Two Decades In The Same Seat You're In
I'm Gabe Kolstad — lead pastor of Westside Community Church in Beaverton, Oregon since 2007, and a coach for pastors carrying more than any one person was meant to carry. I've felt the plateau and the burnout, and I've built the habits that let me lead with clarity and health instead of running on empty.
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Pastor First. Coach Second.
I've spent nearly two decades in the weekly work of leading a church — and more than a decade coaching other pastors and ministry leaders through the same terrain. Here's the ground I'm standing on when I sit down with you.
Lead Pastor since 2007
I've led Westside Community Church in Beaverton, Oregon for the better part of two decades — named by Outreach Magazine one of the Top 100 Reproducing Churches in America.
Founder of Multiply PDX
I started a church-planting network to help emerging leaders launch and lead healthy churches across the Pacific Northwest.
Certified High Performance Coach
For over a decade I've coached pastors and ministry teams to break through plateaus and build habits that last — clarity, health, and sustainable momentum.
Author & podcast host
I've written three books on marriage, faith, and church leadership, and I host the podcasts "Jesus in the Upper Left" and "Marriage Monthly."
How I Got Here
From the time I was five years old, I was fascinated with spiritual leadership. As kids, we played church in the neighborhood. Moving around a lot exposed me to a lot of faces and places, and it stoked my love of creativity, possibility, and the adventure of working in God's Kingdom.
As a young adult I was hungry to see the world and figure out how I could make a dent in it for good. When I married my wife, Melissa, we were serving and leading high school students — then married couples, then eventually a whole church, and now a network of churches. So I know what it's like to walk through the ups and downs, the big thrills and the big disappointments.
Sometimes it can seem like the most successful leaders had it handed to them on a silver platter. That's never been our experience. Through the highs and the lows, I discovered there's a proven way to lead with clarity, confidence, and joy — habits and strategies that create lasting fruit instead of quiet burnout. That's exactly what I bring to coaching now.
The Ministry And The Leadership Science
When I coach pastors, I bring both halves together — the pastoral insight and the leadership habits that keep a church, and its pastor, healthy. Not theory from the sidelines. The same practices I use to lead a growing church while staying whole myself, worked out with you, pastor to pastor.
See how I coach pastors — the Next Level Pastor Cohort →Not Sure Where You're Stretched?
Take the free Healthy Pastor Scorecard — a short, honest look at four areas of your health and leadership, with one step you can take this week.
Take the free Scorecard →