During our church service today our pastor and his wife were honored for 40 years of service at our church -- and our church wasn't our pastor's first one. We are really blessed to have found such a wonderful church home and family. The deacons "hijacked" the beginning of the service to bring a variety of people up to talk about both Jean and Pastor Hattenfield. Having "only" been attending the church for 7 years, we learned a lot about how his service at Linworth came to be and how much he and Jean are appreciated.
To begin with, someone from his old church in Maryland was in Columbus and learned our church was looking for a pastor, so that guy mentioned to our deacons that he was a good pastor. So, "spies" were sent to Maryland to hear him preach and he accepted an offer to come and do a sermon in Columbus. We offered the job to him but he didn't respond for quite some time -- their old church has just finished a parsonage for them and they had no reason to leave. He didn't want to push his wife into a move so they just each individually prayed about it and eventually she said that maybe they should move to Columbus. He really puts his faith and trust in God and what God wants -- and in His time.
Those that talked about Jean all mentioned how fervent she is with prayer -- she is such a good role model of a Christian wife who truly is a help-meet for her spouse. She has a quiet strength and determination and serves our church in a number of ways...although prayer is probably one of the best!
To begin with, someone from his old church in Maryland was in Columbus and learned our church was looking for a pastor, so that guy mentioned to our deacons that he was a good pastor. So, "spies" were sent to Maryland to hear him preach and he accepted an offer to come and do a sermon in Columbus. We offered the job to him but he didn't respond for quite some time -- their old church has just finished a parsonage for them and they had no reason to leave. He didn't want to push his wife into a move so they just each individually prayed about it and eventually she said that maybe they should move to Columbus. He really puts his faith and trust in God and what God wants -- and in His time.
Those that talked about Jean all mentioned how fervent she is with prayer -- she is such a good role model of a Christian wife who truly is a help-meet for her spouse. She has a quiet strength and determination and serves our church in a number of ways...although prayer is probably one of the best!
Three or four people each talked about Jean and Pastor, taking up a good bit of the service time. When Pastor got up, he said that he'd been told he was the master of the 20 minute sermon, but even that was going to be put to the test today! One thing about our Pastor -- he likes to keep things moving on time!!! The one thing I thought was great about how he started his message was the fact that he started with a reminder that although people said plenty of nice things about him, he isn't the reason we come on Sundays and our focus needed to be on God and not him. He also mentioned that the reason he has stayed all 40 years was that as a body our church has had the will of God at its center and as a result, he's never wanted to leave.
I think we've learned a lot from Pastor - both from his sermons (sometimes he'll only cover one or two verses in an entire message....and the "old timers" tell us that he's really "sped up" over time!), but also in how he lives this life and shepherds our (not his, but God's) church. He has complete faith and trust in the other pastors and gives them the autonomy and freedom in their areas. He spends a lot of time visiting people, praying with people, and preparing his sermons. During our pre-marital counseling we learned that he often starts working on a sermon 10 weeks before he gives it! I also first-hand experienced our church's visitation program as every day of my hospital stay one of the three pastors was in my room to check on me. Pastor is a leader who really makes sure that God and what HE wants is the focus of the church. He's been an enthusiastic supporter of change necessary to keep the church relevant to the people attending as "times have changed", so long as Biblical truths aren't sacrificed.
I'm quite thankful that we've had the opportunity to start our marriage and family in such a wonderful church environment. Thanks so much to Pastor and Jean for the past 40 years they've given our church!
I think we've learned a lot from Pastor - both from his sermons (sometimes he'll only cover one or two verses in an entire message....and the "old timers" tell us that he's really "sped up" over time!), but also in how he lives this life and shepherds our (not his, but God's) church. He has complete faith and trust in the other pastors and gives them the autonomy and freedom in their areas. He spends a lot of time visiting people, praying with people, and preparing his sermons. During our pre-marital counseling we learned that he often starts working on a sermon 10 weeks before he gives it! I also first-hand experienced our church's visitation program as every day of my hospital stay one of the three pastors was in my room to check on me. Pastor is a leader who really makes sure that God and what HE wants is the focus of the church. He's been an enthusiastic supporter of change necessary to keep the church relevant to the people attending as "times have changed", so long as Biblical truths aren't sacrificed.
I'm quite thankful that we've had the opportunity to start our marriage and family in such a wonderful church environment. Thanks so much to Pastor and Jean for the past 40 years they've given our church!
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