North Coast United Methodist wants to be the hands and feet of Christ

San Diego Reader: How long do you spend preparing your sermon?

Pastor Drew Davis: My sermons are topically based. I usually spend Fridays working on my sermons, but I am daily processing what my sermon will be. Much of my narrative and conversation comes through my visits; I catch things to include in my sermons as I go on my pastoral calls and hear what our dear friends are dealing with in their lives. 

SDR: What is your favorite subject on which to preach?

PD: The necessity of being the hands and feet of Jesus Christ and being active in ministry, going out to people as caregiver. Our church has a focus on interacting with community services as we go out and care in ministry. We work with places like Operation Hope. Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, we do as much community interaction as we can through community services. 

SDR: What is your main concern as a member of the clergy?

PD: How do we present the face of Christ to individuals who have been neglected by the church? My focus recently has been our siblings in the LGBTQ community. There are a lot of dear friends who have felt pushed away from the church and my main concern is personal ministry and faith in displaying Christ’s face to those who are neglected by the church. We address this problem by working with community agencies, and we go and serve and interact as the hands and feet of Christ, providing extra care. 

SDR: What is the mission of your church?

PD: We are a community of people who have experienced God’s agape love and we want to share it with as many people as possible and in as many ways as possible. We feel there is nothing that separates an individual from God’s grace—nothing. 

SDR: Why United Methodist?

PD: That was a journey within itself. I grew up Southern Baptist, and I was dealing in college with some exclusionary behavior of my fellow Christians that I could not justify within my spirit. My best friend in college’s dad was a United Methodist minister. I started talking to him and told him I didn’t like some things I that saw and I felt a need to go out and be with people. He explained to me that John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, saw the world as his parish. That made sense to me. So, I found the United Methodist Church through my best friend’s dad. 

SDR: Where do you go when you die?

PD: I don’t care. My journey is so much about being present in the moment that I don’t think about what’s next. God proved that it’s more important to be present in the moment when he put on flesh and became Jesus Christ. I believe whole-heartedly in a God who could have snapped his fingers and removed sin; but God decided to put on flesh and experience living here on earth. I don’t think about what happens next, but only of being present to touch souls in the moment. When a congregant asks me that question, I say that God holds such a boundless grace for us that he cannot be limited in the reward. Grace, I tell them, has to be experienced through our being.  

Contact: 1501 Kelly St., Oceanside 760-439-4099 www.northcoastumc.org

Membership: 100 (Attendance: 45-50)

Pastor: Drew Davis

Age: 49

Born: Martinsville, VA

Formation: Virginia Intermont College, Bristol, VA (closed in 2014); Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena 

Years Ordained: 16