Nehemiah and Avon Torberson

Assistant Pastor at Greater Waco Baptist Church

Posted On: 

May 03, 2019

Graduating Year: 
2009

“My times are in thy hand…”

This phrase that David prayed in Psalm 31:15 has really become a defining reality and joy for my life and ministry.

When I arrived at WCBC, I had limited God’s call on my life to one thing—pastoring in the Midwest, preferably my beloved home state of South Dakota. By my sophomore year, God had tendered my heart to other possibilities, and one of my mentors at LBC, who is now with the Lord, told me, “You really should pray about going to work with a pastor, and staying with him for a long time.”

In the summer of 2007, God allowed me to intern with Pastor Gerald McKelroy at the Willamette Valley Baptist Church in Aumsville, OR. By the end of that summer, I knew that was where God was leading me, and after graduation, my wife and I joined the staff there. In 2010, God called us to move with our pastor to Waco, TX and continue working with him there at the Greater Waco Baptist Church.

During our time here in Waco, God has allowed us to serve in many various and changing capacities on this staff. I joke with people that my staff position is the designated “Hey, you!” but that’s the way I have learned to like it. My favorite two teachers at WCBC never taught in the classroom, but they shaped my ministry mindset more than any who did. Brother EJ Johnson and Brother Earl Husband taught me every day that joy in the ministry isn’t found in what area or position you serve the Lord but in the fact that you get to serve the Lord.

I currently serve as an Assistant Pastor and Chaplain for the Mclennan County Sheriff’s Office. My wife serves in the church office as Pastor’s Secretary and is heavily involved in the various music ministries of the church and school. Our two boys, Jake and Caleb, are 4 and 2.

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