I recently shared that I was having one of those moments in my life where I’m feeling old. As I write this , our son and the team he served with in Albania are safely home and we’re grateful and are excited that our son was able to participate in an experience that I have no doubt has changed his life. I trust that the Lord worked in many of the lives of both kids and adults and we’re grateful to a dear church for allowing him to participate. You can see their team blog here.
As I shared in my last post I recently helped officiate a memorial service for a wonderful man in Clark Paddock. Clark was loved by many and was especially loved by his family. Clark had a wonderful family in Dorothy and Barbara. Both whom I appreciate and especially Dorothy who was one of my youth leaders when I was in high school, so to help was an honor. When we arrived to the church on the day of the service I met up with Pastor Scott and we both spent some time briefly with some of the family members prior to the start of the service. It was kind of surreal for me. What was surreal about the experience was that as folks were arriving I saw many that I’ve known for years. A few of the folks in attendance were people who had a huge impact on my life for Christ. There were two former Jr. High youth leaders of mine who were in attendance. One who was with me when I accepted Christ into my life in Jr. High at Forest Home. I hadn’t seen her for almost 20 years. Gail and I would sit in the Jr. High lounge of the church and listen to old Mike Warnke tapes Forest Home used to give away when students would come to know Christ and she’d help me study the scriptures. Mike Warnke I guess was a former Satanist and had a wonderful testimony that Forest Home felt was important for youth to hear about and that God used in the lives of many students in bringing kids to Christ over the years. (Apparently Mr. Warnke has had some issues over the years that I hadn’t known about until I wrote this and I’m guessing Forest Home doesn’t give out the tapes anymore)
Lisa who was also in attendance at Clark’s memorial service I had met when I was in the 7th Grade at what used to be called the “Lost Creek Ranch,” at Forest Home. Lisa was one of the volunteer youth workers at the church at the time and would later become the Jr. High Director for the church. The way I had met Lisa I still remember like it was yesterday. There were two kids in the Jr. High youth group who were named Casey at the time. I was one of them and there was a Jr. High girl also named Casey. (I didn’t realize until I was much older that my initials were K.C. and that for some reason my parents liked the name Casey better) The youth staff who had put the cabin assignments together assumed I was a Jr. High girl because of my name and assigned me to a girls cabin with the other Casey. So, I made my way to my “cabin assignment, thinking I was going to the boys cabins and that’s when I walked into the girls cabin and had met Lisa for the first time who graciously helped me find the “boys” cabins after her asking me what my name was. I smile every time I think about that summer at Forest Home and being in the Jr. High youth group with Lisa. There were others like Lisa in attendance at the memorial service who all played different roles in my life for Christ just like Clark.
As I helped with the service and stood in front of the church I had a wave of memories flood my heart. Some of the memories were of me sitting in the pews of the church for so many years, hearing the grace and mercy of Christ preached and worshiping each and every Sunday growing up in the church. Other memories were of being one of the youth in the youth groups, running around at midnight in the church at a plethora of lock-ins, playing hiding go seek in the sanctuary and eventually being one of the youth directors who would continue the tradition of doing what so many did for me in giving me Jesus over the years. Even the memories of Debbie and I getting married close to 20 years ago and remembering the faces who cheered for us on that day we committed our lives to one another and to Christ, even remembering seeing Clark sitting in the crowd.
As I made the walk up to the lectern I felt honored and blessed to stand before some wonderful followers of Jesus and it was a joy to reflect on the many, especially Clark who had impacted my life in a way that influenced my call to serve Christ and the church and be in the role of one of the “pastors.” I even had a couple of folks comment on my “clergy robe” before the service. I don’t wear my robe usually when I preach or lead worship, but I usually wear my robe for weddings, memorial services, communion, and sometimes baptisms, but for this particular service it was a way to honor Clark and it was something I had wanted Clark to see me wear that he had never gotten to see.
Although to some I’m still a kid, it was the first time I didn’t feel like a kid. I felt like I had moved from just being the broken kid from the city, to the kid that God continues to transform and change, a child of the king, who was given a chance to do something with his life, to show the world what happens when a church does what its supposed to do in loving the people of God. One particular man, who was close to Clark who was in attendance got up during the time of sharing about Clark’s life. Red said, “There were two things that Clark cared about. Kids and kids.” If it weren’t for people like Clark, I don’t think I’d be where I am at today in my life.
As I reflect on my birthday “week” I sit in awe of God’s amazing grace in my life. I get to be a husband, father, and a pastor. I get to reflect back to the world what so many had given to me in giving me Jesus and showing me what it means to follow Christ when I was that “kid,” growing up. I get to preach the grace and mercy of Christ and I get to live it out before the world. I get to celebrate the lives of our own kids and that all in all we’ve done pretty good as parents and yet we still have much to do. Most of all I get to show the world what happens when a church does what its supposed to do in loving the world, its neighborhood, and its people as Jesus loved. Do I still feel old? Sure. Am I loving the life God has blessed me with?
Most certainly!
By the way, “You did good church.”
One of my Spiritual fathers went to be with the Lord this morning. Below I give you some personal reflections about Clark Paddock.
I can’t remember the exact year that I met Clark Paddock. I was in elementary school and we lived in Hollywood. I had started going to the church because of a boss that my father had at the print shop he worked for in Hollywood. Clark was a member along with his wife Margie of the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood.
Clark and his family resided in Glendale and were actively involved in ministry within the church. They had two wonderful kids in Dorothy and Barbara who were also very involved in the church in various ministries including the youth ministries of the church. Dorothy was one of my many youth leaders when I was a kid who also played a big role in my life for Christ.
Clark was a church leader, served as an elder and was a faithful follower of Jesus. As a matter of fact he was one of many who truly cared about the role that the church played within the community and helped start a ministry to neighborhood kids a mile from the church. The ministry was called SAMGAM. I can’t remember what it stood for, but I think it stood for “Saturday Morning Games.” The kinds of kids that were coming to SAMGAM weren’t your typical church kids. Some of them came from an orphanage that the church ministered to for several years. Others just lived around the neighborhood.
From what I learned from Clark over the years, SAMGAM was created in response to the church’s efforts in trying to integrate the neighborhood kids with the church kids in Sunday school. It worked so well that the Lord grew it and the church had to come up with something dedicated to serving the large numbers of kids that Clark and others helped bring to church from the neighborhood and that was part of the reason for moving it to Saturday mornings. The Lord used SAMGAM for many years and many lives were changed for Christ. Including mine.
There was this big green school bus that the church owned and that Clark drove and others would drive every Saturday morning. He and several other volunteers would drive down the streets of Hollywood to a particular neighborhood and pick up kids on street corners until the bus was packed to the rim. The church had built a reputation with the community and the kids after a while knew the “bus” would come and pick them up every Saturday morning. The bus was always full of kids. Kids from different ethnic backgrounds. Kids who were from single parent homes. Kids from broken homes, kids from homes with no parents and kids who were from abusive home environments.
I was one of those kids except I don’t remember the bus picking me up. I lived in a different part of the neighborhood. What I do remember is that I always ended up at SAMGAM somehow. I either got a ride from one of the volunteers or I walked to the church with my brothers. I just can’t remember. As I got older it was a ministry that I got to help serve in when I was a young adult in the church. It was a ministry that both my wife and I would help run and that Deb would even coordinate for a little while. We did it because Clark and others saw the importance of loving kids for Jesus.
It was a ministry that Clark and others cared for deeply and a ministry that Clark advocated for because he felt that the church should have a love for the neighborhood. Clark was so missional before the word even became the hip thing to say out loud. Clark and others were doing the mission of God as others in the church were still trying to figure out God’s mission. Clark was also involved in Christian Education at the church, taught Sunday School, was always a bus driver for anything that involved children and youth and I have no doubt involved with other things in the church outside of Christian Education.
Several years later Clark and his wife Margie invited me to come and live in one of their spare rooms so that I could focus on my education by attending the local community college which was in walking distance from their home in Glendale. Clark helped me enroll and I began attending classes regularly for what seemed like an eternity. I remember him telling me that I needed to work on my education and that bit of wisdom stayed with me for a long time.
I remember the first time I sat around the table with Clark and his wife Margie for a meal. Clark led us all in prayer and he made “potato pancakes.” He loved making potato pancakes.
He loved his wife Margie and his kids so much. He was a living example of the kind of husband and father I wanted to be.
Clark was one of my biggest cheerleaders in my life along with his family. I remember him coming with Margie to watch when Debbie and I were married in 1990. I have no doubt Clark prayed for me. Over the years he’s kept tabs on me. He’d call out of the blue just to check in. I remember telling him that I’d finally graduate from Azusa Pacific University and that I graduated from seminary at Princeton in New Jersey. I wanted him to know that I was grateful for him inviting me to live with he and Margie in Glendale so that I could begin my college education. I remember on one occasion he even wrote me a recommendation to a church that I was applying for nearby where he lived in Northern California after I graduated from seminary. I knew he was proud of me and grateful for my wife Debbie continuing to be an encouragement to me supporting me in my education over the years.
We visited with Clark almost a year ago when he was out visiting with his daughters. Clark wanted to drive up to where we lived and where he used to live in the Antelope Valley. I remember picking Clark up on a Friday morning. We went and visited our old church at Hollywood and then he and I drove up to our house in Palmdale. He loved living in the AV. At one time he and his wife owned a lighting business in Palmdale. So, Clark wanted to see his old stomping ground.
I got show him where Debbie and I lived. He got to meet our wonderful kids. He got see Deb.
I remember driving him around Palmdale and Lancaster. I showed him where his old lighting business was and how it became a new church. He wanted to see some of his old friends from the Lancaster Presbyterian Church where he and Margie attended when they lived in the Antelope Valley.
I remember taking him to the church I serve and pastor. I got to show him the sanctuary and showed him some renovations that we were working on at the time at the church.
I had so much fun telling him what was going on.
I have to confess…I was so proud that day.
I knew he was proud too.
I’ve cried several times writing this and I have no doubt I’ve mixed up a few facts. What I do know is that he will be missed by many including his sweet, sweet family.
Clark thank you for loving me and Debbie over the years and thank you for being a living example of Christ to me over the years and believing in that little kid from Hollywood. I would not be where I am at today in my life as a follower of Jesus, husband, father, and pastor if it weren’t for men like you. You truly lived out Ms. Mears vision of, “knowing Christ and making him known.”
Dorothy and Barbara, we love you and your sweet family, and we loved your dad so much. He left a legacy of faith behind and although we grieve now, we celebrate that he’s home with the Lord. No more pain. No more suffering. We praise God for Clark and his life. We praise God for you guys as well.
I’m so happy that we got be with him when he was out last.
We will miss you Clark.
P.S. Clark, I think I forgot to tell you that I was working on my Doctor of Ministry at Fuller. I couldn’t remember if I had told you. :)
Kids found this picture in my office.
Got to help break ground with a bunch of folks for a building dedicated to this lady.
Hard to believe it was 23 years AGO.
And thanks for the Facebook comments, especially the ones about being tiny…would have posted this here sooner, but I was having some issues with my blog.
