By Lisa Williams Ackley

Staff Writer

NEW PASTOR Tim Beauchamp is the new leader of the Pleasant Mountain Orthodox Presbyterian Church. He is pictured here with his wife, Joanne.

Having grown up in the rural farm country of western Texas, Pastor Tim Beauchamp finds Bridgton and the Lake Region lifestyle much to his liking, and so does his wife, Joanne.

The couple moved here in March of this year with their five young children, after Pastor Tim accepted the position of organizing pastor at Pleasant Mountain Orthodox Presbyterian Church at 30 North High Street in Bridgton, located right next door to the historic Bridgton Town Hall.

“They had a congregational meeting and issued a call for me to be their pastor,” Pastor Tim said of the membership of PMOPC. “We got here in March — it was 80-something when we left Amarillo and 20 degrees in Bridgton,” he said, as a broad grin spread across his face. We got here and there were snowbanks as high as our (Chevrolet) Suburban!”

“This is my first pastorate, and I am their first pastor,” said Pastor Tim.

The Pleasant Mountain Orthodox Presbyterian Church was begun here, over a decade ago, according to Pastor Tim.

“It started off in a couple’s home, 12 years ago, and has grown,” he explained. “They started the services five years ago and were in Denmark for a long time. Then, they rented the Bridgton Town Hall for quite awhile and then this came up (the former school building next to the town hall), and we’ve been here for about a year.”

“I was born and raised in Texas, and then I lived on the West Coast for quite awhile,” said Pastor Tim. “Joanne and I met, when we went to college in Riverside, California at California Baptist University where I earned a bachelor of arts degree in Biblical Studies.” He then graduated with a master’s in Divinity degree from The Master’s Seminary in Sun Valley, Calif.

Pleasant Mountain Presbyterian Church is a mission work of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, the New York and New England Presbytery and 2nd Parish Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Portland.

“The denomination began in 1936, in Philadelphia and New Jersey,” Pastor Tim explained. “We’re all over the United States. There are many churches in our denomination.”

The Beauchamp family spent 15 years in California, before moving to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where they lived for two more years while Pastor Tim pursued further studies at Westminster Theological Seminary.

Ordination near

The Pleasant Mountain Orthodox Presbyterian Church family will help Pastor Tim celebrate, when he is ordained in November, 2011.

Pastor Tim and Joanne married their senior year in college and their children are 11-year-old Sarah, 10-year-old Jonathan, Chloe who is eight, five-year-old Grace, and Patrick, who is three years old. The other member of their family is their dog, Juliet.

“Joanne is a stay at home mom,” said Pastor Tim.

“Right away, my wife and I knew we wanted to be open to go anywhere the Lord would have us be,” Pastor Tim stated. “All of our churches are part a denomination with different offices for home missionaries and foreign missionaries. One of our leaders, Dick Gerber, has vacationed in nearby Sweden a lot, and I’m good friends with him, and he told me about Pleasant Mountain Presbyterian Church. They heard my sermon tapes, and it all went well. So, we came out for a visit in early November of last year, and it was a good visit. The congregation voted in December, and we moved here in March of this year.”

A love of adventure

Why the Lake Region area for his first pastorate?

“We’re adventurous people,” Pastor Tim said of himself and his wife. “We had wanted to be missionaries, and had even considered Europe, but that didn’t work out. Why Maine? Why not?”

“And, we’re both pleased,” said Pastor Tim. “It’s a transition. We both grew up in small towns, but we lived in cities.”

As for their move to Maine and their welcome to the Lake Region community, “It’s wonderful,” Pastor Tim said.

The Pleasant Mountain Orthodox Presbyterian Church has worship service at 9:30 a.m. on Sundays, with Sunday School starting promptly at 11:05 a.m.

Visit the PMOPC website at www.pmopc.org, or contact Pastor Tim by phone at 647-9009 or e-mail him at Beauchamp.1@opc.org