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| Our Ministers |
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Minister of the Church in the Forest: the Rev. Dr. William B. Rolland |
 I have had the happy experience of being the minister at the Church in the Forest for the past twelve years. I have to say it has been the best experience of my professional life. A former associate, while visiting me in Pebble Beach, remarked that when I die and go to Heaven from Pebble Beach, I'm simply going to make a lateral move!
My ministry began in Falkirk, Scotland and later included a teaching post in a theological college in Manchester, England. After ten years in the "ivory tower," I began to miss the life of the local church. My re-entry into serving as a minister was in one of the toughest parts of the greater Manchester area. Later I had the opportunity to pursue doctoral studies in Minneapolis, Minnesota, specializing in the area of Thanatology (the understanding and assisting of people going through grief). I put this education to use at Abbott Northwestern Hospital and afterwards took a position as associate minister at Westminster Presbyterian Church in downtown Minneapolis; it was there that I found my Scottish home in America. After a church posting in the East Bay in California, I accepted the position of minister at the Church in the Forest on the campus of Stevenson School in Pebble Beach, where I also serve as chaplain, teacher and counselor.
My family consists of my wife, Annah, and between us we share five wonderful grown children, one grandson and another on the way. I come to the task of ministry wherever it is: a wedding ceremony, hospital call, preaching, memorial services or church administration. I can be who I am because of WHOSE I am.
I am a collector of clocks and other antiques, enjoy philately, golf, gardening and working on my 1960 Morris Minor convertible (although my wife is convinced I will never get it done). |
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Associate Minister of the Church in the Forest: the Rev. Charles C. Anker |
 Charles was born into a dairying family in Los Angeles County. His education through high school was obtained at a parochial school. His college years were spent at The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. They were interrupted by the two years he spent as an enlisted man in Korea and Japan. Charles did some graduate work in English at the University of Iowa. He then entered the ministry in the Reformed Church of America matriculating at The New Brunswick Theological Seminary on the Rutgers campus.
Marriage to Barbara Dykstra followed and they together went to Fort Miller, between Saratoga and Glens Falls, on the banks of the Hudson River in New York where he was installed as the pastor of the Fort Miller Reformed Church. While there, their son, Christian Marius, was born. Charles also served as president of the Albany/Schenectady ministerial association. After five years there, the family moved to Kingston, New York, where he was an associate at the 320-year-old Protestant Dutch Reformed Church. The serious illness of Barbara's father prompted their return to California.
Since there were few Reformed Churches in California, through the good graces of his friend, Dr. Paul Woudenberg, Charles was received into the Methodist denomination serving as an associate at St. Paul's Methodist Church in Oxnard, and then as associate at the 2,200 member Methodist Church in Santa Monica where Paul was the senior pastor. Charles continued in Santa Monica for a year after Paul left to become the pastor of The Church of the Wayfarer in Carmel. Charles then joined Paul in Carmel the following year and they worked together for nine years. Charles and Barbara's son, Christian, was stricken and died shortly after their arrival. Upon Paul's retirement and move to The Stevenson School in Pebble Beach, Charles was appointed senior pastor at The Wayfarer. His wife, Barbara, died towards the end of his ministry there. Upon retirement, he filled interim pastor positions in Santa Clara and the Central Valley of California (Lindsay). At the end of his pastorate in Lindsay, Charles married Alida (Ada) Schalkers and joined Dr. Bill Rolland at the Church in the Forest where he serves as an associate. |
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