When you were five, did you know what you wanted to be when you grew up? Me either, but Pastor Gary Liker did. He knew God was calling him to work in ministry, and that’s exactly what he has done with his life. Born and raised in Chetek, Wisconsin, Gary went to college at Saint Scholastica in Duluth before attending seminary at Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Missouri.
While Pastor Liker is new to Nerstrand United Methodist Church and St. John’s United Church of Christ, he is not new to ministry. Gary has served in ten other churches since completing seminary. He’s worked in Roseau, Ellendale, Geneva, Barnum, Minneapolis, Bloomington, Pequot Lakes, Stanton, and finally Cannon Falls. Pastor Liker has followed God’s calling all over our great state of Minnesota.
With years of education behind him including a double major in Youth Ministry and Religious Studies, Gary’s goal as a pastor is to lead people to God and to bring God to whomever he can throughout the communities he serves. His favorite scripture is 1 Corinthians, Chapter 13, known as the love chapter. Gary shared, “In our troubled and chaotic world, we need to focus on love instead of hate and this chapter in 1 Corinthians shows us a way to do that. We all need love in our lives.”
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
(New International Version Bible, 2011, 1 Cor. 13:4-7)
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
(New International Version Bible, 2011, 1 Cor. 13:13)
Pastor Liker enjoys his work, but he also loves spending time with his family including his grandsons. He enjoys traveling, cooking, and golf (regular and mini). Gary has also been known to dress up as Batman for Halloween.
If you’d like to meet Pastor Gary, you can attend service at Nerstrand UMC at 9:00 AM or St. John’s UCC at 10:30 AM on Sunday mornings. He hopes to see you there.
