Rich Gustafson was called to be the Senior Pastor of the First Baptist Church in Westbrook on August 26, 2007.  He was ordained to the ministry in 1986 at the First Baptist Church in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.  He received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Bethel College in 1976, a Mastor of Arts Degree in History from Youngstown State University in 1982, and a Master of Divinity Degree from Gordon-Conwell Seminary in 1986.  He has served as Senior Pastor at the First Baptist Church in Punxsutawney (1985 - 1990) and the First Baptist church in Derry, New Hampshire (1990 - 2001).  Prior to coming to Westbrook, Pastor Rich served as a Community Support Counselor for Children and Youth at The Center for Life Management in Derry, New Hampshire (2002 - 2007).

Pastor Rich has been married to Janette for 22 years and has three children, Abi (20), Julia (18), and Seth (17).

I was fortunate to be raised in a family that took me to a Bible-believing church.  At the age of ten I received Christ as my Savior and was baptized at our church when I was twelve.  It wasn't, however, until my junior year in high school that I really got serious about growing in my Christian faith.  I committed myself to having a daily time alone with God and saw God use me both in my school and church.  Later that summer at a Christian camp I felt called to commit myself to full-time Christian service.

From a very young age God put within me a desire to help the less fortunate, and I chose to attend Gordon-Conwell Seminary because it had a specialized urban program.  I thought that God would call me to an urban setting but instead found myself serving a church in rural Pennsylvania.  After serving there for five years, God then led me to a downtown church in Derry, New Hampshire, where I finally did get to minister to needy people.

I believe that Christ gave the church very clear marching orders in Matthew 28:18-20 when he commanded it to "go and make disciples of all nations."  Thus, I believe that the primary purpose of the church is to go out and reach the lost both through word (evangelism) and deed (good works) and that those who receive Christ are to be turned into fully devoted followers of Christ (disciples).  Thus, disciple-making needs to be at the very heart of the local church, and it is only as the church commits itself to this task that it will be able to fulfill its mission.

I likewise believe that the primary role of the pastor is to train God's people to become disciples and although there are other duties a pastor has, I strongly believe that the bulk of his/her time needs to be devoted to making disciples.  My vision for the local church is that it become a disciple-making center where every believer is equipped to reach others for Christ and to perform the ministry God has gifted him/her to do.  It is because I have a deep love for God's people that I seek to present each and every one of them "perfect" (or fully mature) in Christ (Colossians 1:28).