Farewell to Frank Mack

Frank Mack, left, will leave Galt's Family Life Christian Church on Sunday after eight years. His replacement, Rick Keiser, is at right. (Ross Farrow/News-Sentinel)

Farewell to Frank Mack

Galt pastor leaving after eight years; Keiser appointed new pastor

By Ross Farrow
News-Sentinel Staff Writer

Saturday, July 5, 2008 6:48 AM PDT

Comments (3 comment(s))

GALT — Once a year, Frank Mack and others from Family Life Christian Church go on a retreat where Mack asks God about his future.

For seven years, God told him to stay in Galt and lead the church he founded. This year, it was different.

"For the first time, He said, 'You have permission to go,'" Mack said. "God also said I could go near my family."

That would be in Montana, where he grew up. He's looking to return to a church in Montana or nearby Idaho.

Sunday will be his last day at Family Life Christian Church. Mack, 38, said Associate Pastor Rick Keiser will take over as senior pastor on Sunday.

"Lord, I don't want to be a bottleneck to this ministry," Mack said in his prayer at the retreat, which was only four or five weeks ago. "Lord, do you still want me here?"

Mack said he's leaving without a job because he wanted to tell his congregation he was leaving first. If you leave because you've found another church, it's like a divorce, he said.

"It's like, 'I'm going to check out another lady, and if I like her, I'm leaving,'" Mack said.

So he resigned first.

Farewell potluck

A potluck in Pastor Frank Mack's honor will be held after Sunday's 10 a.m. service at McCaffrey Middle School, 997 Park Terrace Drive, Galt.

Rick Keiser becomes new senior pastor

Rick Keiser, 37, may be the new senior pastor at Family Life Christian Church, but he's hardly a new face.

He attended his first Family Life service on Christmas Day in 2000. He merely attended church there until June 2002, when Pastor Frank Mack asked him to become an associate pastor.

Until that time, Keiser was an ambulance driver for AMR in San Joaquin and Calaveras counties.

Born in Alameda, Keiser lived in Dunsmuir and Redding before his job with AMR brought him to Galt in 2000.

So why did he become a minister?

"God," Keiser said. "I did not grow up in a church. It wasn't until college that I believed Christ is who he said he was."

He and his wife, Jean, attended Simpson College, a Christian school in Redding. That introduced him to Christ.

Aside from his church duties, Keiser is an substitute teacher in the Galt Elementary school district, serves on the district's sex education committee and is a member of Galt Business Builders.

The Keisers have three adopted children, ages 2 to 13.

"God sends people on journeys with no clue where they're going," he added.

Mack has gotten some calls from churches in Montana through word of mouth, but he hasn't returned any calls yet because he wanted to finish business in Galt first.

"I've never sent out a resume before to get a position," he said. "If I truly love what I do, love people and love God, when God wants to connect a person with a church, inevitable that the two will meet."

Mack's final week seemed like a typical one. He had two baptisms on Monday and a funeral to conduct later in the week. And he will renew a couple's vows when he returns from vacation.

Mack had increased Keiser's responsibilities over the years to prepare him for the day that Mack might leave.

"It's been so seamless," Mack said about the transition. "They don't have to wonder, 'Who is this guy?'"

Keiser was selected by a group of three elders, which consisted of Mack and two officials from Stadia, a church-planting organization based in Vacaville. Family Life is an independent, non-demoninational church.

Mack and Stadia believe it is important for each pastor to have someone to train as his or her eventual replacement, not knowing if it would ever happen.

"You never know when God takes us," Keiser said. "You can die, get sick, move."

Stadia appointed Mack to start Family Life Christian Church in Galt, with the first service being on Oct. 8, 2000. They sent four mailers to homes in Galt, and 136 people showed up to the first service, Mack said.

Born in raised in Libby, in northwestern Montana, Mack got married at age 19 and spent four years in the Air Force. After he was discharged, he entered the children's ministry in Rapid City, S.D. Two years later, he went to Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Mo., to experience the Bible belt, where there is a church on every corner, he said.

However, Mack discovered that while people in the Ozarks go to church faithfully, they hadn't really discovered God and Jesus Christ. They'd go to church just because their parents and grandparents did, and after services, they'd go back to the rest of their lives, Mack said.

"They would go to their church because it was their tradition, but a lot of them didn't accept the Lord," Mack said.

Mack lives in Galt with his wife, Pam, and six children ranging in age from 9 months to 15 years. Their three youngest are adopted children.

Contact reporter Ross Farrow at rossf@lodinews.com.

Reader Feedback

pastor_rick wrote on Jul 10, 2008 11:18 AM:

" Just a brief comment about our EMS workers... They work very hard to keep people safe - whether on the FD, PD or ambulance... Respectfully, I would ask that they be referred to by their training level or rank...not "ambulance drivers"...
Keep them in your thoughts during this hot and smokey summer...
THANKS! "

Report Abuse

pastor_rick wrote on Jul 10, 2008 11:16 AM:

" yes they are.
Please keep them in your thoughts! They are all excited...but nervous...as any of us would be... "

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