Founder of a church in Stockton, Pastor Nelson Rabell-Gonzalez will also be spending part of his time in Escalon, having been called to serve at Saron Lutheran Church.
He spent almost 14 years in New Jersey serving a church, in South Jersey near Philadelphia, and then moved to California where he first was an associate pastor in Lodi.
“I have a church that I founded in Stockton, a Spanish-speaking congregation,” Rabell-Gonzalez said of his current church, which he started about three years ago. “We meet at 12:30 p.m. and Saron meets at 9:30 a.m.”
After Saron’s former pastor, Callie Torres, answered a call for a church in Florida, the local congregation was served by both Pastor Rabell-Gonzalez and a retired pastor, the two alternating duties there. Rabell-Gonzalez would preach the first, third and when there was one, the fifth Sunday, with the retired pastor taking the helm the second and fourth Sundays.
Beginning last September, Rabell-Gonzalez was able to move in to a 25 percent service commitment to Saron, with 75 percent time devoted to his church in Stockton. He said Pastor Callie was both a friend and colleague so he was happy to be able to help Saron during its time without an official pastor.
“Now I will be half and half,” Rabell-Gonzalez explained of splitting time between Escalon and Stockton. “As time developed, being welcomed here in the church, very nice people and they liked, I guess, what I was saying and what I was doing … they considered to call me as their pastor.”
Rabell-Gonzalez knew, though, that he couldn’t leave his Stockton congregation.
“Along the way, we decided to have like a half call, 50 percent of my time is here, 50 percent is with the other congregation.”
And while he has been preaching on a semi-regular basis at Saron for months, he will be ‘official’ in the local pulpit as of the Sunday, Aug. 10 service.
“This has been a good experience,” the pastor said, noting that his longtime church in New Jersey was in a relatively small community, more suburban than Saron, but with similarities to the rural setting of Escalon.
Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Rabell-Gonzles studied at a seminary in Philadelphia and then returned to pastor a church in Puerto Rico for a few years before moving back to Philadelphia and working with the church in New Jersey.
He has been in California for eight years and this past June, celebrated 23 years in the ministry. He is married with two children and the family also has a dog; his wife is a dentist in Sacramento, his son attends UCLA and his daughter is at Delta Community College, hoping to transfer to a UC somewhere in the state.
Rabell-Gonzalez said he has been participating with the local congregation not only on Sundays, but also as part of a retreat and getting involved with the Escalon Fun Bunch on occasion, which is supported in part by Saron.
“Of course, visiting people who are sick, or in the hospital, and just getting to know people,” Rabell-Gonzales said. “At quarter time, doing Bible study, prayer group is somewhat limited but hopefully now starting August, I will be giving more time to the church.”
He plans to get involved with the Escalon Ministerial Association as well.
And though it wasn’t necessarily a surprise, Rabell-Gonzalez said the reception he has received here is appreciated.
“The welcoming, Lutheran churches tend to be families, my congregation in New Jersey was the same way,” he said of Saron. “I have found it to be very open and supportive; they really respect my experience and what I bring to the table.”
He also hopes to bring his two congregations together for some events and said his church in Stockton was “very supportive” of his service to Escalon, voting in favor of ‘sharing’ him with the local congregation.
“I’m excited about the ministry, about the possibilities,” Rabell-Gonzalez said. “Hopefully Saron can continue to grow and be a presence here.”
