Hello, and thank you for visiting my site! I’m Scott LaPierre, the senior pastor of Woodland Christian Church, a Regional Facilitator over WA and OR for The National Center for Family-Integrated Churches, an author, and conference speaker.
Katie—My Wonderful Wife
Katie is my best friend. We grew up together in McArthur, which is in the mountains of northern California. We went to high school together, but remained only friends. Ironically, we went on a date once, but Katie was with my friend, and I was with her friend. Neither of us were Christians at the time.
Ten years after graduation, Katie and I reconnected. We found out the other had become a Christian, and soon we started talking regularly. At the time Katie was in our hometown while I was teaching in Lemoore, CA. Katie moved down to be near me, living with our pre-marital counselors, Pat and Kathy Mundy, until we married in 2005.
Tremendous Mother
Occasionally a function takes Katie away and I try to do her job. Whenever that happens, my appreciation and respect for her soars. I constantly ask, “How does she do this so well every day?”
Great Pastor’s Wife
When I was thinking about marrying Katie, I had a pretty good idea I would be a pastor in the future, which meant I needed a woman who could be a pastor’s wife. She told me she’d been told she should marry a pastor someday.
I couldn’t ask for a better woman to serve the Lord with. She does a great job with hospitality, planning ladies’ events, and is an asset in counseling. She invests in Woodland Christian Church, and especially in the other women. If I wasn’t a pastor, I feel like the church would miss out having her as a pastor’s wife.
Our Children
We have been blessed with eight children that we homeschool…
Work History
During college I went through Army ROTC and was commissioned as an Armor (Tank) Officer upon graduation. After serving in the Army I started teaching elementary school, and coaching football and wrestling. During my second year teaching my brother died of a drug overdose, and soon after that I became a Christian.
After my conversion I quickly developed a passion for studying and teaching God’s Word. My interest in teaching school decreased, and my desire to pastor increased. A part-time youth pastor position became available at a nearby church, Grace Baptist. They hired me, and when the church grew, they brought me on full-time as an associate pastor. I remained there until coming to Washington in 2010 to be the senior pastor of Woodland Christian Church.
Education
My degrees are:
- Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Florida Institute of Technology
- Master of Arts in Education from Chapman University
- Master of Arts in Religion: Biblical Studies from Liberty University
Recreation
I spend most of my time with my home and church families. I love studying and teaching God’s Word. The free time I have is usually committed to reading and writing. Our kids stay busy with church, music, and school.
Writing
I’m a writer today, even though I never wanted to be one. I didn’t like writing in school, and I didn’t enjoy teaching it when I was a schoolteacher. To be clear, I don’t mean I’m a writer because I author books. I became a writer when I started pastoring. Between sermons, emails, bulletins, announcements, and notes for meetings, I spend more time writing than doing anything else in the ministry. You could say my profession forced me to become a writer.
Books
There might be some space between these two extremes, but for simplicity’s sake, let’s say pastors take two approaches with their sermons:
- Abbreviated notes of a few hundred words. Phrases and keywords meant to remind them what to say. This isn’t to say these pastors don’t study. I’m sure they do. But they don’t write out most of what they plan to say.
- Transcripts with thousands of words. This is me. I write out my entire sermon, and go over it with my wife Thursday nights. A wonderful family in our church sends over some kids to watch our kids. We go over the sermon again Saturday morning. I wake up early on Sunday to pray and look over my notes again. Each time I go over my notes I’m refining and polishing them.
My books come from my sermon transcripts, which take twenty-to-thirty hours of work each week. This means each book contains hundreds of hours of study in God’s Word.
Recently I signed with the Blythe Daniel Agency. This is a big move for me from self-publishing to traditional publishing. If you’d like to be part of the publishing journey with me, please join my launch team.
Blog
My blog is typically excerpts from my books. If you enjoy my blog posts, I hope you’ll enjoy my books too!
Conferences and Speaking
After publishing my first book, Marriage God’s Way, I began receiving speaking opportunities. Since I put so much time and energy into my sermons, it’s truly a blessing to get more mileage out of them at speaking events.
For Katie and I both, one of our favorite things to do is travel together and put on conferences. We try to give our lives to the Lord’s service. When we go on vacations, they’re usually scheduled around ministry. Our kids enjoy running my booth and selling my books. I could see a family business in the future.
Let’s Stay in Contact!
Thanks for reading this far! I hope you’ll consider subscribing to my newsletter (below), so we can stay in contact. I know your inbox is already busy, so I’ll do my best to make sure each message is packed with value.
Thank you ahead of time for letting me be part of your life! If I can pray for you in any way, please let me know!
God bless,
Scott LaPierre
