Posted on: Saturday, June 21, 2003

Legislator able to find way back to ministry

By David A. Pendleton

I was in my early 20s.

I had been serving as youth pastor to a group of young people at a rather affluent church in Southern California when I felt that I was to take a different direction in life.

So I left the ministry for law school.

I figured that was the last of it. Those called to the ministry don't leave to become lawyers, I thought.

It must have been that I had mistaken my calling. I probably wasn't meant to serve others in a spiritual capacity.

After several years of work as a plaintiff's attorney, I found myself involved in larger societal issues. How do you achieve justice in a community? What was good public policy? How should we govern ourselves to maximize societal prosperity and ensure that no one gets left behind? These questions went beyond the walls of a courtroom.

Eventually, I found myself in the Legislature. There were those who wondered whether I had truly "lost it."

It is one thing to leave the ministry for law. It is another thing to go beyond that and to enter the rough-and-tumble world of politics.

At that point, there were people who were daily praying for my soul.

And yet I found myself in a place where ministry was needed.

Voting, drafting bills, giving speeches — it wasn't all just about winning. It was first and foremost about doing what was right. In fact, one of the Bible's most passionate prophets reminds us that the Lord requires of us to "do justice" and not just walk with God.

They went together.

Reading Scripture and praying and hanging out with churchgoing people was of little value if it did not change the way you lived among others.

Being a part-time Legislature, we all needed outside jobs. I struggled for a few years with practicing law in the off-session but found the schedules to be in constant conflict. Then out of the blue my denomination called me and brought me on board here in Hawai'i, first as an in-house legal counsel and administrator, and secondly as a pastor of a Windward congregation.

Recently, after several years of pastoring, I was ordained as a minister of the Gospel. At 36, I am quite a bit older than the usual minister would be at ordination.

It's been a circuitous route back to ministry. Without planning, I have come back full circle. And I return with a renewed sense of faith in the providence and faithfulness of God and a stronger commitment to living a faith that matters — that blesses others.

David A. Pendleton is an attorney, Seventh-day Adventist minister, and member of the state House of Representatives.

Expressions of Faith is a column that welcomes written works by leaders in faith and spirituality. E-mail faith@honoluluadvertiser.com or call 525-8035. Articles submitted to The Advertiser may be published or distributed in print, electronic or other forms.