The First Fifteen

Today I begin a new epoch in the daily writing routine. The Leadership Journal is off for editing and print and I have had an itch that needs scratching. For some reason, this year feels different to me and I noticed that it is my fifteenth year at Christ Mission at Northwest Church (check out the beginnings of a new web community – www.christisgood.org). There are so many stories that I want to tell. Some I probably shouldn’t share because some embarrassed soul will get upset. But why let that stop me - they were already mad at me when they left. I can’t wait to tell the great stories. Oh, those humble heroes that I have had the privilege to serve with will certainly blush but God will get the glory.

I wish someone had sat down and shared with me all of the good and bad that they faced! I wish when I was younger that I would have listened more to those wise, seasoned, successful men and women who did share. Perhaps this will help a few people – perhaps not. Either way, I am inspired, encouraged, and intent on reviewing everything that I have learned in the First Fifteen Years.

I am most certain that I will learn many new lessons as I recall and write these true stories from my First Fifteen Years here. They have been wonderful and at times terribly concerning years. Heroes have fallen and nobodys have risen to the heights of leadership to successfully lead the ranks to God. Facades have collapsed and character has been built as a band of brothers and sisters walked together.

So as I approach the mark in March 2006, I hope you will enjoy walking with me down the halls of the Church. I can’t wait – we start tomorrow. Tell a friend, invite a co-worker to join us. They will see with proper transparency that people can grow, find peace and live for God. They will see that real people, facing real battles can find success. They may see their life, they will most certainly laugh, they may cry but they will most certainly also find hope.

It has been a great Fifteen Years. Here’s a toast to all of you who I have had the privilege of walking with - “Hear! Hear!”

1991 - Chris Pyron

Most people don't even remember Chris Pyron.  I readily remember two stories about Chris - the day that I first heard him preach and the day that I met him.  Chris was the Youth Minister/Associate Pastor of Northwest Baptist Church when it was just over 3 years old.  The congregation was vibrant and seeking to grow.  Chris was working bi-vocationally for this new startup church. 

The first time that I heard him preach was well into my first year of ministry.  I don't remember the exact topic but I remember that it had to do with prayer and a Scripture that taught of the frivality of meaningless, repetitive words spoken to the Father.  His point was good - we should speak to God as our Father and intimately - but he went on and on speaking against those people who said, "Lord God.." several times in their prayer. 

When Karin and I first met Chris, we were at the Family Christian Bookstore in Town Center Mall.  The bookstore was renting about 20 of the possible 30 contemporary Christian videos on the market.  Somehow we said "Hi" and talk moved to what we did.  We spoke of our passion to Youth Ministry and he spoke of the neat church that he attended.  He invited us to come sometime.  He was down to earth, nice and, as you will see, humble.

Karin and I had just recently left our first church where we served for two years as bi-vocational youth ministers.  Karin worked in architecture and I in banking.  We knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God wanted us to leave but we had no idea what ministry we would end up serving in.

Back at Northwest, the Personnel Committee realized that the Associate Pastor and Youth Ministries could not be done well by the same person and they asked Chris to choose one of the two positions.  Fully expecting Chris to choose Youth Ministry, the team was more than surprised when he chose Associate Pastor.  They were on their fourth youth minister in less years and had not anticipated the need to find a new one.

A week later, Karin and I showed up at Northwest.  Within 2 months we were on staff being evaluated for a part time Youth Ministry role (my starting salary was a whopping $50 per month).

Chris never told us of his challenges and the direction of God.  Chris never made a big deal about being on staff.  Chris just promoted Christ, His church and the Work of God that was going on.  Chris had a light in his eyes and a passion to tell strangers - saved and unsaved - about God.  Chris' heart for God and others was used by God to lead us to Northwest.  Chris' humility about the position that God had given him in ministry will always be remembered by me.  He was far more concerned about us and others than "what God was doing with him."

2005 Bill and Beverly Hawes

I remember who introduced me to Bill and Beverly and I remember when they introduced us.  I remember hearing a hodge-podge band play 50's tunes for an evangelistic dinner theatre.  I remember going to "The Nutcracker" to watch the students from their dance studio.  I remember meeting their kids and helping at their daughter's wedding.  I remember much about them.

I uniquely remember one of the highest compliments I have ever been paid coming from Bill's mouth at a Mexican Restaurant in the Towne Lake area of town.  He simply chuckled to himself and I asked, "What's up?"  The whole family was there and Karin and Bev were talking about everything.  Isaac was playing with Brittany - I think maybe flirting.  "I just can't believe I am sitting here with my pastor having Mexican Food in Towne Lake," Bill replied. 

"Why wouldn't we have dinner - we are friends?"
"It just isn't this way other places.  We just started going to church here and..."

God taught me something awesome that night and called me to the way of Bob Canuette and so many other great pastors.  God called me back to "the pastoring of old" instead of leading an organization.  It was already part of my life and our church's culture but God burned the desire to touch people's lives up close and not their worlds from far away.  People want and need people.

As you may have guessed, Bill and Beverly have moved on - it's okay, people decide to leave.  As I miss them, I will ponder how we got from "This is so awesome..." to them leaving without saying, "Goodbye."   Perhaps, we all just got too busy to have dinner anymore but it is sad that they left without feeling that connection to the people anymore.  Their world here became the ministry that they did rather than the family that they had.  I wonder what would have happnened if they and the family here had dinner more often instead of just doing and then runnig to the next thing in life?  I think that no matter the outcome the goodbye would have been more like the hello.

Nonetheless, in their coming and their going, I was reminded by God of the way of the pastor and the need for family to spend quality time together without any pretensions or work at hand.

1992 Wanda Amos

I doubt if there are many people left at Northwest who remember the Amoses.  I really think in the long term that Charles and I could have built quite a friendship.  He was a really hard working, blue collar kind of guy.  He was down to earth and easy to talk to.  Even I don't remember what Wanda did, if anything, outside the home.  When I first met them was during my review teaching at Northwest.  The Church in those few weeks was kind of "test driving" me to see if I would mesh with the 3 kids that were in their youth group.  The group had a potential of maybe 10 but really it was 3 or 4 kids who had been given leader after leader with no constancy.

The Amos kid, and the rest, liked me and I was in for a six month probationary period (these people had really been burned).  Everyone was excited to have a new youth guy and life was "rocking".  I cruised below the radar for the first weeks, getting my feet wet and trying to figure out what we were going to do.  I invited anyone who wanted to be involved in Youth Ministry to our little house on Allyn Drive.  13 adults showed up and among them was Wanda.

I expected her to be there.  She needed to be there and deserved a bit of honor.  Wanda had consistently hung in there through leader after leader and in the last void she had fundamentally lead the charge of parents as the "unofficial" interim leader.  The 12 were excited and Wanda was visibly hesitant.  As I led group dynamics ice breakers and began a dream of what it could be session, Wanda went from hesitant to hot.  She could see the momentum, the excitement and the movement but she could not get on board.  She countered every idea and when I asked for volunteers to plan food for summer camp she exclaimed, "That has always been my job.  If I don't do it, then I have nothing left.  You have taken everything that I do away!"  The tears began to flow.  I felt for her, as did the group, "Wanda if you really want to do the food then you can do it but I need you to do it within the budget.  Wanda there may come a time when you let others do some things if we want the ministry to grow."  She silently took the task of food.

The ministry took off and the group doubled, tripled and quadrupled to a hole 12 regulars.  As it continued to grow, we continued to have meetings, dream dreams and assign leadership responsibilities to the team.  As we trained and championed ministry, Wanda made a critical decision.  Instead of embracing the new help in the "effort to reach the youth in our community" and making new friends within the team, she isolated herself and compared everything to "what she dreamed it could be."  It does not take a genuis to write the end of this story, only a realist.  It is very difficult for someone who makes such a choice to come back to the group.  Life moves quickly and people who are doing something productive have little respect or time to pamper and try to win someone who calls herself a leader but acts like a self-centered, pouty loner. 

The team was together for years and won hundreds to Christ.  Wanda left the church with her husband Charles who I never got to know.  The team grew in phenomenol ways.  Wanda left the church angry after many failed coups.  The team found the value of the Body and found something they could do with God.  Wanda found loneliness.

I really have no idea whatever happened to the Amoses.  We just had to finally move on after trying to work it out and reach out many times over.  I am glad we moved on because kids got saved.  I am sad that Wanda did not move on.  She had such a passion, such a drive and such a want to really help kids.  It just got all mixed up in "who would lead the charge" and in the end she lost it.  She was a really neat lady that got spoiled by jealousy and anger at a team that really tried to embrace and honor her.  I have always hoped she worked through it and became an incredible servant in whatever new ministry.  I hope she led hundreds or thousands of her own.

I learned much from Wanda.

1995 Jack Rickman

Jack Rickman - builder, business owner, friend, older guy, big heart.  Jack is a great guy.  I think he is going to Elizabeth Baptist Church on Bells Ferry Road in Marietta, Georgia.  I am certain that if he is going there then they know he is there.  He cannot be there without serving, helping and smiling. 

I first got to know Jack as our church built a 5,000 foot expansion onto our existing building.  Jack owned ACME Lumber and Hardware and provided most of the items at cost.  He was on the Church Council (wow, remember those long gone days!) and a deacon in the church.  Jack listened and worked with people.  I remember the first time I really noticed him.  He was about to kill a younger builder named Dart Kendall - a fellow church member - who had not yet mastered working well with others.  Not that Jack was not opinionated but Dart drove him nuts - "It has to be done this way....", Dart would say as Jack tried to lead.

Over time though, Jack stands out in my mind as gentle, slow-to-react but firm in decision.  He is to me, fair and even.  Jack left our church about 7 or 8 years into its development.  He was one of the founders and his grown kids went to the church as well.  Jack left after a horrible year and a half in the life of our church.  The then pastor's wife left with a church member, the pastor's daughter was diagnosed with terminal cancer, the music minisiter launched a coup, the pastor's wife processed a divorce against his will and in the middle of all of it, the church was transitioning from traditional deacon led to a more Biblical elder led leadership model.

Jack did not take sides nor open his mouth publically about the pastor's wife and her filing a divorce.  Jack did not take sides in the music coup and to this day I don't know that he ever stated a public opinion but sought for everyone to find resolution and peace.  Jack did nothing but care for and support the pastor's family and his daughter.   Jack flinched a bit when the pastor announced, "we need to vote and decide the church's stance because I believe that I am free to re-marry and I intend to one day and you all need to know that you can support it."  However, Jack understood his mission and still did not leave  - he had given all and felt led to start and champion this ministry for the community.  Jack did not leave when his kids left.  Jack did not leave when his friends left.  Jack did not join the pack animal behavior of most of the rest of the deacons.  Jack did not gossip.  Jack finally left when the vote came for the Elder Leadership system.  Even then Jack never was disrespectful.  He simply stated - to leadership - that he did not believe that he could make that change.  Jack and Mimi left.

Jack still checked in on the old pastor and when I became pastor, Jack came by to encourage me.  When we added on our last addition, Jack came by to offer his support and planning help.  Jack smiles when he sees all his old friends.  Jack did not run to the "hip" church that so many others left to go to.  Jack and Mimi sought the Lord.  Jack continued to do community ministry.  Jack loves me.  Jack loves God.  Jack understands that God is in charge and is comfortable with his decisions - therefore he can support others in theirs.

I am certain that Jack has an opinion but I don't know it.  I just know that Jack gets major points for following His God and trusting others to follow their God (the same God).  I know that to this day - no matter the disaster of that era, the split friendships of others, the pain of all that trial, the exhaustion of it all that may have led Jack and others to move, and the pain of leaving home - no matter it all - Jack loves me.

More importantly, Jack has continued to love everyone and stay out of the human fray.  Perhaps behind the scenes somewhere with someone else, Jack struggled with all of this but the result of Jack's life is to continue to seek the best for the Kingdom not only where he was led but where he left and where he was not led.  Jack loved us despite it all.  That is character.  Jack chose his own path with God and convicted no one else of theirs.  That is wisdom.