MY LAST PASTORAL MOVE
I enjoyed my ministry at Kamloops Alliance Church. A couple of the highlights were some of the guest speakers that were there during my tenure. We were abundantly blessed to have Ravi Zacharias share with us for one whole week, a Sunday through Friday. Since those early years of his ministry he has become very well known around the world. Today we are blessed by his weekly television ministry, Let My People Think, aired each Sunday.
We hosted a four day prophecy weekend a couple of times. I've forgotten some of those speakers, but one that I will never forget was a favorite radio preacher of my Dad's. Dr. Lehman Strauss was with us for one of those prophecy events. I had a few of his commentaries, but after he got back to his home, he sent about ten more of his books to me, as a gift. What a gift!
I'll never forget his sense of humor, which was evident at a Saturday morning brunch. One of our senior ladies was there at the brunch. She told Dr. Strauss that she had come from Wales. He said to her, "I've met people who believed that we descended from monkeys, but you are the first person that I've met that said they came from whales." We all had a good laugh. One other memory of him is that I had the privilege of taking him to the Kamloops airport. We sat and talked and I picked his brain as to what he did for his personal devotional time. I finally left him, but once I got out to the parking lot, I wanted to hear more so went back in and stayed with him until he boarded the airplane.
Well, I don't consider myself as being restless, but I must confess that I felt that maybe it was time to move on again. I reached my 59th birthday in 1990. Perhaps there was one more pastoral ministry for me, somewhere in BC, before retirement. I shared in a previous post or two that it was drilled into me that a pastor should never over stay. I may have been more sensitive to that than some, but right or wrong, I decided that it was time to move on. If I were starting over on this pastoral journey, I think that I would aim for longer tenures. Churches suffer under short term pastors and I am a strong believer now, that pastors would grow more if they stayed longer. However, I can't change the past. It's over and done.
I informed my district superintendent of my intention to leave Kamloops. Later, when attending the Canadian C&MA General Assembly in Quebec City in June 1990, my superintendent, Gordon Fowler, called me aside one day and shared with me that Sevenoaks Alliance Church in Abbotsford, BC was looking for a pastor for personal ministries, which was basically a pastoral care ministry. Gordon had commended me, on previous visits with me in Kamloops, for my pastoral care and visitation ministry and thought that I would fit in well at Sevenoaks.
We hosted a four day prophecy weekend a couple of times. I've forgotten some of those speakers, but one that I will never forget was a favorite radio preacher of my Dad's. Dr. Lehman Strauss was with us for one of those prophecy events. I had a few of his commentaries, but after he got back to his home, he sent about ten more of his books to me, as a gift. What a gift!
I'll never forget his sense of humor, which was evident at a Saturday morning brunch. One of our senior ladies was there at the brunch. She told Dr. Strauss that she had come from Wales. He said to her, "I've met people who believed that we descended from monkeys, but you are the first person that I've met that said they came from whales." We all had a good laugh. One other memory of him is that I had the privilege of taking him to the Kamloops airport. We sat and talked and I picked his brain as to what he did for his personal devotional time. I finally left him, but once I got out to the parking lot, I wanted to hear more so went back in and stayed with him until he boarded the airplane.
Dan, Lehman Strauss & Ken Simon, our youth pastor
Well, I don't consider myself as being restless, but I must confess that I felt that maybe it was time to move on again. I reached my 59th birthday in 1990. Perhaps there was one more pastoral ministry for me, somewhere in BC, before retirement. I shared in a previous post or two that it was drilled into me that a pastor should never over stay. I may have been more sensitive to that than some, but right or wrong, I decided that it was time to move on. If I were starting over on this pastoral journey, I think that I would aim for longer tenures. Churches suffer under short term pastors and I am a strong believer now, that pastors would grow more if they stayed longer. However, I can't change the past. It's over and done.
I informed my district superintendent of my intention to leave Kamloops. Later, when attending the Canadian C&MA General Assembly in Quebec City in June 1990, my superintendent, Gordon Fowler, called me aside one day and shared with me that Sevenoaks Alliance Church in Abbotsford, BC was looking for a pastor for personal ministries, which was basically a pastoral care ministry. Gordon had commended me, on previous visits with me in Kamloops, for my pastoral care and visitation ministry and thought that I would fit in well at Sevenoaks.
I had heard a great deal about Sevenoaks. In the 1980's, Sevenoaks Alliance Church, after having given birth to at least three daughter churches, was still considered Canada's largest Alliance church.
Well, I had a few days to pray and think about the Sevenoaks position and what the district superintendent had shared with me. I wrestled with the fact that I would no longer be a senior pastor or doing much preaching, if I went to Sevenoaks. Preaching and being the lead pastor in a church had been my role for nearly thirty-two years. However, as I pondered and prayed about this new role, I remembered that I was getting older and not too many churches want to hire a senior pastor that is due to retire soon. I also thought that maybe this ministry would be a good way for me to conclude my pastoral journey.
About three or four days following the assembly in Quebec City, Leona and I flew to England with my brother David and sister-in-law Helen. The morning prior to our afternoon flight out of Detroit for England, I phoned the superintendent to say that I would be willing to meet with the Sevenoaks Alliance Church board of elders after my return home. In late July, I met with the elders at Sevenoaks and was welcomed as the tenth staff pastor of Sevenoaks Alliance Church, moving into my office Monday morning August 20, 1990. I was no longer the senior pastor or lead pastor of a church, but just one of ten pastors. It was a time of transition for the Abbotsford church, having lost three pastors in the previous five months. The Sunday attendance was also beginning to decline at Sevenoaks. However, when I arrived 1,700 people were still coming Sunday mornings. That was a mighty exciting ministry for me and to have the opportunity of preaching to the same now and then, wow! I couldn't believe it. It was quite a contrast to the twenty or twenty-five people that showed up Sunday mornings in my first church in Lac La Biche, Alberta.
About three or four days following the assembly in Quebec City, Leona and I flew to England with my brother David and sister-in-law Helen. The morning prior to our afternoon flight out of Detroit for England, I phoned the superintendent to say that I would be willing to meet with the Sevenoaks Alliance Church board of elders after my return home. In late July, I met with the elders at Sevenoaks and was welcomed as the tenth staff pastor of Sevenoaks Alliance Church, moving into my office Monday morning August 20, 1990. I was no longer the senior pastor or lead pastor of a church, but just one of ten pastors. It was a time of transition for the Abbotsford church, having lost three pastors in the previous five months. The Sunday attendance was also beginning to decline at Sevenoaks. However, when I arrived 1,700 people were still coming Sunday mornings. That was a mighty exciting ministry for me and to have the opportunity of preaching to the same now and then, wow! I couldn't believe it. It was quite a contrast to the twenty or twenty-five people that showed up Sunday mornings in my first church in Lac La Biche, Alberta.
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