Ben Patterson

The Reverend Ben Patterson has been campus pastor at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California, since 2001. He is responsible for organizing the college's chapel program, mentoring students, counseling, and encouraging every person in the Westmont community to grow toward their full maturity in Christ. He is a contributing editor to Christianity Today and Leadership Journal. Previously he was a contributing editor and editorial writer with The Wittenburg Door. Ben has written several books, including Serving God: The Grand Essentials of Work & Worship, Waiting: Finding Hope When God Seems Silent, Deepening Your Conversation with God, The Prayer Devotional Bible, and He Has Made Me Glad. Ben's most current work, which was released in November 2008, is God's Prayer Book: The Power and Pleasure of Praying the Psalms. Ben served the New Providence Presbyterian Church of New Jersey from 1989 until his appointment as dean of the chapel at Hope College in 1993. From 1975 to 1998 he served as the founding pastor of the Irvine Presbyterian Church in California. Ben was also minister of youth and adult education at the La Jolla Presbyterian Church in California. Previous to that he was assistant minister to college students at the First Baptist Church of Pomona, California, working with the Claremont Colleges. Ben earned his bachelor's degree from La Verne University and his master of divinity from the American Baptist Seminary of the West. He and his wife, Lauretta, have four grown children, Dan, Joel, Andy, and Mary.