He gave dozens of “Pianistic Pilgrim’s Progress” and “Listen to Love” concerts, weaving his musical journey into his Christian testimony. He played piano weekly at New Life until his final Sunday in worship, desiring to bring glory to God who had been so gracious to him. George always wanted to live to see 88 years, as that was the number of keys on a piano, and the Lord honored that hope. He even took him home on the Lord’s Day, George’s favorite day of every week.

George Chistopher Miladin, born January 19, 1935, in Long Beach, CA, went to be with the Lord on July 2, 2023, in his home in La Mesa, CA, after a short illness from a malignant brain tumor.

He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Londa, son Christopher (Cheryl) Miladin, daughter Jennifer (Bob) Cordell, five grandchildren and four great- grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his brother, Jimmy.

A memorial service will be held on August 12, 2023 at 3 pm at New Life Presbyterian Church, 5333 Lake Murray Blvd., La Mesa, CA. A dinner reception will follow.

The testimony of George’s life is God’s sovereign grace which transformed a self-seeking nightclub piano player into a grateful servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.

His piano career started at age 5 when his mother discovered he had perfect pitch. By age 12, he was playing the heavy classics but changed to playing the trumpet in high school. From 12 to 20 were years spent in rebellion – no more piano, no more Sunday School, and no more thinking about God. He excelled at trumpet, playing a brief stint with the Lawrence Welk band at the Aragon Ballroom and spending most of a summer at the National Music Camp at Interlochen, Michigan, where he became ill with pneumonia.

Unable to practice trumpet, he lost his embouchure, which brought him back to the piano. George shifted gears to popular music, practicing two hours every day. By night, he performed in night clubs and piano bars in Hollywood and Beverly Hills and, by day, attended UCLA. When George was 19, he met Johnny Grant, a local Hollywood disc jockey, who invited him to join his band to travel overseas and entertain U.S. troops. This opportunity took him to Japan, Korea, and Europe as Musical Director of Grant’s overseas shows.

After returning to Los Angeles, he continued at UCLA, majoring in music and minoring in history. During these years, God used two events in his life to draw George to himself. When a young starlet George accompanied attempted suicide, he was affected deeply and began to think of the reality of eternity. God then use a young Christian to invite George to study the Gospel of John and attend University Bible Church. After several months, George bowed the knee to Jesus as his Savior. He began playing piano for the worship services. It was at UBC that George met Londa, and they married in 1958. George taught 8th grade music and Boys’ Chorus for two years, while they lived in Santa Monica. Following that, they moved to St. Louis, MO, where he taught Music Theory at Covenant College.

In 1965, Londa convinced George that, even with two small children, they could handle his attending seminary. George enrolled at Covenant Seminary and, upon graduating, was ordained and called to be the church planter of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Woodland Hills, CA.

The Miladins moved east when George accepted the call as pastor of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Lookout Mountain, GA, located across the road from Covenant College. In 1977, he accepted the call of the Point Loma Orthodox Presbyterian Church (now New Life PCA) in La Mesa, CA. The story is that George was enticed to accept the call with a large manila envelope full of menus from Mexican restaurants around San Diego.

The Miladin family arrived in San Diego on January 1, 1978, and George immediately set his sights toward outreach and evangelism. No one would describe George as an extrovert, but he was with the gospel. God used him mightily to spread the Good News: knocking on doors, planning outreach events, playing concerts, etc. He loved to tell the story of his Savior and regularly turned casual conversation to the Lord. He faithfully pastored his flock at New Life for over 27 years, until his retirement in October 2005.

In the years following, after a brief call as a church planter in the mountains east of San Diego, he grew into his role as “Pastor to All.” He particularly enjoyed teaching and preaching on the Gospel of John and the books of Hebrews and Romans. Over the years, he pastored, baptized, married, and taught hundreds of people who remained near and dear to him. He authored several books on Reformed faith and life, one of which has been translated to Spanish. Thousands of copies have been used to train Spanish-speaking Reformed ministers.

George became known as “the piano playing pastor” and combined his progressive jazz style of piano playing with sacred hymns and arranged and recorded four albums (to listen to some of his playing go here, here, here, here, and here).

He also developed an instructional piano course called “See and Hear Piano Series” which has taught hundreds of pianists to play professional sounding arrangements of pop ballads and Christian hymns. One highlight was being sought out by RC Sproul at a conference to help RC with his piano playing. He gave dozens of “Pianistic Pilgrim’s Progress” and “Listen to Love” concerts, weaving his musical journey into his Christian testimony. He played piano weekly at New Life until his final Sunday in worship, desiring to bring glory to God who had been so gracious to him. George always wanted to live to see 88 years, as that was the number of keys on a piano, and the Lord honored that hope. He even took him home on the Lord’s Day, George’s favorite day of every week.

Miladin wrote several books that were extensions of his pastoral teaching:

Is This Really the End? A Reformed Analysis of The Late Great Planet Earth (1972).

The Reformed Faith for the World Today and Tomorrow (1974); (translated into Spanish as Le Fe Reformada)

Getting It Together in the Home: A How to Do It Manual on Family Devotions (1975).

Revolution, Martyrdom, Flight and Reconstruction: A Timely Study of Today’s Christians and Their Relationship to the “Powers that Be” (1976).

Knowing and Growing: A 5-Part Study Manual for New (and Old) Believers Personal Evangelism Made Less Difficult (1995).