Pastor Earl Lane has returned to the ministry after working in his own business of cleaning houses from the outside in by painting and cleaning.
Pastor Earl is following his call to help others after being appointed pastor of the White Salmon United Methodist Church (UMC).
He received his call to the ministry while attending Wesleyan College in Owensboro, Ky., and attended Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Mo., where he made the acquaintance of Pastor Samantha Weir -- former pastor at White Salmon UMC.
After pastoring several churches in Kentucky and Kansas and working as Hospice and hospital chaplains, he became self-employed in 1999 and ran his own business in property maintenance.
Pastor Weir encouraged him to return to the ministry and he became affiliated with the White Salmon UMC and soon became the part-time pastor of Lyle UMC while continuing to operate his own business.
When word came that Pastor Bonnie Frey was retiring from the ministry at White Salmon UMC, the Pacific Northwest Conference of the UMC appointed Pastor Lane to the full-time position.
For the next few months, he will continue to pastor to the Lyle congregation at 8:45 a.m. and to White Salmon at the regular worship time of 10:30 on Sunday mornings.
Pastor Lane is already well-known in White Salmon and is full of energy as he reaches out to the community.
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