Rich Kelly

I’m a retired Middle School science teacher. We moved to Monterey when I retired in the summer of 2017 and discovering All things New Church was like a breath of fresh air. I served as a Pastor in the Covenant Church for a decade in a small town church in the Central Valley. Nancy and I moved there 6 weeks after our wedding and stayed until 2017. We have two children and now have only cats left from the menagerie we cared for when the kids lived at home. I enjoy woodworking and reading interspersed with being a volunteer at Asilomar, the Aquarium and Pt. Lobos.

I grew up in a very troubled church and heard very little that was good news, but during High School became involved in the Jesus movement in Southern California. After falling into and out of the Church I went to Fuller Seminary and earned an M. Div. After pastoring a difficult congregation my faith was shaky for quite a while, until finally God broke through my resistance and became very real to me.

Being in nature, especially near the ocean, allows me to feel connected to our Creator and aware of his great power. Worship and especially music are very meaningful to me. ATN has encouraged me to ground my faith and find ways to seek justice in a difficult world.

Discovering resilience has been a near constant stream in my life. I’m happy knowing that God has a tenacious hold on my life and on my heart. I look forward to building rapport with others and walking with them as God takes hold of them as well.

During Covid I’d prefer to meet electronically, after Covid I’ll look forward to meeting 1 on 1.