Jerry Pollard will give his farewell adress Sunday. (Courtesy photo)

After 18 years as the pastor of Gateway Church, Jerry Pollard will be delivering his final sermon on Sunday. Prior to serving as pastor, he and his wife Jane had been members of the church, and Jerry was on its board of directors.

Pollard graduated from California State University, Chico with a degree in business administration and an emphasis in accounting. He worked in business for 20 years in accounting, management and executive management, but he eventually saw the need to take a new path.

“As I got into my 40s, I felt like ‘You know, I would like to get into full-time Christian ministry,’” he said. “I had some gifts and things I could bring there.”

Pollard served in a ministry position at Gateway until the pastor left for another ministry, and he became elevated to that position.

“People said, ‘Hey, you’re like the perfect minister, we’re looking for a pastor so why don’t you just stay here?’” he said. “We were able to stay in the church with the people that we knew and in Benicia in the town that we love.”

As pastor, Pollard has taken his role outside the church and looked at ways to benefit the community at large. During his tenure, Pollard has served as a member of the Oversight Committee of The Healing Flow in Vallejo, a member of the Benicia Youth Action Coalition and one of the original committee members of Benicia High School’s Every 15 Minutes program, an educational event aimed at discouraging teenagers from drinking and driving.

Pollard also founded the Chaplaincy Program at the Benicia Police Department, in which volunteers comfort families who have experienced tragic events. Pollard has said he wants to continue in this program as a volunteer.

Additionally, Pollard was a mentor at Liberty High School. He also constructed a building behind the church to be used as a space for youth ministry. The building ended up not being used for that purpose, but when Barbara Gervase, the president of the Kyle Hyland Foundation for Teen Support was looking for space to house a new teen center, Pollard allowed her to use it. The building has been home to the Hyland Teen Center since January.

“The thing about ministry that’s the favorite is helping people,” Pollard said. “Sometimes when you’re in ministry, whether you’re dealing with people who have experienced a great loss or other things going on in their life, you need a place where you can help them. You can’t solve everything, but you can be there and be a help to them.”

After 18 years of serving his community as pastor, Pollard was ready to move on.

“You get to a point in your life where it’s time to be free to do other things,” he said. “I have my own business, and my business was taking more and more of my time. It just felt like I needed to spend more time there. When you work in ministry for a long time, there gets to be a time when you need to spend it on someone else.”

Pollard has two businesses. The first is Professional Bookkeeping Services, which deals in bookkeeping, accounting and tax preparation. The other is Pollard and Co. which provides business consulting and public speaking.

“Initially I will be focusing on my business ventures,” he said. “I’m open to other ministry opportunities or other ways to serve God.”

The Pollards will remain in Benicia. Pollard will be delivering his last message to the congregation at 10 a.m., Sunday, May 22. The public is invited to attend this address at Gateway Church, located at 1315 Military West. A potluck reception in the fellowship hall will follow.

For more information, call the church at 745-5683 or email office@gatewaybenicia.com.

Sharing is caring!