From the congregation to the pulpit: Richards picked as new pastor for Dungeness Community Church

After several years off the saddle, Tim Richards, 53, is back on but not without some deep thoughts first.

Richards started as the new pastor at Dungeness Community Church in November where his family has attended for 19 years. He and his wife Branette moved back to Sequim from Southern California after stepping away from full-time ministry due to what he calls a crisis of faith.

Richards, who articulates his story more thoroughly in The Faith Puzzle series now on YouTube, said the only way he could know if his faith was true was not tying his paycheck to exploring for the right answer. So he resigned as a pastor and moved back to Sequim to explore more.

When Dungeness church leaders recently asked him if he’d be interested in following retiring pastor Scott Culver, Richards said he was open to it with a “little trepidation.”

“If you came out of the saddle once and landed hard, you think carefully before you jump back in,” he said.

“I was open but I needed to know it was God’s timing and not me trying to push myself into something.”

Friends and family told him it seemed like a natural transition, but Richards said it felt weird to consider full-time ministry again.

“I was happy with where I was and what I was doing,” he said. “I wasn’t trying to make that happen. I wasn’t expecting the church to ask me to come and fill the role. But of course I was humbled, honored.”

Between stints in full-time ministry, he founded NorthWest Supply, Inc., which liquidates medical and scientific assets, and invented The MixMizer™ which has sold more than 2 million units and can be found in automotive stores nationwide.

His crisis of faith has been resolved for quite a while, he said, and he feels his time in the business world helped him learn to live his faith in the marketplace.

When asked what’s changed in him over that span, Richards said he’s older now with a whole new set of experiences than in his late 20s and early 30s.

“I also spent 20 years being an entrepreneur, which gives me an awareness and credibility with people that when talking about the gospel has real world applications for people and isn’t just something for church,” he said.

New ground

The transition from taking a seat in the congregation on Sundays to being the lead pastor has flowed well, Richards said.

“The staff and leadership team really allowed me to fulfill the role and take the lead. I appreciate that,” he said.

Going into the pastoring role, Richards said whatever the church does next, it’s important they do it as a team and what Dungeness Community Church does specifically, Richards wants to make sure they keep doing it well.

“We can always find a new program or event to do,” he said. “Rather than doing more, we should make sure we’re doing the most important things well … Are we doing lots and lots of things a little bit or do we do a few things really well?”

Richards says he’s still taking it though transitioning to being a pastor again.

He is encouraged by the number of young families coming to the church because it’s “about passing on our faith and helping our next generation grow in faith.”

“We’re in a unique opportunity for an older generation to involve themselves in the lives of the next generation,” he said. “We’ve got kids growing up without parents and have grandparents raising kids. People are struggling.”

That younger generation, he says, can relate to people in their 30s and 40s, too.

“You don’t have to be wealthy or successful, you just have to take an interest in this younger person and to recognize the value and impact they can have in someone’s life,” Richards said.

“I think it’s about making a real difference and not just allowing ourselves to be satisfied with a retirement mentality,” he said.

Richards is the third lead pastor at Dungeness Community Church in its history after Neil Smith and Culver. He and his wife have four grown children and two grandchildren.

For more information about Dungeness Community Church, call 683-7333 or visit www.dcchurch.org.