Boggs is new pastor at Evangelical Covenant
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| The Rev. Derek Boggs serves as the new pastor of the Evangelical Covenant Church in Princeton. Boggs and his family moved to Princeton in mid-summer to assume pastoral duties at the church. The congregation is a welcoming group of people and authentic in their faith, he said. (BCR photo/Amanda Workman) |
PRINCETON — Relating to people and helping them grow in their spiritual lives are the life passions of the Rev. Derek Boggs, the new pastor at the Evangelical Covenant Church in Princeton.
“I like helping people grapple with meaning in life,” Boggs said. “I like bringing God, which can sometimes be an abstract, far-off idea for some people, into the realities of daily life. I do that in preaching, teaching, counseling, just talking with people.”
Sometimes people think they are too busy to go to church or to give much thought to their spiritual lives, but that’s a mistake, Boggs said.
“Busyness is a way of life for Americans, but I think it also is a way for us to avoid thinking about the deeper questions of life,” Boggs said. “I would encourage people to lay aside some of their busyness and to make a little time to reflect on their spiritual needs, which we all have.”
The Evangelical Covenant Church, located at 24 N. Main St., is a great place to do that searching, Boggs said.
“The church is welcoming. There’s an authenticity about this group of people, an honesty about human struggles,” the pastor said. “We aren’t trying to be perfect or trying to browbeat people with religion. We are trying to invite them into a grace-filled journey of finding out who they are supposed to be.”
Originally from Dayton, Ohio, Boggs was raised in a Christian home and spent four years as a child in Japan with his missionary parents. After high school, Boggs attended college to become an English teacher, but midway, he felt God pulling him away from teaching and into the full-time ministry.
After graduating from Wright State University with a degree in English, Boggs attended and graduated from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts. For the past several years, he served as an associate pastor in Gloucester, Mass.
Boggs said he enjoyed serving as associate pastor, but there came the time when he felt he should be doing more preaching and teaching.
With about five weeks under his pastoral belt in Princeton, Boggs said he’s definitely enjoying himself and appreciates being part of a congregation who care for each other and for their community.
The 9 a.m. Sunday church service is a blended service with both traditional hymns and contemporary music, Boggs said. There is a large cross section of ages in the congregation, from children to active 90-year-olds. The goal is to incorporate different styles of worship to try to meet the needs of all the different ages, the pastor said.
However, church is so much more than just going to a service on Sunday mornings, he added.
“God calls us to a full life, and He wants to help us make sense of the daily things we encounter, in our families, our workplaces, our communities,” Boggs said. “I would encourage people to find a way to be still, even though the whole culture fights against it, to ask those questions that need to be asked. It’s worth the investment.”
Boggs and his wife, Jessica, live in Princeton. They are the parents of Levi, 2, and a daughter, who is due to be born in early September.
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