There’s a lot of cowboy in Pastor Dave Broyles, who rode off into the Ceres sunset in 2012 across the prairie to settle elsewhere. But Broyles made his way back last month, wrangling a new assignment as co-pastor of Bethel Tabernacle Church, 2425 E. Service Road, Ceres. And boy was he excited to return.

“I’m thrilled to be back here. We have a lot of friends in this area,” said Broyles, who also authored two self-published western themed novels with decidedly Christian messages when he resided in Ceres over a decade ago. “I spent most of my ministry in this area … almost 20 years here altogether.”

Broyles, now 74, had served as the beloved associate pastor of Ceres Christian Church with Rob Hidahl and Adam Miller for over 13 years and departed about a decade ago to become associate pastor of Calvary Community Christian Church in Prunedale while also teaching a high school class at the Prunedale Christian Academy. Broyles left Prunedale and went into the evangelistic field for about five years. He ended up in Tulare where he was pastor of Bethesda Christian Center while occasionally making the drive to Ceres to pastor once a month in Ceres. The Ceres and Tulare churches are both affiliated with the Pentecostal Church of God denomination.

Broyles replaces Brenda Thomas, a longtime Bethel pastor at the church, teaming up with Neal Petty. Currently, he is mostly delivering the sermons at the 6 p.m. Sunday service while Petty usually delivers Sunday morning services.

“People have just been wonderful, they really have. It’s a wonderful church, sweet people. The neat thing about this church is they’re very teachable. I’ve never had a church like this one that will bring their notebooks and their Bibles to church every Sunday and they’re constantly writing notes while I’m ministering.”

He praised the church board as filled with “some of the greatest guys I’ve ever worked with – they are precious men, do anything for you.”

Broyles has seen a lot of familiar faces show up to see him again preaching in Ceres.

“I was here for a long time so I know a lot of people so sometimes they come.”

Pastor Broyles comes with dreams of expanding the church’s influence in Ceres and area. He aims to build the church’s presence on social media and dreams of growing the church body to the point that he can lead a new building project. He notes that the church’s parcel is deep enough to accommodate an expansion.

“I have a friend of mine that built a new church when he was 80 so it’s still a possibility. We’d probably have to double or triple before I could see the need to do that. Our church only seats about 125.”

Broyles is not alone in his concern about the shriveling numbers attending church in America – COVID did church attendance no favors – as he cited surveys that show atheists outnumber Christians.

“Years ago the (Bethel) church ran probably 140, 150,” he said, pointing out that attendance now runs about 30 to 40.

“We have high hopes and we’re praying for revival like a lot of churches are.”

His wife, Paula, was also enthusiastic about returning to Ceres.

“She counted the days,” said the pastor.

Both Dave and Paula were raised in Salinas where Paula’s father pastored the church Dave attended as a young man.

“She was actually my first love but we went our separate ways; I went away to Bible College and married Pam.”

Dave had a number of personal heartaches while in Ceres, first the death of his wife Pam in 2008 followed by the death of their daughter, Christi, from cancer in 2009.

After Pam died Dave and Paula reconnected.

“It’s kind of a sweet love story.”

Aside from his pastoral interests, Broyles self-published three novels in Ceres. He wrote “Miracle at Tombstone” in 2000 and its 2002 sequel, “Death Rides a Paint Horse.”

His third novel, “Conspiracy of the Gods: The Dark Secret of the Inner Circle” helps to expose heresies in the Christian faith and explain truths about spiritual warfare and darkness. He started writing the book – very loosely based on things that occurred in his life – before he put it on hold while Pam and Christi were stricken and ultimately died from cancer

He finished his manuscript about the same time he courted and married Paula.

“Our church is open to anybody who wants to come and be with us.”