After moving to the East Coast for two years, the Rev. Tim Beal returned to Southern California to be installed as the new designated pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Oceanside. In his career, Beal has worked in two different churches in Southern California, and now his three grown children all live in the L.A. area.

"It's nice to be returning home, to be near family," he said.

Beal began Sept. 14 as the senior pastor of First Presbyterian Oceanside, though he was officially installed on Oct. 11 by the Presbytery of San Diego, the equivalent of a group of bishops in other denominations, he said. The installation service was more of a formality.

As designated pastor, Beal has agreed to be the senior pastor for three years, at which point both he and the congregation will re-evaluate whether they want to dissolve the relationship or whether the congregation wants to extend a full call, offering Beal a more long-term position, said Dick Robertson, chairman of the pastor nominating committee.

The previous pastor of First Presbyterian Oceanside, the Rev. Lewis Leon, retired in November 2008, and the presbytery, the church's governing body, found an interim pastor for the Oceanside church.

The search process didn't begin until February, when the nominating committee was formed. The seven committee members ranged in age from 17 to 70, giving a cross-section of the church's demographics, Robertson said.

The committee met almost every Sunday evening from February through late summer. They took a congregation survey, to which about 300 of the church's 800 attendees responded. The results showed that the most important characteristic of a pastor to congregants was excellent preaching.

So the group took months to listen to sermons by pastors from across the nation, taking the long list of about 15 or 20 candidates down to two.

"We listened to more sermons than I'd like to say," Robertson said.

In June, Beal was asked to preach in a neutral pulpit, or be a guest speaker at a local church, so that members of the Oceanside congregation could observe. Based on his preaching skills, the committee asked Beal to return in July to preach a sermon from their own pulpit.

The committee unanimously agreed to call Beal to be the new designated pastor. The congregation enjoyed his preaching style and liked that he included an outline in the church bulletin so that listeners could more clearly understand and connect to his message. His warm personality and his vision for the church were also major factors in his selection.

Beal has now been in ministry for about 30 years, but he started his career as a lawyer. Raised as a pastor's kid, his dad gave him an excellent piece of advice: "Don't go into ministry if there's something else you want to be doing."

So Beal got his law degree and was practicing as an attorney when he realized that it was his volunteer capacity in the church that brought out his best gifts.

He had received his bachelor's degree and law degree at the University of Michigan, and he went on to earn his master's degree and doctorate degree in ministry, both at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago.

Though he served most recently as senior pastor of a church in Severna Park, Md., he's also been a pastor at churches in Ohio and Pennsylvania, as well as in Rancho Bernardo, El Cajon and Thousand Oaks. He also taught at a Bible college in Moscow, Russia, about new church development.

Beal's goals for the church include helping them get a handle on their vision to be able to grow spiritually, as well as using their gifts to meet the needs of the church and the community, he said.

"He has a commitment to helping people in the congregation use their skills," Robertson said.

And Beal has already started to work toward those goals, according to Robertson. He met with the college of elders, the gathering of everyone who has ever served on the church session. Beal asked for them to share what their skills might be.

He also got the pastor nominating committee back together to help him understand the culture of the church and how things are going so far.

"Things are going wonderfully," Robertson said. "Attendance is great, there's a spirit of enthusiasm and the preaching has been outstanding."

Beal feels welcomed by the church and is looking forward to serving the congregation for at least the next three years in Oceanside.

"I see my role as not just a pastor," he said. "But I have the privilege and the opportunity to help people meet and follow Christ."