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Pastor Scot Gillan

Email:  Scot@napervillecovenant.com

Background

Scot has an exuberant infectious passion for the Lord which is immediately evident in his personality and his preaching.  He grew up in a strong church family, attending a Methodist church in Walnut Creek, California.  He comments that although he learned a respect for God that Jesus loved him, he was not aware of the need for, or the possibility of, a dynamic personal relationship with Christ until his high school years through the ministry of Young Life.  He recieved Christ as Savior in March of 1968 at a retreat event.  Connecting with Campus Crusade while at college helped him grasp the basics of actually living out this new Christian life.

A move to the Chicago area brought a good reconnection to the local church at Christ Church in Oak Brook.  Scot says it exposed him to good preaching and educational ministries.  He also met and married Meagan at Christ Church.

A transfer from University of California, Santa Barbara to Wheaton College to be near his relocated family offered Scot the chance to search out the the possibilities of ministry.  A semester in San Fransico, with an internship at a neighborhood youth program, had given Scot an interest in counseling.  After graduation, he decided to give ministry a “trial run” by working for a year as a Student Pastor with a Children Ministry in the National Parks in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. 

Scot entered seminary focused on Christian Counseling, but was eager to take in the biblical and theological studies as well.  His first part-time job as a counselor was with the Arvada Covenant Church in Colorado with Senior Pastor Orville Sustad.  This church played a critical role for both Scot and Meagan’s ministries as they were directly supportive of her work with Youth for Christ.  Scot completed his Master’s Degree in Counseling at Conservative Baptist Theological Seminary in Denver during this time andalso found himself being drawn into a growing variety of ministries at Arvada.  He was soon on staff full-time and recognized his call to pastoral ministry.  The Arvada Church made it possible for Scot to finish his Master of Divinity at North Park Theological Seminary. 

The next step was a move to Community Covenant Church in Shawnee, Kansas where Scot worked as Associate Pastor with Senior Pastor Wayne Stark.  Scot comments that the congregations in Colorado and Kansas were wholesome, solid, family-friendly, and nurturing environments for him and his growing family.   These early years of ministry and personal growth, being mentored by Pastors Sustad and Stark, led to his first call as Senior Pastor for Community Covenant Church in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts – a very long way from his childhood days as a California boy.  Scot continued to grow as a pastor amid a congregation that was “solid, caring, and including.”  Scot served as Senior Pastor there for five years and continued to grow his ministry in preparation for his current church. 

Scot and Meagan and their four children moved to Tucson, Arizona in December 1992 to accept the call as Senior Pastor for Grace Community Covenant Church.  This ministry has been a strong, steady period of growth for the church and for Scot and Meagan.  Scot has shown great skill in modeling the same “mentoring” behavior he himself benefitted from in his early career by guiding and supporting the current Associate Pastor at Grace through seminary and his first years in ministry. 

Scot has said that good team ministry will help people discover their gifts and strengths and bring a sense of significance and contribution to the Kingdom.  He believes healthy teams (both staff and congregation) are vital for effective ministry.  An effective team keeps a balance between the task/process and the relationships as they serve each other.  The team needs to make sure there is a level of trust, truth, accountability, and “even fun!” while at the same time “getting it done.”