BANGOR – Bob Evans discovered in the unforgiving waters of the Gulf of Alaska what the early Christian mystics found in the deserts of the Holy Land: a desire to live according to God’s will.

After more than two decades as a commercial fisherman in Sitka, Alaska, Evans sold his boat and moved with his wife and two children in 2000 to study for the ministry in Bangor.

Evans, 57, is one of 25 people who will receive their divinity degrees Friday at Bangor Theological Seminary’s 185th commencement.

It was the third major career move for Evans, who spent the 1970s as a professional musician and toured with Barbara Mandrell, playing lead guitar for the country music star.

Cliff Guthrie, who teaches preaching techniques to students at the seminary, said Evans’ careers as a fisherman and musician make him a strong preacher.

“He relates well to folks in the pews, particularly to men who are looking for a spiritual role model,” Guthrie said. “He has a passion for theology which helps him understand that what we believe really matters in this world.”

Evans acknowledged the role of the ocean in his spiritual life.

“The ocean either lets you live or it doesn’t,” he said. “And if you live by the will of the ocean, you live. If you don’t, you die.

“I can only imagine, but I suppose that’s what it’s like in the desert. That’s the story the mystics told, and they related their experiences to living in God’s will or living against God’s will.”

Born and raised in the timber country of northern Idaho, Evans attended church until he was 14.

He left when the answers to his questions didn’t satisfy him.

He became a Buddhist. In 1990, Evans said, he found a Presbyterian congregation that would put up with his anger, challenges and questions and helped him find some answers.

“The biggest struggle I had with the churches I attended when I was younger,” he said, “is that they tried very hard to interpret everything literally and I could not understand that. I couldn’t grasp the literal meanings of the texts. The references to Resurrection and to the kingdom of God all seemed too literal to me in ways they were talking about them.

“I didn’t know there were other ways to think about it until I started going to the Presbyterian church,” Evans said. “I found out you can think of it in different terms and that was exciting for me. … I found out there was a whole great big conversation going on that I had been sheltered from in youth.”

Like his fellow students, Evans believes he was led to ministry by Christ. And, like others at the seminary, he has had the opportunity to develop as a minister with members of Kenduskeag Union Church for the past three years.

Mary Dorchester, 67, of Kenduskeag – and an active church member since 1987 – said that the congregation would miss Evans “like we would miss an arm or a family member.”

“His background made him highly respected by those who have lived and still live in the workaday world,” Dorchester said. “He knows what it is to lead a difficult life and try to put into his living the answers to the questions that we all ask.

“We go to church to wrestle with ourselves and the universe or however you perceive God,” Dorchester said. “He’s good at wrestling together with us, particularly over an ancient Bible passage.”

Dorchester described Evans as a “remarkably caring person, excellent preacher and interesting personality.” She said his care for the sick was greatly appreciated by the congregation, and that his Bible study class regularly drew 10 to 12 participants.

Evans had high praise for the congregation as well.

“I’ve learned as much from them, as I’ve learned at the seminary,” he said. “They’ve been wonderful mentors. They helped me practice teaching and they helped me in their openness to know what it really is to be loved by a congregation and to love a congregation.”

Evans must complete his bachelor’s degree before he can be ordained by the Presbyterian (U.S.A.) denomination. He and his family, which has increased by one since moving to Maine, will return to Alaska this summer after a flurry of graduations.

His son, Shawn Evans, 19, graduated from Eastern Maine Community College in Bangor on Saturday. His daughter, Shannon Evans, 18, is to graduate from Bangor High School on June 6. His son plans to remain in the state and attend Maine Maritime Academy in Castine.

Evans and his wife, Susan Evans, 39, also are raising their great-nephew, 41/2-year-old Zain Evans.

Bob Evans will leave the Bangor seminary with words he and some of his classmates had to come up with as part of an assignment: They wrote their own epitaphs.

Evans said that it was a difficult task, but he finally found words that summed up his life’s journey: “God wouldn’t leave me alone. Thank God.”