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New associate pastor at Rimbey Nazarene Church

Associate pastor enjoying Rimbey
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Reginald Lartec the new associate pastor at the Rimbey Nazarene Church. Lartec joins Pastor Grant Rainey at the church. Treena Mielke Photo

Reginald Lartec, the new associate pastor at the Rimbey Nazarene Church, grew up in the Philippines, in a small town which he recalled as being similar in size to this community.

Growing up in a small community helped him adjust to Rimbey fairly quickly, he said.

“It’s pretty much like home here,” he said.

As a young man Lartec was encouraged by an aunt to attend Bible School in the Philippines. The teachings at the Bible School touched his heart and led him down the path of serving God as a pastor.

“I got converted in the Nazarene Bible College in 2003. After my conversion, the Lord’s touch in my life was so immense that I felt He was calling me to pastoral ministry, so I changed my program from education to theology.

He started out his calling as a minister in the Philippines in a small church with a dirt floor.

“It was a two to three hours hike from the highway to the village. There was no electricity and we had a combination of empty containers and tins as our drum set and an almost dilapidated guitar.”

From 2010 to 1012 he lived and worked in Thailand.

Lartec came to Canada in 2013 and studied for his Master of Divinity at Ambrose University.

In 2016 he was called to pastor at the Forst Saskatchewan Church of the Nazarene.

Lartec moved to Rimbey Aug. 1 with his wife, Ria and their two-year-old daughter, Soleah.

While in Rimbey he will focus on discipleship and community outreach and also plans to offer the Alpha Course which is an invitation to the community to come and explore their faith together.

“It’s open to everyone,” he said. “It just gives people a chance to converse about faith and dialogue with others. It’s a very good program.”

Lartec said he always felt in his heart that he was called to do cross-cultural ministry outside his country, but not as far as Canada.

But obviously God had other plans for him and he is happy to be in Rimbey doing the ministry he was called to do.