This fall, River Community Church (RCC) has seen a new face on its roster, inviting new student pastor Sean Mustian as part of the church’s pastoral apprenticeship program.

Mustian, a native of the southeastern United States, comes by ministering honestly, as his father is a part of the field, and after touching base with RCC at a pastors’ conference in Minneapolis in February, he learned of the Timothy Pastoral Apprenticeship that he’s now a part of.

“I am enjoying my time here,” said Mustian, who’s most recently lived in North Dakota. “The town I was living in in North Dakota was about the same size but is in the middle of the Bakken Oil Field, so it had much more hustle and bustle.

“I have enjoyed the quiet and peace. I am looking forward to getting to know people and building relationships.”

The idea behind the apprenticeship is to train young men for ministry and church planting, a hands-on experience that Mustian feels suits his drive.

“My biggest caution to majoring in theology in college always was the lack of hands-on learning,” he said. “I have the opportunity to watch pastors as they go about their day-to-day life and ministry.

“It is a day-in and day-out learning experience.”

Though the breadth of his responsibilities as student pastor hasn’t completely settled yet, Mustian has been assisting with middle school ministry on Monday afternoons at the downtown church.

“I have taken great joy in this,” he said. “We have a great time getting to know the students through games and teaching.”

He also will take on a Bible study later this month.

Ultimately, the student pastor wants to build relationships to help share the good news of Jesus.

“There are so many things I hope to come away with from my time here,” he said. “I hope to build a legacy of love for God and a love for people.”

As far as his future in the field of ministry his interests are plentiful – opportunities that excite him include traditional pastorship, church planting, evangelism, overseas ministry and others.

“I admire RCC’s desire to build relationships with people,” Mustian said. “This is a part of the RCC foundation.”