A Pastor Like No Other
By Jim Cofield
Two years ago, the most influential pastor in my life passed from this life to the next. He was 93. He was my dad. He went to heaven during Pastor Appreciation month.
Dad was an incredible man, husband, father, and preacher. I still remember some of his sermons from the Old Testament that he preached on Sunday nights (yes, it was a long time ago … 60 years or better … back then our church had Sunday evening services as well as Sunday morning services and Sunday school and Wednesday evening prayer meetings!). I enjoyed his Sunday evening sermons MUCH better than Sunday morning sermons. He made the Old Testament come alive to me because he was a great storyteller. Eventually, I realized that everyone had a story in God’s big story.
Dad’s story included signing up for the Navy in WW2 when he was underage (he was 16). It took his parents 30 days to find out what he had done and where he was (at the Great Lakes Academy … his home was Chattanooga, TN). The Navy sent him home but on his 17th birthday he was back in uniform. He won the award for best seaman in his class of 200 men.
When he came home, he went to Bible College and served as a song-leader for various evangelists (that was back when ‘revivals’ were a minimum of two weeks long). Eventually he planted a church, then became an evangelist before moving to northern Ontario, Canada as a missionary. There he planted another church, built a Youth camp on a remote lake, and had a ministry to Native Americans in the various villages in the north. The only way to reach them was to fly (yes, he was a pilot … and an artist, musician, photographer, horseman, leader, reader, builder, etc.).
In the formative years before college, he was my pastor. I can still recite Psalm 1 and Romans 12 because he helped me memorize those chapters when I was a kid. I have a love of learning because he let me hang out in his study while he summarized a book. I’ve seen and experienced God’s grace because it was only by grace that dad was who he was and accomplished what he did. Now he is gone. I miss him more than I did a year ago. And now looking back on pastor appreciation month I offer my appreciation for my amazing pastor. Thanks, dad, for cultivating a thirst for God in my soul.
