Trinity Covenant Church, Rochester, NY

It is with sadness but not surprise that I have heard the news that Trinity Covenant Church of Rochester, NY will be closing. In 1993-94 I served that church as an intern with my beloved friend Jim "The Boomer" Widboom. Those people were so gracious and loving toward me and have remained so through the years. No doubt they had a strong influence in my becoming a pastor. I thought for sure when I went to seminary that I would do a Ph.D in Old Testament. I interviewed at Emory, Duke and elsewhere thinking for sure I would eventually become a professor. But when I did my year long internship at Trinity and Roberts Wesleyan College I rediscovered my love of evangelism and people. That opened me up to the pastoral call process in the Covenant Church and eventually to becoming a pastor in Ohio. Now certainly there are some who would suggest that Trinity has done a great disservice to the Kingdom of God by fostering my calling to ministry. Including Trinity, I have served three churches in my life. All were appreciably smaller in the years following my ministry. I am, what my friend Fr. Walter Giles would call, 'a congregational downsizer'. That's a very specialized ministry that involves absolutely no skill what so ever. But God used that church in a very special way in my life and I will have very fond memories of them forever.