Our PASTOR

Interim Pastor David Stertzbach

       “I was not raised in a Christian home. My father was adamantly opposed to the Gospel & forbade me to speak to him of Christ when I was nine years old. But the pastor of the church told me that I could WRITE  to my father instead. So as a child I wrote him love notes & attached  Gospel tracts. For seventeen years I prayed & wrote him until he trusted Christ as Savior after I was in seminary. Praise the Lord that God answered prayer & still saves to the uttermost all who will believe!”

       Dave served as a senior pastor for forty-eight years. Right out of seminary, he labored in Pascagoula, Mississippi for three years. Then he pastored Shannon Baptist Church in Shannon, Illinois from 1973-1987. From there, God led him to Trinity Baptist Church in Williston, Vermont from 1987-2005. Those very profitable years were followed by service at Bethel Baptist Church in Tucson, Arizona from 2005 until retirement in December 2019. The Honorary Doctorate of Divinity from BJU was awarded to him in 1990 & the Defender of the Faith Award in 1998. He served as Vice-President of New England Christian Schools for twelve years & as President of Christian Schools of Vermont for eighteen years. He has served on the boards of Baptist World Mission & Gospel Fellowship Missions for over two decades. Dave & Diane have traveled to twenty-seven foreign mission fields.

       His heartbeat is local church pastoral ministry & missions focusing on evangelism, equipping the saints, & encouraging others in service for the Lord Jesus.

       Dave & Diane (Bundy) were married June 20, 1970 & have three sons: Dave, II, Jonathan, & Joshua. Two of their sons are BJU grads. Dave II has served as a music director in two local churches for over twenty-five years. Jonathan was an Army chaplain with deployments in Iraq & Afghanistan. The Stertzbachs have seven grandchildren with the oldest married & preparing to go to Mexico as missionary with her husband.