Valerie Cassity
Special to the Sun

Brian Polston, Pastor of the Family Life Center in Wofford Heights for the past 18 years, preached his last sermon there this past Sunday, as he has resigned from his position to pursue whatever avenue God opens for him.

Polston came to the difficult decision to resign when, during his annual year-end fasting and meditation session in which he asks God what direction he should take his life and the church in the next year, God gave him a strong sense that his season as Pastor of the Family Life Center (FLC) was complete, and it was time to move on to something else. Polston has no immediate plans to leave the Kern River Valley, and has no employment prospects, but he trusts fully in God to lead him where he is supposed to be. “I don’t understand it, and it’s a little frightening not knowing what I will be doing this time next year, but if I understood it, all I’ve done is reduce God to my own finite thinking; God is larger and more extraordinary than that,” said Polston, “When we follow God the right way, it’s often the more difficult path to follow.”

Family Life Center Pastor Brian Polston, who recently announced his resignation, delivers his last sermon at the Family Life Center in Wofford Heights on Sunday Jan. 10.

As a child, Polston grew up next to the railroad tracks in Fresno in a home where his parents were always taking people in and teaching their own kids to treat them as family. From this experience, Polston learned acceptance of all types of people of all ages, backgrounds, and cultures. He was raised with a strong Christian faith, but Polston remembers that the message he received from his own pastor was one of fear, not love. As a teen, Polston rebelled against his faith a bit, thinking that being a good Christian was for when he was older and had had his fun, not for his youth. That position changed when Polston and some friends were in a car that rolled and came to a rest at the edge of a cliff. The young men were able to climb out of the car and pull it back from the precipice, but it was at that moment that Polston realized that he is never guaranteed a tomorrow, and decided right then to devote his life to God.

With that mission in mind, Polston abandoned his dream to become a professional baseball player and entered Bethany Bible College in Santa Cruz, where he studied Pastoral Ministries and Biblical Languages for two years before transferring to CSU Fresno, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Liberal Studies with an emphasis in Education. One day, when he was home visiting from college, he attended services at his family church and sat next to an older couple he had never met before. They told him that they didn’t normally attend church, but that their daughter was being baptized at the service, and then they invited him to her baptism party following the service. Thinking the idea of a baptism party a little strange, Polston declined, but quickly changed his mind when he saw their daughter, Carol, walking down the aisle of church to be baptized. “I thought to myself at that moment ‘I’m going to that party!’” said Polston.

In 1977, Brian and Carol Polston married, and he worked at UPS while waiting for a church to minister to. When the opportunity finally came, Polston was 27 and was sent to a small church in Hanford, and the assignor told him that there were 50-60 people established in the congregation. The first two weeks all of his friends and family came to hear him preach, but the third week they had to return to their home churches, and Polston walked into an empty church. Feeling foolish, Polston did what he always does in times of trial, he turned to God, asking what the reason for this was. Polston had waited and worked for ten years to get to this point, only to be given an empty church. God told him that he needed to minister to his family first, and so that is what he did. “That moment solidified that as my #1value; I’ve always kept my family as my first priority,” said Polston.

The congregation in that church did build, and Polston was the pastor there for eight years, although the small amount of funds the church brought in was not enough for a livable salary. Polston took many odd jobs during those years, including harvesting tomatoes, chopping cotton, and mowing lawns, in order to support his family. And still Polston felt that ministering at that little church built in the 1880s was a dream come true.

Finally, Polson was assigned to the Family Life Center in Wofford Heights in 1991, where he served as an Associate Pastor for four years before taking the reins. In the 18 years that he has served at the FLC, Polston has preached a message of love, kindness, and community involvement. The church’s outreach into the non-faith community is legendary in the Kern Valley, hosting everything from charity luncheons to exercise classes to Green Expos. One of Polston’s favorite memories of his time at FLC was the Love Fest that the church put on in 2001 and 2003, where members of the congregation donated goods and services to the entire Kern Valley community for free as an outreach effort to spread the love. “I love God, I love people, and so I encourage people to love God and to allow God to love them,” said Polston, “Too often where we blow it as Christians is we spend too much time judging people and not just loving them.”

The reason for his leaving is proof of Polston’s true dedication to his calling and his faith, and is but one example of his complete love and faith in God. His congregation is confused and saddened by Polston’s sudden departure, but he has faith that they will pull together as a family and that there are still many great things ahead for the FLC. Jeanette Rogers, one of the founders of the Family Life Center who still remains very active in the church, wishes Polston only the best in his future endeavors. “He is probably one of the most kind-hearted, compassionate, and non-judgmental men I have ever known, pastor or not,” said Rogers, “I have learned so much from his ministry concerning organization and commitment; he is a man without guile, which in this day and age is hard to find.”

Polston has no idea what God has in store for him, but is seeking employment with the knowledge that he will be led where he is meant to go. His family, including his wife Carol, children Valerie (29), son Aaron (25), daughter Katie (21), and two grandchildren are all supportive of his decision and are ready to give as much love as he needs to make it through this time of uncertainty. “I believe that God loves me and has a plan for me, and loves this world and people so much. I wanted to love God back and show others that love through ministering that message to them,” said Polston, “I believe I have done just that.”