Hello, C3AK!
Did you know that October is Adopt a Shelter Dog month? Or, Bat Appreciation month? Breast Cancer Awareness, National Applejack, Pasta, Pizza, and many more month.
It’s also Pastor Appreciation Month and I wanted to take this space to appreciate a couple of pastors who have meant a great deal, to me in my life.
First, I would be remiss if I didn’t recognize my father, Reverend Doctor Charles L. Simmons, who has a whole bunch of letters after his name, each one earned through hard work, study, and experience on the ground. Of course, I knew him first as Dad, and I have to say that he was a very good one. I’m sure that he, like me, could make a whole day of pointing out his own flaws and the many places he thinks he failed as a father, but as I grew older and especially now that I have the lens of being a father myself, I can see how incredibly blessed I was to have two loving parents. My mom and dad stayed together and stayed committed to one another through good times and hard times. They showed us, my three sibling and I, real love for each other and for us. As well, they modeled a faithfulness to Christ that has resulted in all of us, and our children, knowing Jesus and living in ways that honor Him.
My dad worked hard, at times doing things he surely didn’t want to do, but they were things he needed to do in order to support the family. He took me fishing and taught me how to tie leader on the line, how to net a big fish, what to do to clean a fish you planned to eat, and how to get a hook out of my hand. We went hunting, and camping, to the movies, the zoo, drives to nowhere, out to eat, and all over South Central Alaska to visit friends, see the country, and minister in churches. He taught me the Bible in church and in person. He taught me about Jesus by the way he lived and the way loved people. I will always be thankful for the first and primary pastor in my life, my dad.
The other pastor I’d like to appreciate in this post is my partner in crime, Pastor Jason Souza. He has been a co-pastor with me for more than 20 years, but our friendship and ministry together goes back even further than that. I’ll always remember the day we talked while tearing down a fall festival youth project and he told me about being unsatisfied with the jobs he’d had and wondering about the direction of his life. I suggested to him that maybe God was calling him to something more. I don’t know if I really had any impact on his recognition of God’s call in his life that day, but I count it as a favorite memory as I see the pastor he is today.
In all my life, and I’ve lived a bit; in all the people I’ve known and I’ve known a LOT, especially in ministry, there has not been a more constant friend, trusted advisor, sometimes admonisher, and frequent commiserator. I’ve never known someone as willing to look into themselves, in the face of sometimes harsh, even unfair, criticism and try to dig out the bits of truth that might exist. While he can be humorously blustery, he is practically absent of ego in a bad way, and I’ve seen acts and attitudes of kindness toward others that most will never know.
In addition, he has been a consistent friend to my family, Karen and the boys. He is someone they trust and love, because they have not only seen his love for me, but he has given that same love to them.
Finally, he is a student of the Bible and strives to understand the will of God in his life and for our church. There have been many times when it might have been easier for him to find something else to do, or at least to do ministry somewhere else. He has been with me through the darkest of times in ministry and has never wavered in his call to the field where God has placed him. In doing that, he has instructed and illuminated truths from Scripture in ways that have been surprising, challenging, hilarious, scandalous, and downright profound.
I hope C3AK realizes the treasure they have in such a faithful, loving, and kind servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. I know how rare that can be and I am truly, truly, honored to have walked all these many years with Jason at my side in our ministry together. I pray that the Lord blesses us with many more to come, and that the “success” of the future brightly outshines that of the past.
Blessings,
Pastor Tracy