Strange day to say the least.
I know, it is Tuesday June 30, 2015. But for me it is the end of journey.
In the fall of 1979, I was a sophomore at
Northern Illinois University. I was
hired to clean the Wesley Foundation on Campus and in the process I met the new
pastor for the Co-op ministries of the Presbyterians, Disciples of Christ and
UCC churches. We became fast friends.
I had been wrestling with my call to
ministry, and Gordy helped me to see what God was desiring of me. He invited me to be a part of the ministry
(there wasn’t much going on) and we started a campus worship service. Soon we had more students involved than the
United Methodists so they asked us to move out of the building. I had my first experience in church planting
as we rented a storefront and began to meet there.
It was there, that I preached my first
sermon (I feel sorry for those who had to sit quietly and listen), and it was
also there that I lead communion for the first time. By the time I was a senior, I had made the decision
to attend The Divinity School at Duke University.
Three great things came out of my time at
Duke. Most importantly, it was there
that I met fellow student Nancy Hollowell.
I also met many lifelong friends, including Mark Wilkins (who I met the first
day of school). Duke helped shaped my
ability to think, I added to the foundation that I had been taught at home and
at NIU --- that it was OK to think outside the box, that it was OK to not toe
the company line. (It did cost me an “A” in one class --- but that is another
story).
36 years ago, I embarked on a journey toward
ordained ministry in the United Methodist Church. Every stop along the way, has helped make me
the person (for good and bad) that I am today.
My first church that I served was as an intern in rural North Carolina
--- the church name eludes me (Mt Pleasant maybe?) --- the pastor there was
insistent that you never say goodbye. It
was a strange time. Then I served as
youth intern at Duke Memorial. The Sr
Pastor and I did not get along, but he gave me a gift. It was there that I met Nancy. The Pastor had been her Pastor in High School
so she attending. My life was
transformed because of it. Tom will
never know what a gift he gave me! Then
I was a student pastor at Richfield-New Mount Tabor churches, about 110 miles
west of Duke. I commuted back and forth
to school.
I wish I still had connections there. Because I need to tell them THANKS. They were there for me when Stewart got sick
and died. More than any other church I have
served --- they helped to shape who I am today.
I served four Churches in Indiana: Pretty
Lake Trinity, just outside Plymouth, Celebration in Warsaw, Simpson in Fort
Wayne and Ridge in Munster. I hope that
at each one I helped people to realize that God loves them ANYWAY. That God’s love cannot
be earned, nor can we stop God from loving us.
And even as I say “goodbye” to parish
ministry, I know that message will always ring in me.
What drew me to ministry was two things:
First, helping people know that they are of value. I think if you look over my years that is the
overarching theme. But the second theme,
and I always struggled with the tension that it can create with the first, is
that God desires us to be just.
The prophets are what draw me to God. The prophets are what I like to read and
study. Whether we are talking about the
prophets of old: Moses, Joshua, Isaiah, Nahum, Ezekiel, Zephaniah, etc., or the
great prophet Jesus. They challenge me,
they humble me, they inspire me.
It is that tension that led me to where I am
today. I believe that I have been called
to where I am. God desires that I be a
voice in the wilderness for some of what society often feels is the least of
its children. The people of TradeWinds
inspire me, and have given me a new outlook on life.
Yes, today is a strange day. I say goodbye to Ridge Church. I say goodbye to pastoral ministry. But at the same time, I say yes --- yes to
loving and speaking out for those we often forget.
