About Us
Pastor Bill and Nathel Warcholik have been serving the Burrillville Seventh-day Adventist Church for a few year. Nathel assists her husband in all phases of ministry. She is also the card secretary of the Shepherdesses - the organization that brings together all the wives of all the pastors in the Southern New England Conference of Seventh-day Adventists (which covers all the Seventh-day Adventist Churches in CT, MA, & RI). Nathel also works at the Bayside Family Health Care facility in North Kingstown.
Pastor Bill serves as President of the North Kingstown Rotary Club. He also serves on a committee for the Rhode Island VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster).
As the volunteer coordinator of health ministries for the Southern New England Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Pastor Bill assists other churches in their health ministry programs.
Pastor Bill and Nathel also serve the Johnston and Wickford (RI) Seventh-day Adventist Churches. A newspaper article tells a little of his background.
Pilot turned pastor flies higher than the sky
by Carol Monahan, Johnston Sunrise, August 10, 2006
As an Air Force pilot during the Vietnam War, William Warcholik reached the top of his field after mastering the controls of supersonic jets while stationed at Williams Air force Base in Arizona.
For a military man, the sky was literally the limit as he began training new recruits how to pilot the mighty engines. Yet, after all of his training and knowledge of airplanes, he sought to learn more. But, the knowledge he yearned to understand surpassed the wild blue yonder and even the universe.
After the birth of his oldest child, Warcholik said he began to turn his thoughts and energy away from jets and toward seeking heaven.
Growing up as an Episcopalian, with a Methodist mother and Russian Orthodox father, Warcholik remembers experiencing no clear spiritual direction to follow.
Rather than raise his child with a similarly scattered view of religion, he began exploring alternative beliefs.
However, he recalls being inspired to follow one very definitive path, which was biblical scripture.
“Most of the religions I explored sounded pretty good, but I was looking for something that was not negotiable. I wanted a clear religion, and as I read the Bible, it started to become more and more clear to me,” he said.
Shortly after pursuing his quest, the young pilot decided upon joining the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The decision would soon force him to practice his view of non-negotiations in his Air Force career as well.
“Seventh-day Adventists worship on Saturday, because according to our Judeo/Christian foundation, that is the seventh day. We don’t work on Saturdays, except for emergency reasons, and Seventh-day Adventists do not work at places that will not allow the day off for worship,” he says
With his religious views not open for negotiation, he recalls experiencing some difficulty with his job. So, the path to follow soon became even more clear for the former pilot.
“I asked myself, ‘do I want to teach people how to fly at 50,000 feet or how to get into heaven?” Shortly afterward, he left the Air Force and became known as Pastor Bill.
Now, “stationed” at his most recent base of seven years, which is the Seventh-day Adventist Church on Hartford Avenue in town, Pastor Bill travels back and forth to churches in Burrillville and North Kingstown, where he also serves as pastor.
A father of six children and grandfather to 12, he and his wife reside in Coventry when not keeping busy with church activities.
Pastor bill says his church population bases their beliefs on the Bible, keeping the 10 Commandments, and asking the Holy Spirit to “give you the power you need to not only be born again, but also to make the right choices.”
The majority of nearly 100 worshipers reside in town, along with surrounding communities, but Pastor Bill says in spite of a small group, they are an active congregation involved with many types of community outreach, including working with Seventh-day Adventists across the globe to run emergency warehouses. One such example is the warehouse sponsored after Hurricane Katrina to assist storm victims in the south. The church also supports missionary work and worldwide orphanages.
Reflecting on his years with the church, Pastor Bill says he made the right choice in leaving the military; a decision he says led him to put Jesus on a higher level than supersonic jets flying at 50,000 feet.
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Ethiopia Report from Pastor Bill & Nathel
from a mission trip a few years ago.
Miracle tire - one hour on rough roads Nathel teaching the children with some
with inner tube exposed through tread. helpers including her translator.
Some of the 68 people who were Walking from our meeting site back to our
baptized at the end of the series. cottage. The children always near Nathel.
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About Seventh-day Adventists
Adventists believe a Trinity of three persons--the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit--make up one God. They made salvation possible when Jesus, the Son, came to earth as a baby in Bethlehem and lived a sinless life in accordance with the Father's will. When Jesus was crucified for the sins of the people of the world and arose from the dead on the third day, victory was won for everyone. More >>
What Seventh-day Adventists Believe
As a Christian church, Seventh-day Adventists are a faith community rooted in the beliefs described by the Holy Scriptures. Adventists describe these beliefs in the following ways: More >>
Fundamental Beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist Church
Seventh-day Adventists accept the Bible as their only creed and hold certain fundamental beliefs to be the teaching of the Holy Scriptures. These beliefs, as set forth here, constitute the church's understanding and expression of the teaching of Scripture.
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