Of prophetic voices, callings and community: New university church pastor Taimi recounts journey

The new and unexpected appointment affirmed Taimi’s original calling to serve the local church and its young people, he said. It also culminated the latest step along a ministerial career path he never would have imagined years earlier. His unlikely journey was sparked through the God-inspired words of La Sierra University’s Homebase Ministries founder Jodi Cahill whose insights would prove prophetic throughout Taimi’s life, right up until the week of Cahill’s unexpected death on Sept. 10, 2021.

"I didn’t know that was my calling. And she said, ‘trust me, this is going to happen.'" -- Pastor Iki Taimi, HMS Richards Divinity School alumnus 

Taimi first met Cahill in 1999. He was a student at Riverside Community College at the time, working as a stock manager at a clothing store and filling his spare time with sports. One night he was jumping over bushes attempting to sneak back into his sister’s house on La Sierra’s campus after staying out late to play basketball.

“I was in basketball shorts and cut off t-shirt and my hair was crazy--as usual,” Taimi recalled. “A little White lady with her poodle saw me and said, ‘Hey what are you doing? …what are you doing with your life?’ I said, ‘I’m not sure.’ And she said ‘you’re going to join me and you’re going to do ministry and you’re going to join this school.’ And I said, ‘that’s not possible little lady’ -- I didn’t know that was my calling. And she said, ‘trust me, this is going to happen.’ And lo and behold a week later I was enrolled at La Sierra University and I was working for Homebase [Ministries] for Jodi Cahill. She has been a prophet in my life,” Taimi said --- a prophet who encouraged and predicted his pastorship at the La Sierra University Church while Taimi was still in school.

In 2004 Taimi earned a bachelor’s degree in religious studies from La Sierra followed by a Master of Theological Studies in 2013 from La Sierra’s H.M.S Richards Divinity School. Along the way he served as an associate chaplain for the university. Taimi’s work over the past years has included leading the development of what would become the SCC’s youth and young adult ministries department which he led full time following its inception in 2018. At the time he was also lead pastor of the Gardena Genesis Community Church, a Seventh-day Adventist church which he planted between 2006 - 2008 with a focus on community involvement and outreach. His acceptance of the conference position meant a step back from church leadership.

“[That] was a difficult move for me because I love being in the local church. I love being with people at the base level, but I felt that this is where God wanted me at the time,” Taimi said.

Under Taimi’s guidance, the SCC department focused on three main areas – engagement with senior youth and young adults by offering safe spaces and workshops to discuss issues of interest and concern; training for local churches and leaders on how to provide similar safe spaces for their young adults and youth; and advocating for young adults at the conference policy level toward bringing more young people into conference employment.

During the lockdowns of the Covid-19 pandemic, Taimi and the department partnered with guest speakers and schools around the conference to create virtual programing.

"I had gotten such a wellspring of love from so many different groups of people and families in Adventism that it made me fall in love with this church." -- Pastor Iki Taimi

While guiding the conference department, he continued to lead the ONEHouse senior youth and young adult program which he still directs. Taimi is also pursuing a Doctor of Ministry degree from Fuller Theological Seminary with a focus on church transformation and the call to justice.

Along Taimi’s journey, Cahill’s vision and insights continued to encourage and inspire him down paths he had not considered, including the prediction of his marriage to his wife, Melanie, well before any romance had blossomed between the two. The couple now has two children ages 7 and 8.

On March 5 Taimi stood before the La Sierra University Church congregation to officially accept the call to serve as its lead pastor. In recalling the moment, he reflected on his friend Jodi Cahill and her continued encouragement to him just days before her passing that he would one day serve as her pastor at the university church. “It was surreal for me standing in front of that church, accepting the invitation in public,” said Taimi. “I know where Jody always sits and I just thought of how she would have been so proud to be here in that moment.”

Taimi’s journey at La Sierra and during his prior education at other Adventist schools was also supported by the kindnesses of many others as he pursued his educational goals and the calling he gradually came to experience in his life. Because of the people from all walks of life who reached out to him, Taimi, who was raised in the Adventist tradition, grew to truly love the Adventist faith and its community, he said.

“It was people who loved me and my family. It was people who sacrificed to make sure I could stay in school,” said Taimi. “I had gotten such a wellspring of love from so many different groups of people and families in Adventism that it made me fall in love with this church and I truly believe that we can do that for others. If Adventism was about a group of people that loved others deeply, through action, I believe that more of our young people would say I want to be a part of it.”

At the La Sierra University Church, Taimi aims to continue the work begun by Oberg, “toward creating community that really is centered around the love of Jesus,” he said, “and indiscriminately loving in such a way that inclusion is a real tangible thing for all people. Being a part of a community not only means that you belong there, but you’re accountable to that place. I want to see that happen in our La Sierra University Church.”