Pastor Bernie values Christian education and is excited about the passion of SFCS to reach students and help them grow in all areas of their lives. He believes that teaching is a great way to invest in the next generation of leaders and Christian laborers. Bernie, his wife, Nicole, and their five children, Rylan, Emma, Kovii, Taivys, and Aydrik, are an active family that love playing sports and serving together. Bernie earned a Bachelors Degree from Pillsbury Baptist Bible College and is currently working towards a masters degree from Maranatha Baptist University. Prior to coming to SFCS, he served as a teacher at Owatonna Christian School and administrator and teacher at Oakland Baptist School. For the past ten years, Bernie was the Pastor at Oakland Baptist Church working with many different ethnicities to help them in practical ways to become established American citizens. During his early years, his parents were faithful to a church with a Christian school, which allowed him to be exposed to the gospel on a daily basis. As Bernie has gotten older, he has grown to appreciate the reality of his salvation, not just what he was saved from, but who he was saved to. Romans 5:8 describes the demonstration of God's love to him.

Pastor Bernie joined the staff at First Baptist and SFCS in 2019 as an Assistant Pastor and Administrator.