Someone You Should Know: Pam Gilchrist

On our Someone You Should Know podcast, we interview Faith members to help us get to know them, see how God is working in their lives, and make new connections within our community. In this episode we get to know Pam Gilchrist.

• Automated Transcription
• Caleb Effinger 0:03
  Pam, welcome back. This time we are so excited to welcome Pam Gilchrist to the show. I interviewed your son on the last episode, and it was a delight. So, sorry, Josh, but this is even more of a delight to interview your mother. Sorry about that, Bill Pam. We have my wife and I just, just appreciate just your ministry to us, along obviously, along with your husband, but we appreciate you, and it's, yeah, it's good to be sitting here with you, yeah.
  
  Pam Gilchrist 0:43
  Thank you. And we appreciate you so much. Blessing to have you part of serving the Lord with us. And, yeah, thank you for having me.
  
  Caleb Effinger 0:52
  So, let's kick it off. Tell us about your hometown, your growing up.
  
  Pam Gilchrist 0:57
  I was born right here in Spokane, and raised here, I have lived in the area for all of my life, except for four years, where I lived in Arizona in my late 20s and early 30s, but yeah, this is this is my hometown. I grew up on the South Hill,
  
  Caleb Effinger 1:19
  South, who,
  
  Pam Gilchrist 1:19
  yeah, and oldest of five kids, and so, in addition to my parents and my siblings, my grandparents were a huge part of my life growing up. They lived close by to us, particularly close to my Gram and I, Dean, who I promised when I was young that if I ever had a daughter that I would name her after her. Fun,
  
  Caleb Effinger 1:48
  I didn't know that.
  
  Pam Gilchrist 1:49
  Yeah, so she was very dear, but both of them, my grandpa as well. Probably one of the most significant memories of my childhood was my grandparents had a place on Coeur d'Alene Lake in Rockford Bay, which has, if you've ever been there, lots of like gorgeous homes, beautiful. They had a very simple, it was actually a trailer that my grandpa had kind of done a few additions to, and so, yeah, just lots of summers being out at the lake, so it's probably one of my, my core memories of childhood, is that
  
  Caleb Effinger 2:26
  that's sweet. Okay, so then your high school and higher education, what did what that looked like? Yeah,
  
  Pam Gilchrist 2:33
  well, I went to private and public schools growing up, but by high school I went to Ferris and I graduated from there in another century, and then after that I went to community college, and after that I went to Eastern Washington, graduated from there with a bachelor's degree in English, then I went back to community college, and I did their library technician program, and then just recently, within the last five years, I got my master's in library and information science from the University of Arizona.
  
  Caleb Effinger 3:14
  Oh, very good. So let's continue along with that, then, and I'll come back to family. What, what is your career then? Because it sounds like it played into what you're doing now.
  
  Pam Gilchrist 3:26
  Yes, yes. So, yeah, I'm a librarian, evident by my glasses and cool chain. Yeah, and yeah, I have worked in libraries since my mid 20s after I got my degree in English, I had been working, actually, during college at a dry cleaner's, and I was offered a position managing one of their drop off places, and so I, yeah, I did that for a few years. It was a great job. I was able to move out, live on my own, but wasn't exactly what I planned to do with my degree, so I was actually at work at the dry cleaners one day on a break, and I looked at the community college catalog, which they used to just send to everybody in the mail, and I saw that they had a library technician program, and I remember that moment, I thought to myself, that's what I want to do with my life. I want to work in a library, and so I got into that program within a couple months. It was probably like November when that, when I saw that program, and started in January of that year. Got a job at Gonzaga in the law school library, and I worked there, started as part-time, eventually had a full-time position, and I worked there right up until about a week and a half before my oldest child was born, and then got to spend a very. Beautiful 10 years being a stay-at-home mom to my, my three kids, and then at the end of once, once all of them were in school, and you know, Josh and I were talking about the possibility of me going back to work full time outside of the home, I wasn't sure if I would be able to get back into library career, and thought, you know, did I give that up to stay home, and if I did, I'm okay with that. I'm ready, I'm okay to start over, whatever God has out there for me. And I didn't have to start over. I was able to get a job at Whitworth in their library, and loved that. Worked there for seven years, while I was there, that was when I did grad school through Arizona, got my master's degree in library science, which opened the door for me to get a librarian position, and amazingly full circle back at Gonzaga in the law school, and so that's where I currently work as a librarian.
  
  Caleb Effinger 6:04
  Wow, going back a little, you said that you know being being a librarian was was what you wanted to do. I just want to comment on that. I am so thankful for you and others like you who have that desire, because that's the last job on this entire planet, and maybe even the universe, the cosmos, that I would ever want, so, but I'm so thankful, because I love reading, and yeah, without you guys, would never could find a book, so
  
  Pam Gilchrist 6:30
  thank you. I get a lot of comments, or at least maybe a perceived comments from people when I tell them a library, and frequently, you know, people, you know, say they love books. I will say, my library, it's a law library, it's not anything you want to take home and curl up next to buy your reading. I also sometimes feel like people look at me and be like that's still a job. So,
  
  Caleb Effinger 6:53
  okay, so then tell us about your family.
  
  Pam Gilchrist 6:55
  Yeah, so do you want to mention my parents and my siblings, again, my parents, Larry and Nancy Blott, they, they went to Faith for many years, and very thankful for them. They live in Arizona with my youngest sister, Karen, and then my other sister, Karina, is a member at Faith, and so probably a lot of people know her brother Ed, and he lives in Vancouver, Washington. And then my brother Steve, he lives in the area, he lives in Cheney, and I'm not sure if Karina is listening, but if she is, she's probably okay with me saying this. That definitely my favorite sibling growing up was my brother Steve. So we were the closest in age, in fact, so we were about less than two years older than him, and then there's quite a gap between him and then our brother, and then one day I decided that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with a guy named Josh Gilchrist,
  
  Caleb Effinger 8:11
  amazing,
  
  Pam Gilchrist 8:11
  who, who actually we had known for a long time, we had gone to church with his family, and he's actually my brother Steve's age, and they were, they were in Sunday school together, and we didn't become friends. In fact, our first known conversation wasn't until we were adults, even though we knew of each other, but didn't become friends until till then. And yeah, we have been married for 24 years.
  
  Caleb Effinger 8:38
  Oh, wow,
  
  Pam Gilchrist 8:38
  and we have three kids, and I believe their ages are seven, nine, and 10. Yes, that's what it is. Yes, actually, Josh Jr. is 20, Nadine is 19, and Isaiah is 17.
  
  Caleb Effinger 8:58
  Just to comment on on that we really enjoy your your kids, so thank you for just your testimony of your marriage. Your faithful parenting has has showed itself because your kids are a joy to be around. So thank you for thank you on behalf of the church. Well, thank you and
  
  Pam Gilchrist 9:18
  and and many thanks to the church as well, yeah, God's grace for sure, that's
  
  Caleb Effinger 9:26
  sweet. Okay, then, so how did you come to know Jesus? What's your, what's your testimony there?
  
  Pam Gilchrist 9:32
  So I grew up attending church, and I usually phrase it that way because of a conversation I had with my mom, probably several years after I had had become a Christian, she didn't. I used to say I grew up in a Christian home, and she actually said it's funny that you say that. I don't feel like our home was a Christian home. I did. My parents are believers, and I believe that they were at the time, but I think that there's probably a distinct time. Around the time that both my brother and I became Christians and started getting involved in, in the youth group, I think that that impacted my entire family, my parents, and the way that they raised, raised us from then on, and our house. So, so I say that I grew up going to church and attended Sunday school, I wanted VBS, I won prizes for memorizing Bible verses, and I don't think that there was ever a time where I would say that I didn't believe in God, and I think I had relatively clear understanding of the gospel, Jesus's death and resurrection, and that he died in our place for our sins, and that He is the only way I think I had a pretty good understanding of that. So, so, yeah, just incredibly thankful for that foundation and the churches that I attended growing up, and my parents too, giving me that. So I was fairly shy growing up, fairly socially awkward, maybe still, but I think that that really started to impact me around the time I was 12 or 13, which is an awkward age, no matter what. Sure, generally when I started junior high, I was really, I was lonely, I think, because I was like so shy, and the way that I dealt with that was to just kind of lock myself in my room, or there's actually a room at my grandparents' house too, that I would stay in. I spent the night at my grandparents' house quite a bit, I'd listen to music, I might watch TV. As I was reflecting on this recently, I realized I did a lot of writing, and I feel terrible saying this, because I know so many wonderful writers at FBC who use that talent and that passion to glorify God, but for me, I think that they had become more of an escape, and kind of, yeah, and even, even probably writing was sort of an outlet, at least for my loneliness, and just kind of darkness and sadness in general, kind of let that sort of consume me. It was a real blessing. A few weeks ago, one of our docs, the students was baptized, and he shared the verse in First Corinthians 1031 whether you eat or drink, do all for the glory of God, and he shared his conviction of realizing that the things that he was doing, he wasn't doing them for the glory of God, and so I think that that's a really good way to describe that, but, but more and more I was getting less interested in going to church. It was sort of a vicious circle. I was lonely, so I withdrew, which made me more lonely, which made me want to withdraw more. So I needed God, but I was trying to fill the emptiness in my life somewhere else, so I really, again, didn't want to go to church very much at that point, because when I was just, I was scared of people, I mean, I was, I was getting probably almost paralyzing, you know, shyness probably would say, I think, also, though, having had that foundation of God's word, I knew that I was rejecting God because I didn't want to be convicted by scripture, and then have to be obedient to Him, because I was afraid of what He might call me to do. Though I was unhappy, I was scared to leave my little room and my little world, I.. I.. so, yeah, I had a real understanding that I would have to obey God, and I have to give my life to Him, and I've had to follow Him, and I like didn't want to do that, so I.. I didn't want to turn from my sins. I wanted to live selfishly.
  
  Pam Gilchrist 13:59
  I kind of was going to church, maybe a little bit, not to anything, no youth group or anything. I went to the main church service, and I did. I know at least one time, I think more than once, I hid in the bathroom for the entire service, so terrible. But my mom, she didn't approve of this, and she told me that not only was I expected to go to church, she actually expected me to go to the youth group. They, the youth group, met on Sunday mornings, and she told me that I needed to start going to that, or we would change churches, which, as much as I didn't like going to church, or the idea of going to the idea of even going somewhere else was even more sure. I mean, that's like completely unfamiliar place. And so, so actually, I texted my mom about this last week. I think even I really appreciate her having that. Expectation for me that to go to go to church and to go to the place that was there for me at church to go to the youth ministry and you know you and I are parents we know that we can't save our kids we know that we can't you know that forcing them to go to church asking them nicely to go to church giving them an ultimatum. There's not that there's no guarantee in that we can't do that, but I am thankful that my mom valued that for me and for my life and my story that had such a significant impact. So,
  
  Caleb Effinger 15:39
  wow,
  
  Pam Gilchrist 15:39
  so just, yeah, just very thankful for that, so I started going on Sunday mornings, and there were a few people that I knew there, perhaps my future husband was there, but I don't ever remember seeing him, so did never talk to him. I was still really shy too, and then I found out that there was a new leader in the youth ministry, and that she was going to actually be my, my leader. Her name was Tia Piper, and I imagine that there are some people at FBC who, who still remember her. I had absolutely no interest in getting to know anybody else, especially her. I was, I was comfortable talking to two or three people. She walked over to me one Sunday morning, and she introduced herself, and I was like deliberately cold to her, like I'm sure I looked at her like I have absolutely no interest in getting to know you, leave me alone, and that was probably the cold one of the coldest things I've ever done to somebody that I never met, but by God's grace, that did not deter her from me. And she called me, and the youth group also had a Wednesday night thing. She invited me to go to that Wednesday night youth group, and she told me that she would pick me up to take me. Every ounce of me was like, absolutely no, I have absolutely no interest doing that. My brain is screaming that at me, and somehow the words okay escaped my mouth, and I agreed to go. So, she picked me up, and she was new to the area, and she took a wrong turn, like went the wrong direction, like got on the wrong way for the freeway, so we were supposed to be going toward downtown. We started going, you know, out to the valley, so completely wrong. And I'm from Spokane, I knew that that was the wrong way to get there, but I didn't say anything. And nice. And finally she realized it, and she started laughing at herself, and she started making a joke about it, and she's like, I just wanted to show you more, you know, more rural, so you know, God's creation, and I started laughing with her, and I know that that's a really simple story, but it's so dear to me, because it was just kind of a step in in my journey toward coming to know the Lord, and it was me beginning to feel comfortable, yeah, with her, which, yeah, there were very few people that I did feel comfortable around. So she just continued showing me love, and more than that, she spoke God's truth to me, and she, she didn't mince words, she, she particularly, you know, told me, you know, specifically told me that I was not worshiping God, I was worshiping myself, and that I had idols, and that I needed to give those up to follow the Lord, and just hearing that was very significant, and so one one day during the summer, after my freshman year of high school, I just.. I broke down crying, because I knew I was.. I was so unhappy, and literally, yeah, literally crying. But also in my heart, I cried out to God, and I told Him I wanted to give up my idols, give up worshiping myself, and I wanted to follow Him, and I love the hymn, and can it be that line in it is, I think, just perfectly describes that moment. My chains fell off, my heart was free. I rose, went forth, and followed thee. And I do have a passage that I remember being very important to me at that time too. It's Luke 646 Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I tell you? Going on through verse 49 everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like. He is like a man building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation of the rock, and when the flood arose, this dream broke against it. That house stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had built been well built, but the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation.
  
  Pam Gilchrist 19:48
  When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell. The ruin of the house was great, and, and that convicted me at that time, because I did probably say, 'Lord, Lord, but I did not do. True, that I did not do what he told. I did not build my foundation on his word, and all these years later I can look back and say that this is held true, that that having him as my foundation has has a has been a solid one, has allowed him when storms come up against it. Yeah, by His grace that has stood, and so, yeah, I, I want to say that, like, I think for a lot of people who have grown up in the church, sometimes hard to know when they actually became saved, and even after this happened, I wasn't exactly sure when I would share when I became a Christian, because I especially to like, I think in this moment I didn't pray a sinner's prayer, I didn't consciously like play out the gospel in my, my head, and of course I had grown up, you know, with the idea of asking Jesus into your heart, I know I'm sure that I had done that probably more than once, and we know, though, that that's nothing, nothing that we do. In fact, one of our global partners this morning shared the verse, Ephesians two eight and nine, by grace you've been saved through faith, not of yourselves. It's like a gift of God, and and so I know I was always, I was always chosen by the Lord to be one of His completely, completely by his grace, and so, so I think maybe getting caught up in what was the exact moment, it doesn't really matter, because I was always,
  
  Caleb Effinger 21:28
  yeah,
  
  Pam Gilchrist 21:29
  always going to, to be his, but I do come back to that moment when I was 15 a lot more now, because that is when my life significantly changed, like night, night, and day different, and it's also the moment where I made a decision that I was actively trying not to make, but I did, and that was that was just his grace in, in, you know, me beginning to follow him,
  
  Caleb Effinger 22:00
  that's a sweet testimony, and such a good reminder to just to pursue, pursue the lost and pursue a friendship. It sounds like Miss Piper pursued a friendship with you. Okay. Then, so what's your ministry involvement now?
  
  Pam Gilchrist 22:20
  My husband is currently the resident college pastor here at FBC, which I have today is a church that I have gone to since it began. Faith Bible Church didn't start until after I had become a Christian. Okay, so, and I think it.. I will say I was here at the beginning, just sort of depend on what your definition of beginning, horse and
  
  Caleb Effinger 22:44
  buggy days, yeah, the
  
  Pam Gilchrist 22:46
  wagon train, yeah, so yeah, now a few years ago we had a service at Franklin Park to kind of was like the 30th anniversary, they had had over Labor Day, it was 1992 a picnic there, and that sort of viewed as maybe the first gathering of Faith Bible Church. I believe that that happened. I've seen pictures of it, but I have no, no memory of being at that, and I actually have a different memory of being with a bunch of high school students at another park. I cannot find anybody who is around then who will confirm that that happened, so I may have been living in an alternate reality that week. So, if anybody listening remembers that, you know, please leave a comment, you know, and also like and subscribe. But actually, so yeah, my.. so it was this summer I was 16, been a believer for about a year when FBC started, and yeah, my family came at the beginning, but it has been such a significant part of my life. I mean, I think I did come because of my parents. I think also a lot of the people that I knew in the youth ministry, including our youth pastor, Jim Harper,
  
  Caleb Effinger 23:59
  okay, were part of that beginning
  
  Pam Gilchrist 24:01
  of FBC, so yeah, so those are those are the big reasons I think when you're 16, but we have been here other than when we lived in Arizona, had a lovely church there, Grace Bible Church, Tempe loved them so much, but yeah, this is where I came of age as a believer, and it's, it's where I fell in love and got married, and I think one of the biggest blessings that I can say to about the church is that we moved away, we came back, and this is where we have raised our kids, and so very thankful for that, but anyway, and now we serve in college ministry. My husband is in seminary, so it's kind of an act to for for him, for us, and in life, you know, career change. He'd been a teacher, so he's he's still in training for that. That's why he's the resident pastor, but we've been there for, I think, four years, and I. Think three years he's been, he's been that, so we were talking to somebody this morning, because I've worked most of my, you know, my whole library career, I've worked in academic libraries, I've worked in colleges, and just seen the importance of of these students, a lot of them, you know, know about about Christianity, and many of them have have churches that they've maybe gone to, but college tries to shape you wherever you are, whether it's a private school, public school, whether it is a Christian school that claims to be Christian, or even a solid Christian school, you know, you need at any time in your life, but specifically it hit me with college students, you need to be in a church that that teaches the Bible, and so it has been a blessing to be to be that for for college students, so yeah, also this year I have had a huge, huge, wonderful opportunity. I've started playing with the orchestra, and I played the viola when I was young, in school through high school. I played it at least one time after Pat at our church in Arizona, but for Christmas, my husband got my viola fixed. It needed that, and so I've been able to play, and I, at least with amongst the strings, I'm old enough to be everybody's mom, and they are all way more talented than I was, even, you know, back when I was playing regularly, and so I just appreciate John, and you know, letting me do this, and it's been a good reminder to me. I think at first I sort of joked this has been part of my midlife crisis, like running, like I've taken up a running suddenly, but it's.. it's not, and it's a reminder to me that even as I get older, God is still going to be sanctifying me for as long as I am here on her on earth, and, and so, just given, given me an opportunity, and it's humbling, like I said, they're all like super talented, I have to work hard, and I, I am trying to want, I want to honor that, I want to do the best job that I can do in playing for them, but that that has has really been a blessing doing that. So,
  
  Caleb Effinger 27:26
  what is God teaching you right now?
  
  Pam Gilchrist 27:28
  Well, it's definitely, it's not unique. Certainly, Josh is not the oldest person to ever attend seminary. I don't think he's the oldest person currently attending seminaries, so it's not, it's not usual to have this, you know, at this point in, in our life. Most of the people we know, that though, that are are serving full time in ministry were were younger, and so, so it's, it's been cool that I think God has grown me a lot in teaching me dependence and teaching me love in ways that you know He has grown me in those at other times but it just is it a in a different way because I haven't had to deal with probably the the situations that that we have now that that he's he's in that we kind of live in this different world, and so, so that, and then also I love Philippians four. It has been my favorite passage for a long time. I even have a memory of my aunt, but this was before, like, right when I was in kind of my darkest years. She encouraged me to memorize that, and I took that seriously, and, and to try to memorize a lot of it, and but it, it is been, yeah, my favorite passage for a long time, and God's word is living and active, and I'm still learning from it, and you know, and we've been talking about this in Doxa, about about anxiety, and I think it really has hit me, I need to be thankful more, I need to come to the Lord with my, my anxious thoughts and my, my prayers, and also be thankful. And so, just practicing out those verses in that way has been, has been something that I've been doing more, more recently, so yeah,
  
  Caleb Effinger 29:23
  yeah. Thanks for sharing. How can we be praying for you right now?
  
  Pam Gilchrist 29:28
  Then, well, it, you know, obviously we have a lot of uncertainty in our future, which all of us do, so we just have known uncertainty. With Josh finishing seminary, he'll finish next year. Also, that same spring our oldest son is graduating from college, and our youngest son is graduating from high school, and then our daughter is getting close to finishing college around that time too. So, just lots of next steps for our whole family, and just, I mean. Already we're certainly in that transition, we're less than a year now away from having three adult children, and so just continuing to shepherd them and also to trust God's plans for their lives, trust God's plans for our lives. What the next steps for Josh are going to be ministry wise, and yeah, for for our whole family, that we would, we would honor him wherever, wherever we go.
  
  Caleb Effinger 30:29
  Yeah, okay, we will be praying for that. A lot of, yeah, a lot of exciting changes, but yeah, with change comes uncertainty. So we'll definitely be praying for you guys now. The Seth round, or some call it the speed round. Are you ready for this?
  
  Pam Gilchrist 30:49
  I think so. Okay.
  
  Caleb Effinger 30:58
  Cats or dogs?
  
  Pam Gilchrist 30:59
  I am 100% a cat person.
  
  Caleb Effinger 31:02
  Oh, that went a different direction. Pineapple on pizza, yes or no?
  
  Pam Gilchrist 31:08
  Absolutely, yes. And it is particularly good with pepperoni.
  
  Caleb Effinger 31:13
  I gotta process this. I'll keep going though. Do you, do you have pets?
  
  Pam Gilchrist 31:18
  A beautiful cat, her name is Sly, even though I am 100% a cat person, I somehow managed to get the absolute sweetest, best dog in the history of the world. He's a black lab, and his name is Pickles.
  
  Caleb Effinger 31:36
  Yep. Favorite book, besides the Bible,
  
  Pam Gilchrist 31:39
  A Christmas carol by Charles Dickens.
  
  Caleb Effinger 31:42
  Favorite band, The
  
  Pam Gilchrist 31:45
  Beatles.
  
  Caleb Effinger 31:46
  Favorite movie or TV show.
  
  Pam Gilchrist 31:48
  I love the original Star Wars trilogy. If I have to pick like just one movie from that, I would pick The Empire Strikes Back, like any good Star Wars fan would, but I do love the original trilogy. I could not care as much about anything else, but I do love that
  
  Caleb Effinger 32:07
  best surprise gift.
  
  Pam Gilchrist 32:08
  So, I do have to do two here. The first one, it's not a personal gift, it was a surprise gift from God. It was a sister on my 10th birthday, and it was, it wasn't a surprise that my mom was going to have the baby at that point. I had two brothers, and I responded very poorly to the news that I was probably going to have a third brother. So, it was, it was a blessed gift from the Lord to have a sister, and on my birthday. Wow, that's right, yeah, yeah. So, and then on Christmas Eve, 2001 I got an engagement ring.
  
  Caleb Effinger 32:50
  Yes, yep. Okay, yeah, that's the best. What would you do with extra time if you didn't have to sleep?
  
  Pam Gilchrist 32:58
  I would actually say I have never been a big morning person. I do like, I assume that there's like night time, even though we don't have to sleep. Oh, yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. I would, I would like to, like, regularly, you know, watch, watch the sunrise, and just kind of have a nicer, like, a longer morning before I have to leave, like, just be able to enjoy the morning a little bit more slow
  
  Caleb Effinger 33:20
  into the day, yeah. Okay, all right. Favorite place to eat out in Spokane,
  
  Pam Gilchrist 33:25
  De Leon's Mexican restaurant. Oh, nice. Okay, I..
  
  Caleb Effinger 33:29
  you've given us a new idea. I don't think I've tried that. Yeah, you should.
  
  Pam Gilchrist 33:33
  I like.. there's a lot. I would not say that's my absolute favorite, but it's okay. Just one of the top ones that I can think of. So
  
  Caleb Effinger 33:38
  awesome. Well, Pam, thank you so much for your time. It's been a joy to chat through this with you, and we will pray for you.
  
  Pam Gilchrist 33:48
  Thank you so much.
  
  Caleb Effinger 33:49
  Yeah,

Caleb Effinger

Caleb and his wife, Melisa, have been members at Faith since 2025 and have two daughters. Caleb hosts our Someone You Should Know podcast and has hosted his own podcast called "Strong Courageous Men".

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