CARMICHAEL, CA (MPG) - As a State Trooper in Indiana, Corporal Jim Valentine was adept at snapping cuffs on wrists. As a minister, he works to unlock them. “Even ordinary people shackle themselves,” says the new pastor of American River Community Church. “I offer a key to freedom.”

The 6ft 4in man of God eschews clerical robes in his new job. “I’ve worn a uniform and I know it can put walls up,” says Valentine (51). “I don’t want walls. I’m comfortable with the authority I have as plain ol’ me. I don’t need a uniform to enforce that.”

One of Carmichael’s longest established congregations, ARCC reached 2700 miles east to Mitchell, Indiana to fill the pulpit vacated in 2019 by Pastor Rich Reimer. COVID restrictions slowed appointment processes but after the candidate’s two trips west -- and many Zoom interviews -- the church decided. Pastor and wife heard the news by telephone. Recalls Valentine’s wife Guyanne: “We thought: holy smokes! We had to get a farm and a house ready to sell. There was a ton of stuff to be given away. We began a flurry of activity. Jim and I loaded up a U-Haul and headed to California. Then we came back and drove the kids out here in a camper.”

For their Carmichael flock, Valentine’s day arrived last month. “What Now” was the title of their Pastor’s first sermon.

On an earlier visit, he’d impressed congregants with an audition sermon on boldness. “I was preaching as much to myself,” he considers. “I was making huge changes. We’re still stepping into those. What really won church members was meeting my family, and seeing how we work as a team. The idea that everybody has a job to do is something I’ve brought from law enforcement.  Being a cop is inseparable from who I am. I know courage is not an absence of fear. Courage is taking the next step knowing you’re well-trained to do what God wants for you.”

A church-goer from childhood, the Indiana native followed his father’s bootsteps into law enforcement and served as an immigration officer, a drug interdiction cop and a road trooper. He got his hip mashed in a barricade accident but it took the 1997 death of a fellow officer to concentrate his faith. “My friend Andy Winzenread left a wife and six-week-old daughter,” he explains. “After his funeral, I learned he’d gone out on a call that was meant for me. His death saved me. It was then I felt the gravity of real-life faith. Six year later, I was taken out of uniform because my old hip injury stopped my leg working right.  I was angry. I thought a police career was my life. Lying face-down on my office floor, I realized God had other plans for me.” Valentine entered Master’s International School of Divinity (Evansville, Ind.) Aged 41, he was ordained in 2011. His first clerical post was at Mount Pleasant Christian Church in Bedford; he was later Head Pastor at Tulip Street Christian Church in Mitchell, Ind.

With his hip worsening, less painful winters became an ambition. The Valentine clan was considering a move to Florida when the ARCC position surfaced. “In Indiana, all we heard about California was on the news,” he reflects. “The news was generally bad. But in Carmichael we found wonderful people -- regular people -- doing regular things. I knew helping them find what I’d found in God would translate from Indiana to California.

ARCC’s mission statement – to see the community changed and followers of Jesus reflected in His love – struck a chord. “It’s not just theoretical,” says Valentine. “I see love played out in tangible ways here. Children are given a solid future in our preschool; meetings here give men and women hope to get out of addiction. People of ethnic diversity work together in our community garden.” The pastor’s bride has begun work beside him. Their teamwork last week helped a large parish family move house.

Valentine was a 25-year-old State Trooper when he met physical therapy student Guyanne. They fell blindly in love on a blind date in January 1996; she accepted his proposal in February, complaining only that he didn’t wait a week and propose on Valentine’s Day. “I was in love,” her husband explains 25 years later. “I didn’t want to wait a week.”

Guyanne has since home-schooled three little Valentines, managed a goat farm and worked in women’s fitness. Diversity is part of pastoral life’s tapestry.  “I married a cop and ended up a preacher’s wife,” she muses. “There are similarities in the jobs. Jim has always worked long hours trying to help damaged people find faith that things would get better. I’m thankful I don’t have to worry much about his safety, now. But we’re ready to roll up our sleeves here, to do the hard stuff together.”

American River Community Church is located at 3300 Walnut Avenue, Carmichael.