Larry Shelton

Larry, didn’t want to answer God’s call to be a minister.  However, with a praying wife and years of the Spirit’s prompting, he finally and willingly answered the call.  After a successful eight-year career in Medical Technology, he entered seminary.  When he enrolled in seminary, he already had a post-graduate “degree” in Medical Technology and a Master’s Degree in Marriage, Family and Child Counseling so some of those credits transferred.  Married to Faith and with two small children (eventually they would have four children), graduating as soon as possible was high on their list of priorities.  After 18 months of non-stop schooling, exhausted, Larry graduated from seminary with Master’s of Divinity.  Months after graduating (and learning to rest),  at the age of 31, he was called to be the senior pastor of a two-year old church plant that had already experienced considerable controversary and was consequently in the throes of dying.  Turning the church around was no small feat.  There were plenty of successes but also plenty of pain caused by misunderstandings, unrealistic expectations and the unending demands of a growing church and staff.  Add to that the privilege of being the husband to an amazing wife, and the father of a growing family, one can see the joyous opportunities and yet heavy responsibilities of feeling like you are responsible for everyone and everything.  Ultimately, Larry was blessed with seeing his first church turn around and grow into the thousands.  He served there for 15 years. (During this time of rapid church growth, Larry earned a doctorate degree in Church Growth and Administration.)
As senior pastor, Larry served his second and final church for 17 years.  A year prior to the difficult transition from that church, Larry and Faith had purchased a new home on the Feather River Canyon in Paradise, California. As soon as escrow closed, they began a significant remodel project in order to prepare the home for the ministry they had dreamed of for years; shepherding ministers and missionaries.  The remodel was to be completed on November 9th, 2018.  However, on November 8th, 2018, their lives and ministry plans were forever altered when the CampFire swept through their town completely destroying their home and possessions along with approximately 14,000 other homes and 5,000 other businesses and structures.  They know what it is to experience extreme loss and change.  Yet, they have also seen God open new doors out of the ashes.

As of this writing, Larry and Faith have been married for 570 months.  (They believe that celebrating once a year is not enough😊!) They are founders of SoulMatesForLife marriage ministry (Larry is also a principle with Consentiagroup.com specializing in leadership and marriage training.).  Along with a participant guide for their marriage training, Larry has authored a devotional guide for couples entitled “Short Stories for the Long Haul”.  They have four biological children, one “adopted” daughter and 7 grandchildren.  They are currently “homeless” but have plans to live in Montana during fire-season and Northern California during the holiday season.  Together they enjoy, cycling, fishing, boating, boogey-boarding and long daily walks.