Rev. Roger Wagner, Retiring Pastor
Pastor Wagner has been an ordained minister of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church for 40 years, serving the Bayview congregation since 1983.
He was born and raised in Southern California. He became a Christian in high school as a result of hearing the gospel in the Christian school he attended. Upon graduation in 1966, he traveled to Santa Barbara where he attended Westmont College, graduating in 1970, with a B.A. in English.
He then made his way across the country to Philadelphia, where he began a course of study at Westminster Theological Seminary. Initially, he had no intention to enter the pastorate, but God had other plans. A planned one-year stay extended into three as he began to sense God’s calling toward a pulpit and shepherding ministry.
Meantime, he married his high school sweetheart, Sherry, in 1971. After graduation from seminary in 1970 (M.Div), he received a call to a small Orthodox Presbyterian Church congregation in Sonora, in California’s western Sierra foothills’ “Gold Country.” During his ten-year ministry in Sonora, he and Sherry were blessed with their three children.
In the fall of 1983, Pastor Roger was called to become the pastor of the Bayview congregation, where he has now served for 35 years as a preacher, pastoral counselor, and teacher.
“Caring for the Bayview congregation over so many years has been a rich and rewarding experience. A lot of families have come and gone during that time, but, with some families, I am well into the second generation now. Helping feed and strengthen God’s people of all ages as they grow toward maturity in Christ is my greatest joy as a Christian and a pastor.”
Since 2004, Pastor Roger and a team from the church travel during the summer to the Czech Republic, where they conduct an evangelistic family camp for Czechs who wish to improve their conversational English. There he has the privilege of preaching the saving message of Christ to many who might not otherwise hear it.
He has especially enjoyed his ministry of preaching and teaching God’s Word in the church. In 1998, he was awarded a Doctorate of Ministry degree in preaching from Westminster Seminary in California.
As a result of his studies for that degree, he published a book on the apostolic preaching in the Book of Acts entitled, Tongues Aflame (Mentor, 2004). He has also published numerous periodical articles and contributed several chapters on worship and the life of the church for a book called Back to Basics: Rediscovering the Richness of the Reformed Faith (Presbyterian & Reformed, 1996).
He and his wife Sherry raised their three children in Chula Vista, and now enjoy visiting their families, including nine grandchildren, scattered from Chula Vista to Washington, D.C.
Jason Vartanian, Associate Pastor
Jason currently serves as the associate pastor of Bayview. He and his wife Caitlin are coastal southern California natives and have been serving together in ministry for ten years, taking them from Encinitas to the UK and back to San Diego. They have three young children (Samuel, Jane, and Betty), love great food and the beach, and live in Eastlake. Jason studied at Calvary Chapel Bible College, holds an MDiv from Westminster Seminary California, and is wrapping up a PhD in New Testament from Cambridge University.