Church activity prepared McBride for the pulpit

COLFAX - Ed McBride has been in a position he never planned to be in, yet experiences for almost 50 years have prepared him for it.

McBride grew up in Potlatch, Idaho, where he met a girl named Connie in the first-grade who later became his wife. They moved to Colfax in 1972 and became members of the United Methodist Church.

Unexpectedly, McBride is now the lay pastor of the church, a role that is helping to fill the void created by the loss of Connie almost a year ago.

A lay pastor is someone who is not a seminary graduate. McBride has long been a lay servant, filling in for the congregation'...