Pastor Rick Uhls is a United Methodist pastor who has been appointed to Shepherd of the Hills UMC since July of 2021. He was first appointed as Associate Pastor of the Simi Valley UMC in 1987 and has served churches in Lake Elsinore, Moorpark, Long Beach, Redondo Beach, and San Luis Obispo before being appointed to Shepherd of the Hills.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from UC Riverside, a Master of Divinity degree from Fuller Theological Seminary and has done advanced studies in Church Leadership at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.
Rick is married to Suzanne Barron and has two children, J.D. age 36, of Torrance, California who is married to Jocelyn with grandchild Shayla, and Jessica age 34, of Covington, Louisiana with grandchildren Aiden and Abby. Suzanne is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice. She is also a certified Spiritual Director. Rick and Suzanne will celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary this coming July. Their four legged children include two dogs, Shanti and Simba (in the picture) and a cat, Sage.
Pastor Uhls has led multiple work trips as part of the Arson Rebuild Project which helped to rebuild African-American Churches in the South that had been destroyed by arson. He has also led 18 youth work teams as part of the Sierra Service Project on Native American Reservations in Oregon, Nevada, California and Arizona.
In addition to his work in the church, Pastor Uhls served for 16 years as a volunteer law enforcement chaplain in Riverside and Ventura Counties where he helped to write the chaplain program for both the Sheriff’s Department in both counties. For nine of those years, he also served as a Reserve Deputy Sheriff in Riverside County.
When not working, he enjoys fishing, cooking and golf although he admits to often playing two fairways at once.