteen years as a vocational minister. I’ve made a good effort to totally retire but God keeps on calling me back. As I’ve replied to many parishioners question, “How long are you going to be here?” I can only reply, “When it stops being fun!” Right now I’m having a blast.”