This Oregon Adventist Story was originally published in the Sabbath issue of the Gladstone Camp Meeting 2023 Gladstone Gazette. We wish Pastor Greg all the best as he embarks on the next phase of his ministry.

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"I've learned a lot in dealing with people,” says Pastor Greg Brothers. “I think probably one of the biggest things I’ve learned is that, in many ways as a pastor, you have to be the referee for people more than anything else.”

After pastoring in Montana, working at Pacific Press, and studying history at the University of Idaho, Greg found his way to local church ministry in the Oregon Conference in 1997. “Pastoring in Lincoln City, I found myself doing a lot of the things I swore I would never do—a building project, teaching high school, things like that,” he said. “We did that for a long time. My wife worked as what was essentially the Minister of Music at the local Lutheran church, so between those things most people in town knew us one way or the other.” 

Greg served the Lincoln City Church and school for over two decades before transitioning to the Astoria and Seaside area during the pandemic. Recently, he announced his retirement from pastoral ministry at the end of August as he and his wife relocate to Walla Walla, where he will be teaching history, government, and philosophy at Walla Walla University this next school year.

Camp meeting Gladstone Gazette readers may recognize Greg’s name from his annual column, “Camp Meeting Chronicle,” which he has been writing nearly 10 years. When I asked Greg “What’s something important you’ve learned over the years?” he told me, “If you stick around long enough, things tend to come around again. You deal with each situation now, or you’re going to deal with it later—and even if you deal with it now you’re probably going to deal with it again, anyway!”

“The people are the most important part of ministry,” says Greg. “They’re the most worthwhile, and certainly the most frustrating. But the people—the friends we’ve made, the people that we were able to be there for, and how they were able to be there for us—are what I will miss the most.”

If you see Greg before he finishes up this month, be sure to thank him for his years of friendship and ministry here in the Oregon Conference. While things won’t be the same without him around during camp meeting, we know that the students of Walla Walla are about to meet a great teacher, mentor, and friend!