Pastor Raymond

Pastor Raymond was born at Sylvan Lake, Alberta, Canada.  He is the second in a family of thirteen children, born to Ray & Irene (Matson) Hilman and the eldest of eight boys.  After High School, he worked in plumbing and heating, as deckhand on oil-drilling rigs, drove a long distance car-hauling truck and helped his uncles on their farms. Raymond attended the University of Alberta in Engineering and worked for Dow Chemical as a plant operator and engineer for about six years before being called into the ministry.

He felt the Lord’s call to attend the Inter-Lutheran Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  After graduation, he served an internship under Pastor Andrew Mickelsen in Hancock, Michigan, before being called to pastor the Negaunee, Michigan Congregation where he served for twelve years.  With a God-given vision for the future of the youth, he was instrumental in the establishing of Bible Camp and Youth Rally ministries.  They both continue to minister to young and old and to promote unity and fellowship among the participating Congregations.

Pastor Raymond then accepted a call to Esko, Minnesota where he served as Sr. Pastor for thirteen years before moving to Washington to Pastor the Vancouver ALC Congregation.  After just over ten years there and looking at semi-retirement, he felt the Lord’s call very strongly to accept the call to Pastor the Eastside ALC in Greer, SC. He married June Hornby in June of 1967 and together they raised three sons, Kent, Kevin and Ross, as well as a daughter, Rachel.  June passed away in 1997 after a fourteen year battle with cancer.

Raymond married Marlene Seppanen in 1999 who had lost her husband, Ron to cancer in 1992.  Marlene has a son, Tim, in Michigan, and a daughter, Rachel in St Louis, Missouri.