• Following graduation from Covenant Seminary in 1975, I had two brief pastorates at Dodge, North Dakota, and at Waterloo, Illinois - both churches were in the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod. After two rough and discouraging experiences, we moved to Everett, Wa. in the Summer of 1979 where I took on secular employment in which I continued for 37 years until my retirement in 2017.

• From Summer, 1979 to the Spring of 1992, as first a borrowed elder and then, after 1982, as an Associate Pastor of Lake Stevens Presbyterian Church. My ministry included:
  • Preaching occasionally, at least monthly from 1991.
  • Developing and teaching adult classes (Bible and topical) every year.
  • Serving on the church session as an elder and as stated clerk for many years.
  • Contributing to our summer vacation Bible school programs - Directing, assisting, storytelling, doing elaborate decoration, and creating contests and dramatic gospel presentations.
  • Devising and writing four years of vacation Bible school curricula for Mission Church Fellowship.
  • Writing and directing three Christmas productions/ plays.
  • Developing a Parent's Night Out program
  • Serving on the Presbytery's Administration and Christian Education Committees.

• In 1992, Pastor Pickett left. I was not eligible to be considered as a pastoral candidate because of denominational rules (B.O.C.O. 23.1) I made a personal commitment to work to keep the congregation together, not suspecting it would be three and a half years of a "tent making" interim ministry until another pastor was found. This self-supported ministry included preparing worship services and bulletins, arranging speakers, frequent preaching and teaching, and sharing leadership and oversight of the congregation with a session of one to three elders, while coping with the demands of a grocery store work schedule that usually had me working six "days" a week, often getting off at midnight. These efforts have been much appreciated by the congregation and were fruitful despite rough times. The congregation grew stronger, re-organized, and finally called a full-time pastor in the fall of 1995.

• From the Spring of 1992 through the end of 1995, as a volunteer "interim" pastor of Christ Church (formerly Lake Stevens Presbyterian Church, now Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church). I:
  • Preached regularly, once or twice a month.
  • Developed a distinctive worship service around Scriptural themes and coordinated worship service music, contemporary and traditional.
  • Designed attractive bulletins with original computer art on a weekly basis.
  • Served as a part of the ministry team (the elders), in moderating meetings and shared the tasks of caring for the congregation.
  • Prepared and taught a regular adult Bible class on Sunday mornings.
  • Served the Lord's Supper, baptized and counseled and joined in marriage.
  • Served on the pulpit committee for a year.
  • Encouraged and kept the congregation together through adverse circumstances
  • Assisted in the reorganization of the congregation with the help of a church consultant, developing a congregational vision statement, adopting goals, and forming committees to implement goals

• In December of 1995, when Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church finally installed a new Pastor, I resigned as Associate Pastor, and my wife and I spent a year visiting other churches - which was hard for us - but seemed necessary with the changes in ministry. I served as Head Clergy for a Walk to Emmaus, but otherwise took time off from ministry to work on the house and garden, and build my Web site. I explored the possibility of full-time ministry. Eventually however, we gradually returned to the Chapel Hill congregation. After a brief taste of the "empty nest" my two children were again living at home and attending a local community college. I continued at Safeway, now approaching the twenty year mark.

• In the summer of 2000, the pastor of Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church took a sabbatical and resigned as pastor early that fall. The session took on the tasks of carrying on the ministry. It would not be until December of 2004 that a new Pastor would be installed at Chapel Hill. My involvement in this interim period was different - as an Assistant Pastor, I was not a member of Session - my ministry was mostly teaching and some preaching, but frequently I served communion. With a daughter on the mission field in Hungary, and my own trips to Uganda - my wife and I became increasingly involved in missions.

  • Eldrbarry's Story Telling Page has proved quite popular (with around 40,000 hits a month), and my Online VBS materials have been used by a quite a few congregations and ministries. It is being maintained and expanded.
  • I took over teaching responsibilites for Adult Sunday School in the fall of 1997 and continued in that responsibility. I have researched and taught Adult classes in Dusting off the Good Book": pn interpreting the literature of the Bible; and Encounters: Probing for the "lines": The Christian and Modern and Postmodern Thinking; and a lengthy study of the Book of Exodus, which included considerable study of ancient Egypt and an extended section of the Priesthood, Tabernacle and Offerings, had Hebrews as a follow-up. A class on the Reformers of the 16th Century included the posting of many web pages of resources. For these classes I often prepared copious numbers of handouts and did overheads - see the Reformation Slide Show for examples. My wife and I taught a class on Being Married, and I did a number of Bible book studies, including 1 & 2 Thessalonians; and Ecclesiastes: A reality Check in 2002. In 2003, I taught a class on on Stewardship 101 dealing with managing our time, talents and treasures; issues of wealth and the poor; and a Christian's role in Christian development, inspired in part by my ministry in Uganda.
  • The session called me to a staff position as Assistant Pastor for Equipping Ministries in the Spring of 1998. As an Assistant, rather than an Associate, I was not a member of Session - which enabled me to put more effort into my teaching, which I enjoyed immensely, and less into meetings.
  • In 1998, I wrote a VBS curriculum for the church, entitled A Pilgrim at the Fair - which used a staff dressed in Medieval Costumes, and an ongoing melodrama to present Jesus come to Seek and Save the Lost through Luke's Parables, which included Children's workbooks I designed. In 1999, I did Wanted! Children after God's Own Heart! A western styled VBS program complete with a melodrama based on David's "outlaw" years fleeing from Saul, and Psalm 34; which continues to attract attention on the Internet.
  • I also shared a portion of the preaching at Chapel Hill, and preached from time to time for other local congregations. I developed interesting Sermon Note sheets for inclusion within the worship bulletins to accompany my sermons. I frequently served communion, which was now being done weekly, especially when the pulpit supply was not ordained.
  • In the Summer of 2003, I resigned as Assistant Pastor at Chapel Hill. At the same time, a McWilliams' Missions Fund was created to assist us in our future short term missions activities.

• In June of 2000, my daughter, Sarah Balogh, went to Kaposvar, Hungary as a missionary with International Messengers, and I have been assisting her with online prayer letters and other support. She married a Hungarian Christian in 2002. Our grandson, Robert Balogh, was born in October, 2004.

• I made a Missions trip to Uganda in March, 2001 - along with a team from Covenant College led by Dr. Henry Krabbendam, and three more three week teaching mission trips in March, 2003; May, 2005 and November, 2007 with John Pickett and a ACTI Team. I hoped to do more trips to Uganda as well as assist others to go in the future. My wife did women's ministry in short term missions trips to Hungary until Sarah and family came to live in the United States in 2009. Following up on my Stewardship 101 study, I did further study with a Chalmers Center on line course, and Disciple Nations Alliance materials. I served as chairman of the Mission to the World Committee of the Pacific Northwest Presbytery from the fall of 1999 to the Spring of 2008, seeking to encourage interest and involvement in missions.

• Beginning in the spring of 2004, my wife and I have worshipped at a church that has changed its name and location several times, but there have not been many opportunities for teaching ministry. Originally Green Lake Presbyterian Church, then a multi-site congregation (Crosspoint) - we were a part of the move to Lynnwood in 2007. It is now Ascension Presbyterian Church, a particular congregation of the P.C.A. Pacific Northwest Presbytery. We have shared in the congregation's tasks of set-up (as the church met in a High School Lunchroom; in Edmonds College's multi-purpose room and Black Box Theatre for a number of years; and I have continued that in our current location - where we use the gymnasium of another church); and my wife also assisted in the nursery and with preparing the elements for communion. I taught an adult class on Bible Interpretation called "Dusting off the Good Book." in the Fall of 2008, did Study Notes on Nehemiah in 2011, and a class on "The Attributes of God" in the winter of 2016 in which I used Powerpoint as a part of the teaching.

  I retired from Safeway in February, 2017 and my wife the following April. I have been a part of the Board of the (Non-profit) Seattle Storytellers Guild since 2015 - and edit their newsletter. We have four grandchildren here in Everett, and two in California - Grandparenting has its responsibilities. My neglected yard is getting some improvement. Still I long to be able to serve the Lord and His people in some way.

Why "bi-vocational ministry?"?

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