Southern Wesleyan University welcomed Dr. Karl Westfall and Rev. Sharon Butcher Westfall as pastors-in-residence in January.
Recently retired after nine years as district superintendent for the Northwest District of The Wesleyan Church, Karl has many years of ministry experience. This includes pastoring churches in the western U.S. and Falls Creek Wesleyan Church in Fishers, Ind., as well as partnering with Global Partners (the missions arm of The Wesleyan Church) where he ministered in Swaziland and participated in the recent European Mission Retreat in Germany. Karl received his BA from San Diego State University, his M.Div. from Asbury Seminary, and his D.Min. from Fuller Seminary.
After retiring as a district superintendent, Karl felt strongly that the next component of his ministry would be investing, coaching, mentoring, and passing along what he’s learned over the years to others. As pastor-in-residence, he will do just that in the lives of religion students and division faculty at SWU, while teaching courses and imparting lessons learned from his many years of Christian service.
He and his wife of 44 years, Rev. Sharon Westfall, mentor other couples involved in ministry through Global Partners and have been serving as assistant pastors at Sweetwater Community Church in Bonita, Calif. Sharon will work with Mari Gonlag, chair of SWU’s division of r eligion on a variety of tasks for the division and for the Center for Women in Ministry.
Sharon was ordained in 2009 in the Northwest District. She has a BA in Psychology from Sacramento State University, an MA in Religion from Point Loma Nazarene University and a partial master’s degree in counseling. She has worked as assistant registrar at Point Loma Nazarene University, George Fox University and at Linfield College.
