Brian Shimer
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Brian Shimer
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Brian Shimer
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Brian Shimer
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Families in Need

If you are looking for a place to do some good, Family Promise is partnering with Beaverton High School to help families in need.  On Fridays they box supplies and the families come to pick them up, or they are delivered on Saturday.  This week there is a need for the following items.   If you would like to provide any of these items, please let Bonnie know.  You can leave them at the church with Beaverton Buddies on the bag and she will pick them up.  If you do, please let her know (503-464-6914) so that she can get them to FPB by Thursday afternoon. 

  • Women's deodorant

  • Toothbrushes

  • Shampoo

  • Laundry detergent

  • Clorox wipes

  • Household cleaner

  • Feminine Pads

  • Diapers size 5

  • Food (non-perishable)

    • Mac and Cheese

    • canned foods like chili, spaghetti-o's

    • foods that kids would like

    • basics such as oil, sugar, flour, etc.

  • Changing Table (a family is requesting one)

Thanks!

The Year We've Been Waiting For

A poem by Leslie Dwight:

What if 2020 isn’t cancelled?

What if 2020 is the year we’ve been waiting for?

A year so uncomfortable, so painful, so scary, so raw —

That it finally forces us to grow?

A year that screams so loud, finally awakening us

from our ignorant slumber.

A year we finally accept the need for change.

Declare change. Work for change. Become the change.

A year we finally band together, instead of

pushing each other further apart.

2020 isn’t cancelled, but rather

the most important year of all.

Brian's Blog: In-between Time

It is surreal. 

First this season in the world is surreal and the rioting in the streets is surreal. The kind of season when I keep pinching myself -- is this happening? 

But, second, this season WE are in is surreal; we are to my last four Sundays with you, the last four weeks. 

For me this all feels right, on one level, but also strange. It was two years ago in March I heard from Jesus, “You have two years left at Westside.” I knew these last weeks were coming then, but that does not help experiencing them now. What a year this has been. I’ve been on a steep learning curve for a whole other area of life and work, on assignment from Jesus. Just like every Bible story there is, I am walking by faith between the call and the miracle. 

Do you know what I mean by that? 

We know the end of every story in the Bible because it has already occurred. We can read the ending. But all those real people, living real lives, with real faith we read about, they could not see the ending. From Jesus saying, “Follow Me,” to those fisherman, they never imagined what might come. Did they foresee themselves raising the dead and casting out demons? Most likely not. They were in a faith stage between call and fulfillment, between the first step and the end of the journey. 

When Jesus said to Jairus “Don’t be afraid, only believe.” And walked with Jairus to his home. Jairus did not know how it was going to end. All he knew was that he walked alongside the Rescuer, the Savior, the One whom he had implored to heal his daughter. He was in the in-between time of faith.

You can look at every Bible story and witness this. 

The desperate widow speaking with Elisha in 2 Kings 4 did not know what would happen when she approached the prophet, feeling hopeless and alone. She did not expect the prophet to ask “What do you have in your house?” She viewed what she had as nothing at all. 

It’s like that for you too, sometimes, isn’t it? You can feel like you have nothing to offer, no way to be involved in what God is wanting to do. I know that feeling. Perhaps we can take from this one story the encouragement -- God will always use what little we have to accomplish big things.  

In this story, this widow got to participate in a miracle. But even in being obedient to the command of the prophet, she could not have known what would happen as she gathered jars and began to fill them, impossibly, with oil. What emotions coursed through her as this occurred? What thoughts came to mind? How did this impact her two boys? She was in the in-between time, the “by faith” season, between call and fulfillment. 

This is where we are now. We are in-between. As we part from one another we will still be in that same in-between time. We don’t know all God has planned for us even as we separate from one another. But rest assured, GOD HAS PLANS for us both! He plans to use us in all He is doing. Using what little we have, and as we trust one step at a time, God will lead us to the fulfillment God has planned. 

I keep coming back to that thought. 

People say, “So, you are retiring!”  

“No, I’m not,” I respond. “I am just moving from the local church into a ministry alongside the church in the world seeking still to reach many for Christ.” 

People say, “How is the business coming along?” 

“Well, that’s hard to tell,” I respond. “Slow, I guess would be one thing. But God has opened some doors and I’m just seeking to be obedient with the steps and praying He shows up.” 

It is this in-between time that is tough. I cannot see, we cannot see ahead. That is why in Hebrew walking into the future is phrased walking “backward into the future,” because, no one SEES it. We cannot see what is coming. All we can see is what is behind us. 

We can see how God answered prayer for us as a community, met us in the privilege we have had to be together, and as I recounted in May, we can tell of miracle after miracle story of what God has done among us. This we can see. 

In my heart, I have a record of so many answered prayers over the decade. These are sign posts. God has done it. God will do it again.

This brings hope. I find that I am a pendulum in this season. I swing between anxiety and hope, between intense grief and joy. I will miss you all. 

I will miss walking with you, praying with you, worshiping with you and seeing you weekly and often during the week. All that, I will miss. As we walk in the in-between time, keep trusting. Jesus has walked many, many others through such times before. He knows how to do it. We will come through and be able to be together again. Know this -- I love you all. Pastor Brian

Next Steps for June 7

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Here are the Next Steps for your faith journey:

  1. Set aside your own priorities this week to treat someone else as you’d like to be treated.  

  2. Pray:  “Lord, teach me to acknowledge beggars, laugh with a child, speak to those who inhabit the backgrounds of life.”

  3. Refrain from giving answers this week; ask another question instead. 

  4. Read the book: 42 Seconds by Carl Medearis

42 Seconds

We are starting a series of messages Sunday called 42 Seconds: What can happen in less than a minute. I am basing this off of a great book called 42 Seconds by Carl Medearis, a career missionary to middle eastern countries for decades. He noticed that Jesus had many encounters and if we base those just on the descriptions we have, none of them lasted much longer than 42 seconds. 42 seconds. That’s a brief time. Of course, perhaps we don’t have all the details. True. But with the details we do have we know that Jesus in a short time turned around people’s lives and situations. He brought healing and peace. He showed up and that was what was needed. He asked great questions, “What do you want me to do for you?” and “Do you want to get well?” among them. For these last Sundays of my walk with you, we are going to ask what we might learn for ourselves from the brief encounters Jesus had and the staggering results He achieved. What if we tried employing the seconds He has given us differently by the help of God’s Spirit within us? 

We will begin with two great stories from the book of Mark. In his book, Mark detailed out how Jesus had power over nature, the demonic, sickness and death in the stories he placed before the reader in rapid succession from the end of the fourth chapter through the fifth. We will start in the last two of these, a double miracle, the healing of the woman with the 12-year ailment and the raising of Jairus’ daughter. These stories depict Jesus’ encounter with the poorest of the poor and the wealthiest of the rich on the level ground of human loss and need. In these we get a glimpse of how Jesus related to people, no matter their station, as simply that: people. Human beings who desperately needed to encounter hope. 

Whereas those around Jesus wanted to categorize the contrasted people in this story, Jesus didn’t. Indeed, He wouldn’t. He never labeled anyone, never diminished humanity, but often, instead asked questions. Here too, “Who touched Me?” and “Why all this weeping and commotion?” 

What if we approached time and people like Jesus did? What if we saw others and reached out to them like Him? The change needed in this nation begins in each of our hearts. Over against racism, wickedness and evil, holiness, a change in how we live, will do the most to impact the world. Don’t miss worship at 9 am on Sunday. We will be meeting Pastor Brett in worship and we will hear a Q&A he did with Gayellyn and Kari.

Calling All Sewing Heroes

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If you have a sewing machine and some time, Beaverton First UMC needs your help in sewing protective masks for our Beaverton community.  They will be distributing these masks to the local small businesses in the Old Town area as they prepare to open under Phase 1.  The mask guidelines can be found at this link.  Please contact the BFUMC church office (office@beavertonumc.org or 503.646.7107) if you have any questions.  They can arrange a time for pick-up or drop-off!  Thank you!

Brian's Blog: Recollections, Part 3

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Banks Community UMC July 1994 - June 2009 

Six years in San Jacinto had been a journey, a time of growth, and a time in which we welcomed two more daughters, Susanna and Gabrielle. At our going away potluck lunch after church the last Sunday in June, Susanna ate plenty of Isabelle’s green jello, which we didn’t realize was artificially sweetened. Susanna was allergic to artificial sweeteners then. That jello showed back up about four hours later all over our friend’s car!  We were travelling in two cars, 4 kids, 3 adults, our dog Tori and a traumatized cat, Smudge. 

Banks, OR was a mystery to us. The DS had told me on the phone there were 5,000 people living there. When we drove into town the number on the population sign said 520. He was off by a few. I then realized why no one had given me directions to find Banks Community UMC or the Parsonage! There was one Main Street with several one-block roads off it only to the right. We came to Depot Street, turned right, and there it was. The little, country-looking, clapboard white building with a steeple church building, another couple of buildings down the street from it, in a similar style, then a 2-story, 2500 sq foot new-looking house, our parsonage. The next house was the final house on the block and there at the end of the road was the Banks Lumber Mill which worked 24/7 except a couple holidays and our house vibrated constantly from it and shook as if from an earthquake whenever they dumped a pile of logs! 

In front of the parsonage stood many church people awaiting our arrival. Karen’s dad and brother had flown to California to drive our moving van north. They pulled in just after we did. We met Dexter and Nancy, immediate friends, and their 18-year-old sons Alex and Jeremy. Those guys unloaded all our beds and put them together. We located the box of sheets and in no time all six beds were made. The women, Gail, Leola, Leslee, Nancy, Sally, Dianne, Kathy and others had put together our kitchen, directed by Karen’s mom and sister, filled the fridge and cupboards with food and tried to make it a home. Linens got put into the linen closet, towels hung in the bathroom, and rugs on the floors. By the time they left that evening we had a home.  

Driving into town that day, the Lord began to show me something amiss. I kept sensing what I could only describe as a split, a divide in the heavens, but didn’t know exactly what that meant. I was used to sensing the spiritual having walked in the revival movement happening in San Jacinto/Hemet. I began to ask around and soon discovered prior to 1981 the Banks UMC had been the only church in the community and a group of the folk in a Bible Study had experienced a spiritual awakening, speaking in tongues, seeing visions, and dreaming dreams. They came out strongly that everyone needed to experience the Holy Spirit as they did, and got crossways with the pastor at the time. The result was this spiritually energized group split within two years from the Banks UMC to form their own church. The group that split off then splintered into four groups. Since then, the other three had died out, and the one other church, “Dayspring Christian Fellowship,” remained. 

It had been about 12 years since all this took place. I began to work for unity, to bring forgiveness and reconciliation between those on both sides of the divide. Part of this was to ask forgiveness on behalf of the pastor who had failed the original group who left. I did this on a Sunday visiting their church and their pastor, Skip Heiney, came and did the same with ours. He and I joined forces to bring unity to Banks sponsoring many joint worship opportunities and ministries. We also brought together anyone still harboring any resentment and hurt from the split to bring healing. It was an effort in reconciliation. God worked through this, although some still said they felt there was nothing to reconcile! Skip and I bonded through this time. He’s the one who walked the Camino ahead of me in 2013 and it was his telling me of their journey which lit the fire in my heart to take sabbatical. 

We served in Banks for 15 years. By the time we moved, Anna had traveled to Brazil and Peru on Mission trips, graduated from college in Canada and was living in Peru as a missionary pastor in a local church. Grace had served as a missionary in an Albanian Orphanage for a month and spent a year working with a youth mission organization in Texas, and was living locally enrolled at Portland State as a piano performance major and doing hair to pay off school. Susanna had done mission work in Australia, New Zealand and Peru, and was starting her third year of college in Michigan and Gabrielle had served for a month in Botswana, and left for school in California, the same fall after our summer move to Westside. Later Karen would comment, “I feel like I grew up in Banks.” Indeed, we all did. 

The folk in Banks are a patient, long-suffering, generous-hearted people. It is hard to have a pastor come with everything you think you want only to find out he’s just human after all with feet of clay, as imperfect as the rest of them. And I had come from a highly charged spiritual experience in which the pastors I hung with were doing major spiritual warfare to “take back” the valley from the enemy. Literally. Prophetic visions and dreams abounded, specific prayers against specific strongholds. And results of immense change afterward. We experienced the work of angels and demons, and saw God deliver people. It was like coming to earth after serving on the Starship Enterprise and needing to live an ordinary life! Plus in my personality I carried a ton of pride in my super spirituality! What’s ordinary after fighting for your life? Okay, I realize I didn’t describe much of this aspect last week, but life is a mix of all kinds of ordinary alongside extraordinary. 

Life in Banks was real enough for those at the community church without all this spiritual warfare terminology. And they suffered long with me. Some of the guys took me aside and tried to help me come down to earth. “Brian, we are simple people,” one of them told me one day. “When Ramona Snowden tells the story of having thrown away the bag with her insulin in it and gone back later to find it still where she had tossed it in the trash at the bus stop, I can relate. It buoys my faith. But you telling of angels and demons, I have no place to put it.” It helped me. 

One of the members mentored me in my speaking style, helped me be aware of my body, how I moved, when I moved, and how I spoke. It was great tutoring. Some other guys and I would meet sometimes over beer and often over breakfast to talk theology. This group just dug in and really tried to wrestle our understanding of faith between Wesleyan and Calvinist viewpoints. I discovered even though I felt this burden to visit everyone, I like connecting relationally, that I couldn’t. But if I visited Estelle Medearis, the 80+ darling of them all, then everyone in Banks suddenly knew I had been there and it was as if I had visited the whole congregation.  

Leola, now 97, did the books and wrote the checks then and she still does so today! She and I still laugh about how mad she got at me. “Pastor, (she still calls me Pastor) you often made me so mad! But I loved you and I love you still! You’re my favorite!” 

I’d remind her how she would get on my case for submitting my reimbursement form for professional expenses. “Pastor!” she reprimanded me more than once, “You buy too many books!” As if the money the church slated for reimbursing my expenses was not to be spent! :-) As I am giving away and packing up those books now, I am wondering if maybe she was right... 

Andy and Gail came to one of my last services while in California before moving. They were in California on vacation and came to visit. That Sunday we had people praying in small groups, singing many contemporary songs, and one person doing a dance in worship, etc. At the door meeting them afterward they fessed up to being from Banks and said, “Well, you will bring some change to our lives, we are certain. After today, we are glad you are coming. ” Their solid support all the years of ministry there was a powerful gift to us both. Soon after we got to Banks, within that first year, Karen began counseling work and God used that safe place to unveil the real work of healing from a childhood filled with trauma. It took 20 years of hard work to make it through to a solid place of maintenance. In addition, my own work of healing from my own abuse happened simultaneously and as you know continued as I was with you here. So, need I say it, we were often a mess!

Through all this, Andy and Gail were solid. Whatever they thought of all we told them, they just were there, like Jesus’ sentries, praying, believing, loving, holding. It was remarkable, for I am certain they did not have a place to put much of what we were walking through.

In Banks at home, we homeschooled our children, Karen tutored other children, taught English, Math, History and other subjects for several years at Banks Christian Academy, and ended up also homeschooling many other local children as well. One year we had 6 additional kids in our “one room schoolhouse” in the parsonage living room! 

At church the folk of Banks caught such a vision for their community. They went door-to-door handing out loafs of bread and welcome packets to all those moving into what was called the “New Development,” a housing tract of 2500 homes that began going in in 1994. They started home bible studies and prayer groups. They established a “House of Prayer,” setting aside a building on our property for a 24/7 prayer ministry. This never took hold. They taught release-time education for years joined by other congregations for public school kids and started a local food bank that has now moved to one of the church buildings. Anna introduced Operation Christmas Child and we collected and delivered 100s of boxes year by year, and this then expanded to them becoming a collection station for over 1200-1500 boxes a year. We sponsored joint youth ministries, prayer ministries, local clergy gatherings as new local congregations moved into the community. One of our members started his own outreach and local church to the biker community which is ongoing. 

In addition, they were steady and supportive of every aspect of our lives at the parsonage. A guy who worked at the lumber mill would bring logs and drop them next to our house for wood. And guys from the church would cut them into shorter rounds and they, and Karen and I would split wood for our wood burning stove. They planned parties to celebrate our lives among them and supported the girls wholeheartedly. They even planned a surprise party for my 40th and helped to fund a trip to Israel for me. They helped with school retreats we had associated with Karen’s work at Dayspring Christian Academy. And they prayed for us constantly. 

While in Banks three different Bishops came and went from the episcopal office! They left me there first because of the deeply significant healing work Karen was doing, then because of the work happening in the community, then because I was the chair of the Board of Ordained Ministry which began with a crisis of a pastor’s misconduct hearing. And then the wind changed, the door opened, the opportunity came and God said it was time to come here to Westside.  

Homework Assignment

Acronyms for COVID:  

Kari Suppes – from this week during a walk talking to God - God gave her this Acronym: COVID = Creating Opportunities Virtually, Inspired Divinely.   

Sally – Christ Our Victory Inspiration; Disciple.

Neil – Correcting Our Vision Investigate the Divine.

Cindy – Christ Overcoming and Victorious In Death.

Can you come up with an acronym?

Power on Display

How have you seen God’s power displayed in your life?  What is the most amazing thing you have seen Jesus do for you or someone you know?

Bonnie – I have been pretending I am an “essential” worker, helping at Meals on Wheels, Aloha Church of God food pantry, Cornelius Pantry, migrant camp….not being fearful. I agree with that 78-year-old lady.  (she would rather be able to be hugged by people than be isolated alone for protection. She would rather receive hugs from people, and if she got the virus, she gets the virus…and if she dies she dies…..)

Martha – Thank you Bonnie – you are an essential worker!  Actions speak louder than words.  God gave us the courage to let LOVE overcome fear two nights ago. Our son, daughter-in-law and Ada came for a BBQ and we enjoyed some much-needed family time. No touching… but lots of laughter at Ada and love.

Debbie – God gives us power to show His majesty.  All the destruction in Culver, OR (possible tornado?); no injuries or deaths!

Kari – I volunteered with Medical Teams International on Friday: tooth pain is universal – I met people from Nigeria, NY, the Netherlands, Iraq, Iran, Hispanic families. Such an honor to be able to help people from all over the world!

Krista – Finley says Jesus was amazing when he healed Finley’s friends who were sick.

Ivan – A hug from an old friend.

Stephanie – Wrapping up Enneagram Class with the group.

Krista – The Enneagram Group for sure and new friends made through it.

Next Steps for May 31

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Here are the Next Steps for your faith journey:

  1. Establish daily practices of word, prayer, and getting outside.

  2.  Pray:  “Lord, fill me anew with the Holy Spirit.” 

  3.  Greet others when you are out -- show love across social distancing.  

  4. Give to help those in need via food gifts or extra financial gifts.

Power of the Spirit

The most powerful fulfillment of prophecy from Old Testament Joel to the New Testament words of Jesus was the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. It is just like God to use and honor feast days, and what a day this was. With heavenly and earthly phenomenon the Spirit as promised came with a grand entrance: Wind, Fire, Tongues, Sound, Commotion. Just as the law came on Mt Sinai -- with trumpet blast, lightning, wind, thunder, so the Spirit came, the NEW LAW, the NEW coming of covenant. “He will be IN you,” Jesus had promised and IN the Spirit came. Dynamically. This event, so visually inspirational impacted the world -- for the whole known world was in Jerusalem that day. 

Power of the Spirit that day was to make the disciples into new people. It was the Spirit who changed them.  This powerful coming was not just an announcement of how God would work in the disciples, so that others proclaimed later “See how they love one another,” but an announcement of how much God cared for the world. God’s Spirit brought language -- so that every heart language was spoken that day of those present. 

God puts his power on display.  In the middle of covid, how do we long to see God’s power? Are we seeing the power of Holy Spirit today? What do we expect? 

Remember— come to worship!  We need to connect with you as we look for the new Pentecost now. Let’s join in Sunday worship and look for Jesus in this unique season. Join in at 9 am Sunday

Sundays in June

You won’t want to miss a single Sunday in June!

June 7: Pastor Brett Stuvland (pronouned Stoovland) will be joining in, and a pre-recorded Q&A session with him will be shown.

June 14: A special video, created with your photos, will be shown in honor of Pastor Brian.

June 21: Pastor Brian’s last solo Sunday.

June 28: Pastor Brett will be joining Pastor Brian for the “passing of the baton.”

We will continue to meet online through June.

Experiencing Miracles

When you encounter the miraculous, how have you responded?  What is the most amazing thing you have seen Jesus do?

Martha - Miracles will happen...healing will come…we need those words right now! Thanks!

Kaitlyn - Community coming together to help our family within hours of their house fire. My aunt and her partner are alive. They were being watched over!

Debbie - This week at work in triage area of urgent care. A guy standing in line asked what is the meaning of life? She responded To love God and walk justly. How do you know God is real? He speaks to me. What’s the last thing he told you? Hang in there, I am with you always. He looked at me and I stared at him and there was this big pause. The guy said Wow! Coworker agreed with Deb, He speaks all the time and we just need to listen! The guy replied, I guess I better listen.

Wendy F. – I love that story! So often we hesitate to talk about God at work. Thank you for role-modeling.

Martha – Deb:  I admire your ability to share your faith with others in so many places. That is my Jesus moment!

Laura – When I encounter the miraculous, I say THANK YOU, THANK YOU JESUS!

Sally – Jesus showed up daily (hourly) as I ministered over my brother and the love & care from the nurses.

Kari – Because the donation places are closed, my coworker has furniture she can donate to a family getting an apartment through Family Promise.

Celebrating family that have gone before us at the Dufur Cemetery yesterday and visiting family members still living!

Bonnie – We took Spanish Bibles to camp last night.

Son in law, Ray, had a successful surgery.

Michele – God always put people that need help or support in my life. Mainly people in my life that need support. I figure it’s something God wants me to do & I do the best I can.

The message today is preparation for Pastor Brian leaving. We are taking a new step with Pastor Brett. Look at the fact Pastor Brian is leaving. We are taking another step with Pastor Brett to take us on our journey.

Wendy F. – That’s beautiful, Michele!

Laura – I love your faithful obedience, Michele!

Krista – This weekend marks a year of rebuilding for Ivan & I and what an amazing year it has been.

Sally – I had a short dream the night before my brother passed away. Went to sleep praying to God about a sign to have doctors do for her brother.  Brother was an engineer. Always fixed things at the Sully’s house. A can-do guy. In the dream only saw a pair of hands and tube of caulking in the upstairs bathroom the line between the bathtub and the floor – just a thin strip of caulking. I have been looking at that and thinking it needs caulking. I interpreted the dream that “we need to keep fixing Dave.” But his body stopped working that day and couldn’t fix him. I also asked 3 other people for interpretation of my dream. Marsha—Sally, that was your brother Dave fixing one last thing. You can do this. Susan said, “Sally, I find it curious that it was a hard floor that represents earth and another object that can be filled with water that represents baptism. Your brother was moving through baptism.” Bucky said, “the thin line between earth and glory.” Thank You!

Martha – When we lose someone…memories are the treasures we hold in our hearts. Maybe the caulk was a seal between you and our brother…a sign that he will always be with you and watching over you.

Susan – Charity Virkler Kayembe - Dreams class started on May 21st.

Pursinger – Old Green Van. That is a Miracle!

Rich – Amen

Brian's Blog: Recollections, Part 2

San Jacinto UMC July 1, 1988 - June 30, 1994

Karen and I, with Anna (3) and Grace (1) in their carseats, drove for four days, in blistering heat, from Kentucky across the country to Southern California. We put a bucket of ice on the floor under Karen’s feet, opened all four windows and the air would circulate over that ice and get cooled a bit.  Soon the ice melted, then, we’d dip bandanas into the ice water and tie them around our necks, and we’d fill our hats with ice and wear them on our heads so water could melt all over us. At around 8 in the morning, we turned off I-10 onto California 79 and began a winding drive down through Lambs Canyon into the San Jacinto valley. As we rounded a corner, the valley opened up before us. It looked like an agricultural checkerboard to me. A mini San Joaquin Valley, the Big Valley of California, where I had grown up.  It looked inviting to me, exciting, and was a bit unnerving. But to Karen, it looked like a desert, which it technically was; she burst into tears, “I cannot live here.”

The folk we had spoken with before moving had told her that the San Jacinto Valley was lush and green, and full of vegetation. But Karen is an Oregon girl, and she pictured Multnomah Falls and the green of Oregon. What she saw was a dismal, dry place opening up to her, felt like an impossible burden.  

For months after this she would say, “There’s something wrong with the sky here.” 

It took awhile but one day she called me at the office saying, “I figured it out!” 

“What’s that?” I asked. 

“I figured out what’s wrong with the sky here,” she said.

“Oh, right. What is wrong with the sky here?”

“There are no clouds!” She exclaimed. 

Indeed, for several months in San Jacinto, there had not been one cloud in the sky. 

We arrived at the parsonage a couple hours early that first morning, and Nita the current pastor, answered the door, a towel around her head and said, “You are just too early, come back later,” and closed the door. 

Welcome to town, Pastor Brian. 

We drove around the area, found the church building a mile from the parsonage, eventually met up with Pastor Nita later and then met Helen Reeder. Helen took us under her wing, like lost chicks from her flock. She and her husband Harold had a little cottage behind their place where we stayed off and on for a few weeks until the parsonage was ready. The next night was our first time to meet with the SPRC -- the local HR team of the church. The group met with both Karen and I and the children. After they had been speaking with me, Maxine Divine turned to Karen and asked her, “What do you see as your role alongside of Brian in his pastorate?” 

Just before that point in time, Grace needed to nurse, so Karen was nursing her under a light blanket as Maxine asked her question. Every ounce of people pleasing had been scoured from Karen during our year at Perseverance Chapel. She’d learned what she need not do as the pastor’s wife. I was on payroll, she was not. She looked at Maxine and said, “You are looking at them. I’m a mom first and these two children are my responsibility alongside caring for Brian. If there is something I can be part of, I will.” 

Maxine loved this response and it endeared her to Karen from the start. She would tell us later, “Travel while you are young! Take out a loan and go! When you get old like us, you can’t and you have the money to do it! It’s the pits!” We never took out the loan to do it, but have heeded her advice. 

Helen Reeder chaired this team and supported us as we left and returned from Annual Conference, painted the parsonage, with the assistance of Click Sharp, a retired painter, hung border paper, and moved in.  He helped us remove 6 or 7 layers of old wallpaper from the kitchen dating back to the 1940s. 

Harold and Helen Reeder were in their late 50s when we arrived, and actively involved in every aspect of the congregation. Harold raised watermelons, and we could count on a melon every week on our front porch when in the parsonage from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Helen complained his shirts were hopelessly stained with watermelon juice for he would often break a melon open and eat it in the field. 

The most interesting thing about Helen and Harold is this: they moved from San Jacinto about when we did to settle near family in Oregon. They have been members of the Marquam UMC ever since. Two of my best friends in ministry, Rand Sargent and Bill Seagren, were their pastors for all but 2 years since 1994 when they moved. And their next pastor will be Karen! It is a small, small world.  

If you’d checked the member roles at SJUMC you would have noticed that they had 166 people on record. But when I began an audit I found 35 had died already, but their names were counted as if they yet lived! I didn’t know church membership extended into glory. Many had been gone for decades. When I had to get a vote to remove the names, this caused such turmoil for some members of church council. They felt like I was removing their friends from redemption. I assured them it was only from the church rolls; Jesus had these friends and loved ones in his Hand. 

Those who came to church were for the most part over 75 years old. So, to have this young pastor and his family was a boon. They knew young people would flock to their church because of me. But, of course, that was not how it happened; my age and zeal disrupted them. 

I wrote in the newsletter in October 1988 that first year about the need to embrace change. No one likes change. Laura Geiser, 80, spry, wirey, deeply in tune with Jesus came in the next Sunday. Laura was the one who had told me, “During the 70s we had to bootleg Jesus into the Sunday School Curriculum!” She knew all about change and growth. But that Sunday after the article, she was madder than a hornet. I said “Good Morning, Laura,” and she responded with a growl, “When I read that article of yours, I wanted to punch your lights out!” I laughed, “Okay! Did you want to share more?” And there, in the fireside room, before church ,we sat and she shared her heart. 

I think the hardest thing in life is change. When the normal and the familiar get stripped away replaced by we don’t know what yet, it is such a challenge. We are in such a season now, aren’t we? This Covid-19 brings change, no matter the real source or the truth behind all the facts and misinformation and truth and error, whatever is going on. No matter what, we have lost what is normal and familiar. And folks, that hurts!

I’m thinking the truth is -- we will not be going back. The normal will not return like we might want. And the familiar may be out of reach for a while. Just like for these dear saints in San Jacinto, the world was changing around them and they were invited to walk in it and didn’t like the changes. 

We may not like them either, but are being told, ordered even, to adjust. That’s just hard, isn’t it? I think back to Laura and I sitting by the stained glass windows above us on those cushioned floral seats that banked the sides of this open, carpeted area, near the glass doors with the yellow, beveled glass that opened to the sanctuary. To her the change I called for was too much, too soon, too hard, too abrupt. And it felt like she might lose what was church to her. Can you relate? 

Some of you may have read the Bishop’s Guidelines for reopening. Those have been challenging for many. There are so many things to adjust to within them. And who knows what is needed or not needed, but bottom line is this: there will be changes no matter how much we would like to avoid them. 

The best part is this: together we can change and shift and be creative and still rediscover Jesus and worship in the middle of change. 

The people of San Jacinto did this then. They embraced this crazy, wild, troubled young preacher and together we saw God change us and change the church and shift ministry to a new horizon. They caught a vision for the homeless and began a weekly homeless meal. They wanted people set free from addictions and hurts, so we started recovery groups and began a sexual recovery group too. 

Alongside these ministries, God started using me in counseling others, something I didn’t know I was equipped to do out of my own broken past. But there I was helping others heal.  Allean Stewart reminds me every time I see her, “Brian, it was you who helped me get set free that day when you told me, ‘You must forgive your mother!’” Okay, there are gentler techniques, but this changed Allean’s heart and life when she did. 

Benita Powers, a tiny woman with a bleeding heart for her family, and for others and a deep belief that these people at church had betrayed everyone and kicked people out, and been unkind, bent my ear plenty. I listened and believed her. I fasted for two three-day fasts for the congregation grieving what sins she had told me about them. Then, Jesus showed me some of the inaccuracies and I began to understand Benita sought attention through her stories. 

Preaching in San Jacinto was a weekly battle for me, because so much of my heart was still at war with myself. In the middle of helping others discover forgiveness and hope and life, I was mired in self hate because of the full scale impact of abuse. A friend named Bob Beckett, another pastor in the community, would receive my panicked calls and pray for me often on Saturdays. He would do his best to encourage me. One week on a Saturday afternoon he said, “Brian, the Holy Spirit will preach through you. Go home. Work in the garden. Get away from it. Breathe, brother.” I look back at the drivenness of my heart then. This was the best advice. 

Margaret Miller counted how many times I said “um” during a message and told me! A former English teacher she wanted to grow my use of the English language. One week she told me, “Today it was 28 ums!” Nothing like that reminder to upgrade your awareness of yourself. Truly, Margaret I had plenty of interior critics! But, she would have really gotten on my case a couple weeks back. I watched the video, and haven’t learned yet to extract all the “ums!” 

San Jacinto was a season of growth. Two more daughters joined the family, and this congregation loved being their grandparents. I wish you could have met Bob and Joann Corrao and their 8 yappy dogs, Hilda Johnson, Phil and Sue Allen, Click and Joyce Sharp, The Pisas, Bill Rickman, and so many others. Real, dear, life-impacting people whose lives changed ours. 

Dorothy Lambiotte was a hoot. She was in her late 80s and loved movies. Her deceased husband had run a movie theater back when they only had one big room and it was the only theater in a small town. She and I went to see Schindler’s List together when it came out. Karen never has been big on some movies especially. That was a wild movie to see with her. She loved it!

We attended the Walk to Emmaus, and I began to offer more leadership in that movement and at the Summer Redwood Christian Ashram. The discovery of more of the abuse in both of our childhood pasts happened while there. God used this season to reveal secrets we had not yet seen. The church became family to us, threw surprise parties, hosted concerts of prayer with us, planned healing services, and of course had numerous potlucks. Ray Geiser would reload the dishwasher “correctly” after every event, until others just gave up trying to help in the kitchen!  

During my time in San Jacinto I was involved with a large group of spiritually dynamic pastors in praying for revival. We saw God move in powerful ways until the story of healing and revival got told in a once well-known documentary called Transformations II. Drug dealers and prostitutes were coming to Christ. Strongholds over the area broke. Some churches were overflowing with new believers. The spiritual real became real to me while at this congregation. People began to have visions and dreams, words of prophecy, and dynamic spiritual encounters.  

It was at Charge Conference, November 1, 1992, while the District Superintendent was giving a message as part of the time together, that the Lord spoke to me directly, a word alongside the chosen text: “I have new places for you.” I heard God say. 

I responded, “I’m ready. Where?” 

“Oregon,” was the response. 

It was such a tangible move of the Spirit, so dynamic, so otherworldly, it felt like everyone in the room must have noticed. But they were still listening to Wille Foreman preach. Karen was in Oregon then, for her sister’s wedding that coming weekend, and I flew up to join her the next day. When I told her, she was beyond thrilled. She wanted to move back to Oregon so badly. So, I called two District Superintendents, while in Oregon, met with them, and began the process to request a transfer to the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference. That occurred in June 1994.