Rick Shafer serves as a pastor and faith formation director at Port City Community Church in Wilmington, North Carolina. He also cares for the church’s international partnerships. Rick and his wife Elizabeth were married in 1983. These days they are taking in all the joys of grandparenthood, thanks to two wonderful sons and daughters-in-law.

Rick was trained as a Chemical Engineer and worked in the chemical and life science industries for 25 years. He served in missions ministry for a season with his family and has worked in the local church since 2013. His work experience includes process engineering, marketing, training, donor development, and member care.

Rick’s first exposure to discipleship was with Word of Life (Schroon Lake, NY) in the 1970s. Since then, this discipleship interest has been developed and grounded through YWAM’s Discipleship Training School and School of Evangelism, reading and study, experimentation, and practice. As a result, he has written two books: Companion Planted: Imagining the Depths and Fruits of Discipleship and Taking a Zero: Imagining the Stages and Gauges of Discipleship.

Rick loves the outdoors – running, hiking, biking, and swimming. And he enjoys music, reading, writing, and a good conversation over coffee.