Hello, my name is Alan Riley.

 

I was born in Rapid City, South Dakota in August of 1982.  I grew up an only Child, and yet, I have two half siblings.  I was adopted when I was 10 days old, and reconnected with my birth Mother, half - brother and half - sister in 2020. More on that part later. 

 

My father worked in the National Park Service for 41 years, and my mother worked in odd jobs where ever we lived.  Being a kid in the National Park, I got to see some amazing country and go to some breathtaking parts of the country, from Mount Rushmore, to Mesa Verde, to Blue Mesa, and the Gila Cliff dwellings.  

 

Most of my life, I spent in Gunnison Colorado.  I grew up, and still am a huge 49er fan, and love the Colorado Rockies, and the Avalanche.  I was active in High School sports, played football and even went to state in wrestling my senior year. 

 

I lived a life where I knew who Christ was, who God was and all the things that would make up a proper Christian.  My Sundays where filled with going the Episcopal church with my family, participate in the things that I could (Alter Boy, Scripture Reading, etc.).  All of this had some impact in my life, I was beginning to sense who Christ was in my life and how salvation, grace, repentance and forgiveness all where within Him.  Yet my Spiritual walk/ journey came to a stoppage when I was 13.

 

This was the age that I found out that I was adopted.    My biological parents could not take on the responsibilities of raising a child at this point in their lives, so out of the two options that was there, adoption was the road they took, and I became a Riley 10 days after I was born.  I am very thankful for the decisions that where made before I was born, and have worked through a lot of emotions over the last 4 years, yet at the time, I had a different viewpoint.

 

Once this news sunk in, I rebelled, to the point where I was not interested in a life walking with Christ.  I was angry, thoughts that God had made a mistake, that if I was not worth the investment or the love from my Birth Parents, why would Christ love me?  I became hard to deal with during this stage in my life, from school work to dealing with my adoptive parents, I was stubborn.  Losing the one figure in my life during this time in my Grandfather and not being able to go to His funeral or understand why God took someone else from me didn’t help.  I distanced myself from the relationships that meant the most.  Never fully turning my back on God, but never really investing any time or energy either.

 

I wandered in the world for a good 10-12 years. Made my way through Culinary School as a drifter, achieving my associate and bachelor’s degree in Culinary management, and worked as a chef in dozens of restaurants.  

 

Yet it was in this time, that God’s hand started to bring me back into focus and I began to see His love.  In this drifting time, I meet my future wife, Iva.  We hit it off immediately, moved in with each other and began living out a “normal secular” relationship.  In this time, we became pregnant, wrapped our heads around becoming parents, and then had a miscarriage.  This strengthened our relationship to where we grew up a bit.  Several years later God worked on us again, blessing us with our first son Devan, born May 2nd, 2009.  

 

It was in this moment that we both started to talk about faith, God, church, religion again.  We both felt God’s presence enough in our lives, and realized that we were drawn to go to church and be a part of something bigger than us.  

 

We did this for a while, but our hearts where not into it and we still where not ready to commit our lives to Christ.  We thought we knew what was best for our lives and how it was supposed to be.  Through our own journeys and wanderings, we moved from Denver, Colorado to Bend, Oregon to be closer to family.  My Uncle and Aunt had a baby boy, who was Devan’s age and we were convinced that we were done with kids, so it would be a great idea for the boys to grow up like brothers. Man, how God works and smiles on the plans of man.  

 

2013 comes along, and as luck would have it, Iva becomes pregnant, and in December 19th of that same year, we have our youngest son, Connor.  Yet again we are faced with a whole new life changing decision.  Yet during it all, Iva and I sat down and talked about faith again, and Gods calling in my life.  There was something on my heart that I could not ignore anymore.  Christ had allowed me to wander and used the events to showcase that I had a family that loved me for who I was.  God was telling me that, as much as my bloodline was important, my family was bigger than my bloodline.  God was my father, and the church was my family, that I was grafted into and He was showing me that I had a purpose in.

 

As I shared this with Iva, and my desire to be in the church, but more than a Sunday Christian, I told her that I felt God was calling me to become a Servant of Christ, a Pastor.  Without missing a beat, she said now was the time to answer the call, because she was not looking forward to having a 3rd child and a 3rd conversation about answering His Call.  

 

As I wrestled with it, prayed about it, the realization was clear.  God loved me enough to put me in places and with people that were able and willing to Love me for me.  He was letting me see even if I felt I was given up on, I was grafted into families that loved me.  My adoption parents loved me as their own, and Christ did too.  I gave my heart to Christ several days after my conversation with Iva, and I submitted to the understanding that I was to become a Pastor in the Church.  

 

I began my educational journey at Nazarene Bible College, and then transferred my credits to NNU, and achieved my Master’s Degree in Pastoral Ministry in 2019.  In this time, I started my journey in the ministry process at a Nazarene Church in Redmond, Oregon, where I became an associate Pastor, working with my lead Pastor to do whatever was necessary.  

 

On Easter Sunday, 2019, we transferred church’s, to Culver, Oregon, so we could learn from a ministry couple who were both ordained and pastoring the church there.  This is where my wife began her official walk in the ministry program, gaining her local license, and becoming district licensed in early 2020.  

 

In March of 2020, I became the Lead Pastor at the Culver Church of the Nazarene, as our mentors where called into the mission field.  This process of becoming a Lead Pastor gave me the understanding to lean on God in all times, and to seek out His will during all seasons. Over the next 4 years, I got to see Christ at work, and a community come together in His name.   

 

In early 2024, Iva and I began sensing God put on us a sense of change.  As we processed that and looked towards Him to guide us in what that meant, we found Bamberg church of the Nazarene and gained a sense that this was home.  Over the course of the next 6 months, as we walked with the church through the interview process, the confirmation that this was the change that He was calling us to have was more evident, and we moved to South Carolina in late September to have our first service on the 29th of September.  

 

Looking back, seeing how God has shown me grace, and love I am humbled to serve in ways that glorify Him.  As we begin our Journey here in Bamberg, we are excited to see the Lord at work, and desire to be active in His kingdom, community, and everywhere that He has us be.