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Hi,
We're glad you found our church website!
 One woman said to me, "Our church is so neat. Our minister looks like he just stepped off the golf course. After services, our folding chairs can be stacked so we can lower the backboards and play basketball and volleyball. And our music is so cool. A lot of it isn't even religious. Our church is really fun. We even have a Starbucks coming too."
This is not a description of Pilgrim Church. If you're looking for a traditional worship service in a sanctuary that feels like a sanctuary, COME VISIT US! I wear a robe. We have a beautiful, worshipful sanctuary with stained-glass windows and pews, an organ and a piano, a chancel choir, and hymnals that have a mix of older, traditional hymns, as well as contemporary praise choruses.
We are a United Church of Christ, but we are more than that. We are a Christian church. Our members come from almost any Christian tradition that you can think of. This makes us inclined to be understanding of other people's opinions and beliefs. If you're looking for a church where you are loved, not judged, COME  VISIT US! We really mean it when we say, "No matter where you are on life's journey, you're welcome here". You are welcome here whether you're green or purple, convicted felon or saint, married or divorced, young or not-so-young, or gay or straight. We spend our time making our relationships the best they can be, and don't debate whether or not someone is doctrinally correct. We don't judge whether a person's past makes them acceptable or unacceptable. We help each other with today.
In our Bible study, one woman who was new to our church said, "I've visited lots of churches, but there was always something missing. She said we're all like fingerprints, and no two are the same". We respect and celebrate this and the fact that no two of us have followed or are following the same path in our life's journey. We're here to help each other on that journey and to open ourselves to the uplifting presence of our God who we believe journeys with us.
I grew up in Delaware, Ohio, the only child of Joseph and Betty Hepner, who were typical mid-twentieth century parents. Dad was a Roman Catholic who didn't go to church, but provided free gas and maintenance to the cars of the local priests. Mom was baptized Methodist, me too, but was attending Zion United Church of Christ by the time I remember being in Sunday School. Dad served in the Navy (Okinawa) during WW II. Mom worked as a bank teller to put me through Ohio  Wesleyan University, where I graduated in 1969. I spent nearly four years in the Air Force, part of it as a navigator on a B-52, spending six months flying out of Guam and Utapao, Thailand. From there I traveled to a suburb of St. Louis to Eden Theological Seminary, not to become a minister, but to figure out whether God, Christ, the Christian faith and the Church were going to be part of my life or not. By the time I received my Master of Divinity degree in 1978 from Eden, I had discovered that I did have a call, though God hadn't seared my lips with a flaming coal and hadn't banged on a bass drum or set off flashing lights.
Pilgrim Church is only my third church during 29 1/2 years of parish ministry. My wife, Gayle, and I actually came out to Hemet for my interview the day after we were married. Having been married less than 24 hours, the search committee had her sit in on my interview and even asked her questions. Once back in our car and driving away from the church, Gayle looked at me and said "you owe me!" But nearly sixteen years later, she has given me and Pilgrim Church far more than I feel I have given her. We don't call ourselves co-pastors, but Gayle has been a vital part of our ministry here.
Hemet has been good to our family. Danny, Beth and Rachel have grown up here.  We keep in touch, too, and rendezvous as often as often as possible, with Mischa, my daughter from my previous marriage, who lives in Arizona. We have many friends in the San Jacinto Valley. This is a good place. When I was deciding where to go for my third church, my senior minister said, "This Hemet church looks to me like it has the potential for a long-term ministry for you." Nearly eighteen years later, he may have been right!
As I close all my correspondence,
Shalom,
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