Rev. Dan Preston will preach his first sermon as interim pastor at Sweet Home Evangelical Church at 9:30 a.m. worship service on Feb. 3.
He is a retired elder of the Pacific Conference of the Evangelical Church.
Pastor Preston was recently appointed at the request of the church’s Pastor-Parish Relations Committee, by Pacific Conference Supt. Vic Slaughter. He will succeed Pastor Terry Medina and will serve until the Annual Conference in July or until a permanent minister is selected
The new pastor served the local congregation as associate pastor from 1978 to 1983. He was pastor of Foster Evangelical Church for five years and then associate pastor at Sodaville Evangelical Church for six years before his retirement.
Pastor Preston began his ministry as an ordained elder of the Free Methodist Church in Southern California in 1955. He served six churches before transferring to the Evangelical denomination in 1985.
He also was an educator and coach for 28 years, the last 13 as a sixth-grade teacher at Oak Heights Elementary.
Pastor Preston was graduated from Illinois Valley High School in Southern Oregon before attending Seattle Pacific College where he met and married Helen, his wife of 48 years. He then completed degrees at Los Angeles Pacific College and Azusa Pacific University. Mrs. Preston also completed a bachelor’s degree at Azusa Pacific and was a kindergarten and first-grade teacher until her retirement.
They have three children. Larry is a Mid-Valley building contractor living in Albany. He is married to Kristin, an environmental engineer.
Gary and his wife, Christine, serve with Good Shepherd Ministries and the Joyce Meyers Foundation. They will move next month to the Isle of Cypress to help expand the ministry in Asia and Africa.
Daughter, Connie Trask, is married to Dave, a lifetime Sweet Home resident and lineman with CenturyTel. She is an interpreter for the deaf and works at Sweet Home High School and teaching sign language at Linn-Benton Community College. They have two daughters, Cori, a customer service representative with CenturyTel, and Kaci, a senior at Sweet Home High School.
The Prestons, 24-year Sweet Home residents, enjoy family gatherings and activities, reading, traveling and RV camping. Pastor Preston also enjoys sporting events while Mrs. Preston enjoys gardening, genealogy and music.