Leadership

Rhianna Pierre

Pasadena, Rose City Church

Briefly describe your testimony of coming to Christ…

I came to Christ through a beautiful series of people and experiences that I believe allowed me to encounter God. My dad had me baptized as a baby in the Lutheran church and we attended various churches on and off all throughout my life. Growing up in a divorced home, I never had a strong church community or connection; however, I believe that these experiences from my childhood were a foundational part of my faith. Later on in high school I became friends with a group of individuals who were dedicated to Christ and I started to feel a hunger for that same kind of commitment and love for the gospel. My junior year I ended up transferring to a Christian high school and it was that Easter that I fully gave my life to Christ. I remember from a young age praying and having a sense that God was real, but it was this time in high school that I feel really drew me to the saving love of Christ.

Briefly describe your understanding of God’s calling on your life…

It was the year after I graduated from Westmont that I began to feel a pastoral call over my life. I remember doing a lectio divina one evening and all of these painful moments I had experienced throughout my life began to flood in. It was then that I felt the Lord say, “You, the one that should believe that love fails, will tell the world of my unfailing love.” Therefore, I believe that my ultimate call is to open myself to the ways in which God will use me to invite others in to the relentless and radical love of God. I currently work at Azusa Pacific University in the student activities office and specifically with commuter student services and programming. I believe that this role affords me the opportunity to live this call out with the many students that I get to engage with whether that be through services and event programming that enhances their holistic thriving, the spiritual and leadership development of my student staff, occasional speaking and preaching opportunities, or through serving on the universities’ care team that allows me to support students in times of need. I see my call being a bridge builder between the academy and church settings, as both are dear to my heart and passions.

How did you come to the Free Methodist Church?

I came the Free Methodist Church my senior year of college at Westmont in Santa Barbara. My Residence Director and mentor at the time attended the church and brought our staff one Sunday. I remember finally feeling like I found a place that valued the kinds of things that I thought Jesus probably valued. Things that stood out to me were the denomination’s five freedoms and the fact that we embrace an open table for communion. I also saw the church living out the call to love the city of Santa Barbara through intentional engagement and justice work.