I got the Blues

The mailman brought the official news yesterday…. Denny… my friend… mentor… partner… encourager…. cheerleader… dreamer… fellow pastor… is leaving our church. And while I’m inspired that he is chasing daylight in response to God’s call… I’ve got the blues today…. because I will miss him. So I hit play on my Keb’ Mo playlist today… and now I’ll reflect on what I’ll miss about Denny.

His wisdom: I have spent hundreds of hours one-on-one with him over the past three years peppering him with questions about church, life, ministry, fathering, husbanding… everything. He has given me sage, biblical advice learned through 31 years of ministry and 54 years of life. He always answered his cell phone, and his door was always open.

His presence: He was always present in the moment. He was always interested in what I wanted to talk about and really cared for me. I remember when he visited us in the hospital after Griffin was born. He walked in the room as Griffin was turning blue from choking on milk. The nurse rushed in and cleared Griffin’s throat and whisked him away. Denny sensed our panic… and in response he comforted us, hugged us and prayed with us. After he left, my non-Christian father-in-law (who had witnessed the entire event) commented, “When I think of what Jesus would be like today… I think he would be just like Denny.” I agree.

His questions: Denny was fun because he seemed to have more questions about Church than he had answers. Not that he didn’t have answers… but he wasn’t afraid of questioning things about church. He invited questions and was willing to question how we do church, how we don’t do church, what makes us tick and what should make us tick. His questions led him to be open to new ideas and new answers. He constantly read new books and had some new insight.

His vision: Denny was a dreamer. I tend to think he is a bit like Gordon MacKenzie in “Orbiting the Giant Hairball”. It was like church weighed him down from freely flying as he dreamed. He dreamed about what the church could be…. could try… should try… And he invited others to dream with him. And sometimes he allowed your dreams to take center-stage…. His dream didn’t always have to win. His vision allowed him to think and re-think church with a great degree of hope and risk and willingness to try new things.

His support: He really cared about what I was doing and he wanted me to succeed. He helped me rename my ministry and he showed up to my big events. He prepped me before them and called afterwards to debrief. He lifted my spirits when they were down and put the small things into a bigger perspective. His support more than once filled up my cup.

God puts lots of twists and turns in our life. I thank God that he allowed me to have the joy of working under and along side a man like Denny for the past 3 years. I will dreadfully miss his daily presence in our office but I hope that our relationship will continue on… wherever our futures take us.