Desert Aire Pastor relates to struggle

DESERT AIRE - The congregation of the Riverside Presbyterian Church searched a year for a pastor, and the one they found relates well to people with struggles.

Rev. Dennis Evans understands the person who can't think of a reason to go to church. He really didn't start until he was 12, and he dropped out at 15.

"It was much easier on Sunday to go out and do something fun," he said.

Evans dropped out despite the feeling, from the age of 12, that he was being called to the ministry. After starting college at the age of 17, he returned to his church and felt the call again.

This time Evans followed through. He entered the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary after graduating from Cal State Chico.

At seminary Evans struggled against rejection. Church leaders noticed he was quite introverted and feared he would not be able to preach to large gatherings. The hinted strongly he should drop out.

"Inside me there was a shy person trying to get out," Evans admitted.

Evans was so shy back then that his return to church at 18 was difficult. He was scared people would be looking at him, wondering where he'd been.

Things turned worse at the church. Working from a faulty schedule, he walked up to the door as the congregation was leaving. People were looking at him for sure, he thought, and he was embarrassed.

Evans was born and raised in the northern reaches of California's Sacramento Valley. He graduated from high school in the small town of Live Oak in 1969.

As a youth, Evans had the lifestyle of many of the folks around these parts, living on a farm. He picked all the fruits grown in his region. He packed fruit under a metal roof in the hot central California sun, and he worked in a custom cannery.

"I picked cherries, but I wasn't very good," he said.

Evans was younger than most of his classmates. He graduated from Live Oak at 17 and entered California State University at the same age.

At seminary, Evans struggled against the perceptions of church leaders by asking Jesus Christ to help him overcome his shyness. He eventually won the battle.

The first time Evans preached, he spoke to a gathering of college students seated on a lawn. He prayed to God to get him through, and still it wasn't easy.

"I was terrified. I was shaking," he said.

Evans considered quitting, as church leaders were suggesting, a few times. Each time he was confronted by the memory of the calling he received at age 12.

"I had to go forward," he said.

And he did.

Evans was ordained in 1981 and has served churches in Oregon, California and Washington. He spent most of the past 20 years serving the Community Church (Presbyterian) in Washtucna and the United Presbyterian Church in Kahlotus.

Evans had left Washington, was tending a garden at his mother's home in California and contemplating the rest of his life when he came into contact with the Desert Aire folks.

Evans agreed to come back to Washington, and part of the deal was that he'd learn to play golf, basically to get to know just about everyone else at Desert Aire.

"I don't know if I'll be any good, but I'll give it a try," he said.

Why not? He's known struggle before.

And just like before, he can pray for God's help.

Isn't that what all good golfers do?