Messages | Shepherd in a Shed

Welcome to the ShepherdInAShed home page.

Shepherd in a shed is the pastoral ministry of Pastor J.Rob Porterfield. Through this portal my goal is to feed the lambs, shepherd the sheep, and feed the sheep as Jesus instructed Peter at his restoration.

I was almost literally born in a church as my family was living in the kitchen of Hopland Baptist Church in Hopland, California at the time of my birth. I was actively involved in leadership from my teen years. I was called into ministry in 1979 and led or was a part of worship leadership on a bi-vocational basis until 2004 when I left the high-tech software industry to focus on ministry.

The next 10 years was the most challenging of my life. I attended seminary and led worship in struggling churches. Due to a series of traumatic events during that period at the hands of various "Christians", I gave up on church leadership in about 2017 and stopped regularly attending church in 2019.

My life experience along side years of Bible research has taught me that only about 10% of what is practiced in "The Church" is actually the teachings of Christ and his apostles. About 90% is traditions of men that are distortions of, mis-prioritizations of, or directly opposed to Christ's teachings. Therefore I now carefully distinguish between "churchianity" and Christianity and between "churchians" and Christians. I love Christ and I love gathering with Christians. I have no use for churchianity.

So the purpose of this ministry is to be a Shepherd of the Shepherdless and to help Christians become unchained from the bondage of "The Church" and to restore the freedom, power, fellowship, and love we have in Christ.

In Christ,

Pastor J.Rob
Shepherd in a Shed