Conference and region administrators led in services ordaining two Southern California Conference pastors to the gospel ministry on Jan. 15.

Aivars Ozolins

Aivars Ozolins, an associate pastor of the Vallejo Drive church, began his ministry in his native Latvia, at a time when education for ministers was not possible there. Because the Communist government denied students permission to leave the country for a ministerial education, local pastors trained Ozolins for the ministry and he served as a lay preacher and local elder. During that time, he translated a number of Christian books into the Latvian language, despite government restrictions on religious publishing work.

When government constraints were eased, Ozolins attended Newbold College in England, graduating with a master's degree, then traveled on to California. He began ministry there as pastor of the Russian-American church, while studying at Fuller Theological Seminary and assisting the Vallejo Drive church as maintenance and security supervisor. As the Vallejo Drive church pastoral staff recognized his call to ministry, they invited Ozolins to be an associate pastor.

In his response during the ordination service, Ozolins said, “I am in the ministry because God is the one who called me and it is only by His grace. My prayer and hope is that if anything is accomplished through my ministry, it is God whom people praise for it.” Aivars and his wife, Juta, are the parents of three sons: Kaspars, 19, who is studying linguistics in a college in Latvia; Aldis, 18, a Pasadena City College student; and Elvins, 14, a student at Glendale Adventist Academy. As this goes to press, Ozolins was slated to defend his doctoral dissertation in Intercultural Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary in one month.

Rogelio Paquini

Rogelio Paquini, senior pastor of the Lighthouse of the Valley church, a young-adult congregation, began his ministry in the Southern California Conference. He served initially as the youth pastor of the Spanish-American church, where his efforts to develop a Pathfinder club resulted in the largest club in SCC at that time. He has pastored the Lighthouse of the Valley church for the past four years. Rogelio and his wife, Paola, have three sons: Gianni, age four; Gino, age three; and Giovanni, nearly four months old.

In his homily, Larry L. Caviness, president of the Southern California Conference, called on Paquini and other pastors to continue ministry in harmony with the pastoral ethics code adopted by the conference. “Have ethical integrity,” he challenged. “If you are true to yourself, you will be true to others.”

“Many persons have helped me in my eight years of ministry,” Paquini responded. “I know this ordination service is not a graduation; this is a beginning.” Speaking to those attending the service, he added, “The only thing I ask of you is to pray for me.”