Noah Shepherd was ordained to the gospel ministry and installed as Pastor at San Diego RPC on Saturday 21st November.
Noah was born July 19th, 1991 in Mission Hills, CA. He was born into a churchgoing family and came to profess faith in Christ near his thirteenth birthday. While at a summer camp, he heard a sermon preached on hell, and the Spirit of Christ breathed new life into him. He called on Christ for salvation, realizing the depth of his sin and the righteousness of God to judge him.
From that point on, everything changed. During his high school years, he experienced a period of several years struggling with assurance of salvation. At the end of this period, he came to realize that he had slipped into thinking one’s remaining in Christ lay with one’s own godliness, without him even realizing it. The realization that the promise of remaining in Christ is secure, and therefore so is he, brought him to a deeper understanding of the Gospel and the grace of God. There was much joy!
At age 18, Noah Shepherd received Christian Baptism by Pastor Rick Holland at Grace Community Church. In the following years, Noah prayed for godly friends for deeper Christian fellowship and the Lord answered his prayers by bringing Joey Vitello, Gabriella’s older brother, into his life. He began attending a midweek Bible study at Christ Community Church in Winnetka, CA and experienced a period of spiritual challenges and growth. During this period, Noah became best friends with Gabriella. They were married on 19th August 2016 and now have two children, Samuel and Joel.
Noah felt a call to the pastoral ministry very early on in his Christian life. In pursuit of this calling, he attended Providence Christian College in Pasadena, CA, where he studied Biblical Theology and the Biblical languages. During his years at Providence, he came to embrace Reformed theology, Presbyterian church polity, and the practice of exclusive Psalmody.
Upon recommendation, he applied to Westminster Seminary California and began the MDiv program in the Fall of 2016. Seminary continued to sharpen and challenge Noah theologically. Halfway through the program, Noah came to embrace the distinctives of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, and so transferred his membership from North City Presbyterian Church (PCA) to the San Diego Reformed Presbyterian Church.
Noah has served as an intern there for several years, having been taken under care by the presbytery. He has been examined for licensure to preach, licensure to receive a call, and for ordination by the Pacific Coast Presbytery. The process of examination and care has been a humbling experience of spiritual growth.
Noah is grateful for the pastoring he and his family received from Rev. Mark England throughout the internship and examination process, and for his modeling of love in the pastoral ministry. Noah has received a call to serve as Teaching Elder at the San Diego congregation and having heartily accepted the call, was ordained there last Saturday.
Pray for Noah as he settles into his new role!
