Herb Sawatzky / Lead Pastor

Big Dates

  • December 28, 1967 – Born in Vancouver, B.C. Other than that, a pretty quiet day

  • 1972 – First girlfriend. My mom breaks us up

  • 1975 – Give my life to Christ at a Layton Ford crusade

  • March 1984 – am baptized

  • 1992 – Graduate from Okanagan Bible College. I was the Valedictorian. We drew straws

  • September 1997 – See Lorrie. Decide to marry her. 5 months later, on Valentine’s Day, she comes around and decides to marry me

  • December 29, 1998 – Marry Lorrie. A very good day

  • April 1999 – Begin 6 adventurous years as the youth pastor to some really great kids (and adults) at Niagara United Mennonite Church. Side note: this is the farthest east I've been in Canada

  • April 2, 2001 – Aleah Blythe Sawatzky is born to us. We like her and think she is a very cool girl. Leads to new axiom: 'Make peace with your parents, they come back as your children' another very good day

  • October 19, 2003 – Colton Abraham Sawatzky is born, another very cool kid, this time a boy. Some days I feel as though one of my brothers has become my son. Another very good day

  • June, 2005 – Wrap up 6 great years as the youth pastor at Niagara UM. Met a lot of great kids and adults in our time there, and was blessed to leave on a very positive note

  • Summer, 2008 – Went to Kentucky on a mission trip with our church to fix some roofs (pardon me, ‘ruffs’) and do other home repair work. Ate some grits and biscuits & gravy for the first time in my life. Needless to say, we met more great, neat, fascinating people

  • December 1 2009 – Aleah realizes that there is no Santa Clause when the e-mail she sent him is bounced. This does not go over so very well.

  • June, 2013 – wrap up 8 years of ministry at Avon Mennonite Church. Grateful for all the many positive experiences we had and the friends we made.

  • April, 2014 – Begin serving as lead pastor of Bethany Mennonite Church where I get to minister with and serve more beautiful people who love to laugh and celebrate the life God has given us.

  • Today – This is the day that the Lord has made…’ so we know it’s going to be a good day

Favourite Things

Food - Hmm where to start: Thai food, East Indian food, Greek food, Menno Food (of course), BBQ, (most all) pie, Lorrie’s cooking

Things I love to do – Reading, playing with my kids, playing with my wife, dinners with friends, watching movies & documentaries, going for workouts, running into people like you in coffee shops and various other places around town

 What you can call me - You can call me Herb. Some people like to call me ‘Pastor Herb’ or ‘Pastor Sawatzky’ etc, but I am most comfortable being called ‘Herb’. It has worked very well for me over the years