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. :)
A couple of Sundays ago during the kids message, one of the tiny munchkins of the congregation walked up to where Walter usually sits next to the church organ. As the kids message was taking place, this little one walks up to Walter and climbs up on his lap. She sat on his lap until the kids message was over and until Grandma walked up and took the sweet child to the church nursery. I happened to have my blackberry handy at the time and grabbed this shot of Walter and this sweet child. The picture setting at the time I took this was set to Black & White. If you look closely at the picture, you’ll see Walter smiling down on the child.
Walter is originally from the east coast where he was born and raised in New Jersey. He moved to California with his parents in 1954 and resided in the City of San Fernando for a number of years. He has a Bachelors Degree in Art and recorded his first radio recording at the age of 18 for a local radio station.
Walter came to the Lord as a young child and was baptized at the Second Baptist Church in Los Angeles at the age of 6. Walter is a lover of music and has a wonderful gift in singing and in playing the church organ and piano. His first piano lesson was at the age of 7. At the age of 14 Walter started playing the organ at St. Phillips Lutheran Church in Pacoima. Years later in the mid 1980’s he would assist in the praise band at the Shadow Hills Presbyterian Church because of his ability to play the piano and his unique sound as a gospel singer.
Walter Bolen has been part of our church for close to 20 years. He first moved to Littlerock in 1988. It was in 1991 when he first attended our church here in Littlerock looking for a new church home for him and his family. Upon his arrival, literally on the first day, Pastor Bob Frisbee learned of Walter’s talent in playing the piano and organ and put him right to work on the piano playing alongside one of our church members who at the time was the church organist. He hasn’t stopped playing the piano and organ in church ever since.
In 2002 and with the encouragement of Pastor Krin Van Tatenhove and friends in the Littlerock church, Walter made his first CD. In 2003 Walter was diagnosed with kidney failure followed by congestive heart failure and was put on dialysis. Blindness in one eye along with Glaucoma began immediately, but he still sees well enough to get around and because of his God given gifts in playing the organ and the piano he is still able to help lead our church in worship each and every Sunday. Walter is currently on a list to receive a kidney transplant at UCLA, but is unable to receive one until he finds an appropriate support team that will help him during recovery.
On many of occasion Walter for our special music time, right after the message and being led by the Holy Spirit will pick the most appropriate song that he’s either written or has in his repertoire of music that relates with the message for the morning. Walter is loved by many and has a wonderful heart for people and most of all a pastors’ heart. Walter has served as an Elder in our church and continues to have a love for our church and the community God has placed the church in.
I recently talked with Walter and he shared that our church has been one “big family” who has walked with him through his kidney failure and through a divorce. What I love about Walter is his ability to listen and his honesty. He’s not afraid to tell you the truth and something that frustrates him most about Christians is the hypocrisy as Christ followers that we all struggle with sometimes. Just the mere fact that he is able to take one of the sermons I preach and come up with a song that continues with the proclamation of God’s love until we disperse is an amazing gift and I know many pastors who would love to have someone like Walter.
Walter has an amazing testimony and I know that I am not alone in saying that, “Walter we love you brother and thank God for you and your heart for worship.”
If you’d like to hear some of Walt’s music, visit his website. I know he’d appreciate it if you’d listen to what God has blessed him with. In each song you’ll hear his testimony loudly and sense his heart for loving Jesus.
I recently took a class with Eddie Gibbs at Fuller Theological Seminary and grabbed this quote from a lecture he gave on church and culture that he cited from Os Guinness:
“Most of the newly reached “unchurched” are really spiritual refugees from the collapse of three groups–legalistic fundamentalism, watered-down liberalism, and over-ritualistic traditionalism. The United States has yet to see the real unchurched as European Christians have experienced them.” Os Guinness, Dining with the Devil, p. 81
I haven’t read the book yet and I don’t know what’s before and after the quote. I have to admit though the quote kind of scares me.
If anything it means as a pastor I need to wake up and smell the coffee. Although the church I pastor is by no means a “Mega Church” it means I need to become someone who is willing to reconsider ways in reaching the “unchurched.” And if anything I need start helping folks in the church consider new ways of taking Jesus back into the world and into their neighborhoods. Unashamedly and in ways in which the spirit of God can begin the work of transformation of hearts and minds to truly consider what it would mean to follow Jesus.
Here is the best definition, simple, and very explainable to folks in the church on what it means to be sent out into the world and yes…to be missional.
As I think about this post I just finished a long shift at the hospital doing chaplain things. I am exhausted and also grateful for the day I had. As I reflect on my day I think of a statement made by a friend of mine just recently about teaching the people of God to be missional. I am convinced that being missional isn’t something you can teach. Being missional is something you just do. How do you know your doing things missional?
You’ll know. You’ll start hearing and seeing God work in ways you’ve never seen before. You become a risk taker. You start stepping outside of your box of naivete. When was the last time God kicked you out of your box for a moment just long enough to catch a glimpse of what the kingdom of God actually is about and looks like?
Responding to the mission of God means finally saying with arms stretched out ,”Lord, here I am.”
For two months now my church has allowed me to work as a part-time chaplain at a couple of hospitals. The hospital I was scheduled to work at over these last two days was Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, Ca.
Holy Cross was one of several hospitals that received patients from the Metrolink train wreck in Chatsworth this past Friday. I have to say one of the most surreal experiences in my life was to be working in the emergency room yesterday evening when the ambulances rolled in and kept rolling in from the site. Last night I worked alongside some other wonderful chaplains. We also worked with and observed a hospital staff that worked together and were unified all evening and through the night. It was a relief this morning after arriving to the hospital when I heard that there were some folks who were much better this morning since yesterday’s wreck.
As I drove home tonight from the hospital I was listening to the latest news on a local radio station. The story that made the news tonight was the list of 25 persons who had died in the wreck. As the DJ read the names I couldn’t help but remember three or four names of folks, who had been read off the list, who had parents and friends sitting and waiting for answers and help in finding their loved ones last night.
My thought as I listened to the radio driving home was that all I could along with everyone else who helped yesterday, from fire crews, to the doctors, and nurses was to pray. Pray for those who are grieving this evening. Who are hurting. And praying that God would bring comfort to those who sleep tonight without there loved ones.
As I cruise the blogging scribbles of my colleagues and friends I have to confess that there was one blog today that caught my eye. Tod and his presbytery are in the midst of doing an interesting thing that you must watch and listen to as the larger church discerns what it means to becoming a missional community, doing the mission of God out in the world. I wonder if becoming a missional community means going to that one place in our lives that makes us feel most uncomfortable. Venturing out as Tod describes into “unchartered territory.”
Had a good time at PGF this past week. Got to spend some time with old friends from seminary. Lots of Princeton folks which was cool. Saw some friends that I haven’t seen since graduation. Also got to see some buddies from my home church. As for the content of the week I was glad I was present. The one person that I actually was looking forward to hearing was Rick Warren. I guess something happened and he wasn’t able to attend. I actually think he was sitting in his back yard hanging with his pals Obama and McCain. (Just kidding) Alan Hirsch was what I thought he’d be. My favorite Hirsch quote was, “You Presbyterians are in trouble because you have defined yourselves by your structure.”I’ve heard Labberton before and wish I could some how steal just a small bit of his brain for my preaching every Sunday.
Went to the Michael Walker seminars on whether or not one can still be faithful in the PCUSA. I really appreciated his work and his willingness to help folks find some kind of balance. Even after this conference, I know in all of my heart as a follower of Jesus, a Christian, and a pastor that I still can be faithful to the call God has placed on my heart to those I minister to, with, and alongside. It broke my heart to hear the pain this past week that many are feeling and I only pray that they continue to find the answers they are looking for in deciding whether one can still be faithful in light of the denominational things that are happening and have been happening for a long time.
As for the missional stuff during the conference? Nothing new in some ways for me. I think folks don’t realize that they have been doing things missional for most of their lives as followers of Jesus. The church I still love to this day and where I came to know Christ in as a youth was a missional body long before the word became a BUZZ word dropped over a latte discussing missional things in the church. I laughed with a friend a couple of weeks ago when she said, “The church we were part of for years, just wasn’t smart enough to label what they were doing for the kingdom of God in the City as missional.”
My fear with the whole missional thing of recent is that I start to check out when I hear it being discussed and talked about. One church this past week mentioned something about going to Tijuana and building homes. No doubt this has made an impact on the people of God. How about adopting a neighborhood church in their own city and walking alongside that church in their own work as a missional body that strives to empower and equip the people of God to becoming a sent community? How about coming alongside a city church, one breath away from death and helping them find their kingdom concept (My new buzz word I learned this week) and helping them move from survival to helping them as people of God accept their niche, their place in the City as a church that might not be the church it once was, but a church that is living out their faith and proclaiming God’s grace to those in need of grace. Let’s stop spending money on learning about being missional and lets just do what we’ve always been doing in the kingdom of God here on earth. And the funny thing is that there are churches who are doing and living a missional life and still haven’t figured it out.
I’m the result of a church being missional. I’m confident that Jesus loves me and that it is his grace in my life that gives me strength to BE in the world doing the mission of God.
All in all? A nice time to be away. Do I have answers yet? No, but I still proclaim GOOD NEWS. News that needs to be shared. News that sometimes is awesome to hear and yet sometimes hard to hear. News that is radical and should make us feel uncomfortable. News that calls the church to WAKE UP!
My preaching professor in seminary once said, “preaching is sometimes making the people of God feel uncomfortable. You might not be preaching if you’re not moving them to a place of responding to God’s call to GO and do something with what they have heard.” (My paraphrase)
When I think about the church I think of the church as one great big surrogate parent sometimes. If it weren’t for the church and its role in the shaping of my life as a follower of Jesus and now a pastor I could honestly say that my life would be a whole lot different. Folks from all different walks of life who all had a love for the city and loved making a difference in the lives of God’s people. When I was a kid, these people on at least one occasion fed my family, paid some hospital bills, or even saw to it that we always had a way to get to church camp as kids. As I got older the amount of money spent on meals feeding me alone I could never repay back, but the conversations I had with these folks I still remember like yesterday.
Some of my coolest memories as kid growing up in the city was the time I spent on the boulevard. Now I know you are wondering, “why is it that the boulevard holds for me so many memories?” Well, the church happened to be about a block away from the boulevard where we lived in Hollywood. At one point as a kid our home was less than a mile from the church, a half block above the boulevard. On another occasion we lived just over a mile from the church, again both places were a short walk either way. Growing up in a city like Hollywood, your mode for transportation as a kid was to usually walk and the boulevard was the path one would usually choose. It made the walk to the church a little more enjoyable. For example skateboarding was always an experience, because the way the wheels of your skateboard felt under your feet while skateboarding always seemed to tickle your feet as you cruised down the boulevard. The city bus (formerly known as the RTD) was another enjoyable experience (if you had the change) because the joy of watching the interesting yet entertaining persons on a city bus always was a smile to anyone riding a bus, even to us kids.
One memory I have was a time in elementary school on Halloween during a costume parade. When I was an infant I was diagnosed with hydrocephalus, which is simply water on the brain. (Now for those of you who know me, I know this gives you a smile and I hear you saying, “no wonder he’s such a goober.”) What happens with some who are diagnosed with hydrocephalus as an infant and as children, the child’s head sometimes appears larger than the child’s body. Thankfully, doctors were able to treat it with a shunt, but of course as I grew up I got the occasional, “hey dude, you have a big head.” On this particular day at school during the Halloween parade, I decided that enough was enough with the “big head stuff.” What I remember that day was that my mother was called and the next scene was us sitting in a hamburger stand right on the boulevard minutes from our apartment. Of course food is always the best cure for a growing kid and mom saw to it that we had some one on one time which allowed for the “big head stuff” to become a thing of the past.
My next post I will continue to reflect on those memories I had growing up in the city and the small yet important role my parents had in being used by God in helping me in my faith journey. I will also share some other thoughts about life growing up in Hollywood and how this played a role in my faith as a follower of Jesus.
Last Tuesday our food bank served 78 families. The Sunday prior to the food bank I shared with the church we needed over 60 turkeys. I’m blown away that when you put a call out for a need people respond.
A couple of things happened since last week. One of our members was in the post office and found a one hundred dollar bill. He says, “did anyone loose a hundred dollar bill?” A little old lady came up to him and said, “it’s your lucky day.” The member comes to the church office and hands me a hundred dollar bill and says, “use this for the turkeys.”
Another member calls last week and says, “my son knows where to get some turkeys and hams wholesale.” She finds out she can’t get the turkeys, but can get the hams. We needed approximately sixty hams at around 600.00 dollars. The same member says this past Sunday morning that we raised almost enough money from donations from people in the church and living in the community.
Two of the donations were from the chamber of commerce and a hardware store.
This Tuesday we have another food bank. I think things are going to be okay.
Its a special moment when community “literally” comes together to help do God’s ministry.
