AUBURN — Richard Waller was 45, jobless and searching.

The native Minnesotan had resigned from his job as the CEO of Millinocket Regional Hospital, capping a 20-year career in hospital administration.

“My career moved me from Minnesota to Alaska to Michigan to Maine,” he said. “I left the hospital and took some time to plan and pray about what I would do with the last half of my life.”

After career planning and counseling, he decided on the ministry.

Now 56, Waller has become a seasoned pastor.

He spent eight years as the leader of the Millinocket Church of the Nazarene. And he celebrated his first anniversary at Auburn Church of the Nazarene on April 1.

“God provided for the opportunity to do this, and it’s been a blessing all the way,” said Waller, who believes his modest church at 38 Summer Street has begun to grow.

“It’s my sense now that we’re going to begin to go up,” he said. “The second year will be more focused on reaching out to our community and seeing some fruit from the rebuilding that was done here in the past year.”

The church has 74 official members. Most Sundays see congregations of about 49 people and a Sunday school attendance of approximately 30 youths.

“People are getting plugged back into the ministries and service,” Waller said.

More people want to read, sing or play instruments during services, he said. People are stepping forward to help with the upkeep of the church building. The church board has doubled to eight members, and plans are being finalized for a four-day revival beginning April 28.

“We just started an evening prayer meeting, which hadn’t been done in more than a year,” he said.

Perhaps it explains Waller’s calm demeanor. Or maybe it’s his Minnesota roots.

“I have lived and served and worked in church environments my whole life,” he said.

Originally from Grand Rapids, Waller earned a business administration degree from Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, Minn. He earned his master’s in health care administration in 1984. That same year, he married his wife, Kathryn, a registered nurse.

Together, they followed his jobs from city to city. The couple now has two adult children, Emily and Alex.

The family went to Millinocket in 1999. Five years later, he was leading a church instead of a hospital.

“There are many things you do as a hospital leader that you do a pastor in a church,” he said. “Leadership, communications, relationships and telling people the truth.”

Next year, he’s due to complete his master’s degree in divinity from the Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo. He’s been studying online.

“In the call process, you go where God wants you to go,” Waller said. “Our family and the church family thought this was a good fit.”

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