Pastor R.J. Strickland joined Bend Naz Church as lead Pastor in 2019. Before that, he was a Pastor, a Church Planter, and a Pastoral Councilor. For the past 25 years, he’s been involved with the Nazarene denomination and countless forms of outreach. He is a husband, a father, an author, a speaker, a musician, and an abuse survivor.

Pastor RJ received his Bachelor’s Degree from Northwest Nazarene University, an MBA from Aston University, completed his ministry course of study through Fuller and Emanuel seminary and is ordained as an Elder in the Church of the Nazarene.  He has 23 years of ministry experience serving in Idaho, Colorado, California, Hawaii, Washington and now as Lead Pastor of Bend Naz.

Throughout his time in ministry, RJ has planted multi-cultural and multi-lingual churches.  He was the founder and president of Kokua Compassion Group, a compassionate ministry network focused on homeless and immigrant populations in Hawaii.  He was also one of the founding partners of Skaters in Christ, a west coast skateboard ministry.

In addition to pastoring, RJ serves as an associate district superintendent for Oregon Pacific District Church of the Nazarene.  He is also a pastoral coach for the Center for Pastoral Leadership at Point Loma Nazarene University.

RJ has been married to his wife, Kacy, for 18 years and has four kids.  He loves reading, playing music, skateboarding, spearfishing, having outdoor adventures with his family and serving alongside his wife Kacy.  He is passionate about transformation and spends his time helping those around him become more like Christ.