When I first moved to Nowata in 2015, I inherited a church with a lot of history. This church, like all others, was founded and maintained by several noteworthy personalities. Each generation had its own set of giants doing the heavy lifting of the church. Each era was marked with different blessings and challenges.
In the 1960s, it was becoming clear that our second church building would need to be replaced. It was no longer as structurally sound as it had once been. It had serious accessibility and safety issues. A new building would be needed in order to meet the needs of the community here.
There were challenges. First, while the congregation had decent attendance, its giving was weak. It had been for some time. The congregation did not seem have to have much faith that the money was needed or would be spent well. Someone had to step up to help givers to feel the weight and pride of giving to such a venture. Second, while the congregation had many capable people to draw upon, not all of them worked well together or were easy to get along with. Someone was needed to help everyone to get along while moving the work forward.
That man was Jim Patton. He was a detail-oriented person who also had energy for many personalities. He had a goal in mind, and he knew how to reach it. And, by God, he did reach it, mobilizing the efforts of our congregation to construct the edifice that now hosts our worship. To hear Jim’s recounting of many of the challenges and chapters in this saga, you can see his recollections here:
More recently, our congregation needed to discern our covenant affiliation with The United Methodist Church, given that its conduct was not matching the values of our local congregation. Jim, having fallen away from involvement in the church community he had once so capably served, grew interested in the conversation. He began attending the Delaware Methodist Church’s monthly breakfasts, where he and I visited about some of the particulars involved. Jim and his wife, Linda, both became increasingly clear that this decision mattered. When the time came from a congregational town hall meeting, Jim attended worship for the first time in a long time. He stayed after worship to attend the meeting, where he spoke on behalf of the generation who built the building we were meeting in. He was of the mind that our local church needed to depart from the denomination that no longer represented what he and his generation worked to build over the course of decades.
The church took our vote and the rest is history. Jim’s clarity, alongside our current leadership, led to an almost-unanimous vote. I believe his presence gave great peace and purpose to many. He had seen the church through a hard transition before; he was helping it along through this one, as well.
To my great joy, Jim continued attending worship after that point. We had a few more opportunities to visit, including a recent filmed session with Janice Drake in which the two of them acknowledged many in our church’s history who played their parts well. We hope to publish that soon.
Jim died suddenly this last week, peacefully and at home, while it was thought that he was recovering from a heart operation. All were optimistic about his recovery. It was not to be. While I am sad that I will no longer have Jim as a friend, nor as a historical resource, I was overjoyed and honored to preside at his memorial service yesterday. Moreover, I could take joy in this because the man had come back into the covenant community, joyfully worshiping his Lord alongside brothers and sisters in the faith. I give God thanks that he and I were able to admire together what God is doing in our church, with old and young coming together around the truth of God’s Word. It is an inexpressibly excellent thing that Jim came back and spent the final chapter of his life doing what he did best: serving God’s people.
The church is not a peacetime organization. We get sclerotic and neurotic when we don’t have a battle to fight together. God has ordained that his church should beat back the gates of hell. What is needed are more happy warriors in the line of Jim Patton. So take up your cross and go to battle alongside him and the other saints of the ages.
Two final exhortations: First, each of us needs to take the time and care to preserve our legacies for those who follow after us. Jim was good to let me film him. He was also good to write down his recollections in a book. If I were king, I would make everyone do such a thing. Friends, write down your legacy, the experiences you had that have made you who your are, the things you believe and value. Do it now, before it is too late.
Second, this church is only as good as the level of sacrifice that we can collectively muster. To those who give little, little is given. The key is to give so that it matters, and it makes a difference. Our church has an endowment fund established to acknowledge the sacrifices of those who came before. As we continue to donate funds in memory of those who came before, their legacy is ensured indefinitely. Please prayerfully consider giving a gift to the church in Jim’s memory, or in the memory of another dearly departed one, for God’s glory in the community of Nowata. God willing, if we continue this ministry faithfully, then by the time we need to build another building, we will have a large endowment to draw upon. If you would like to learn more about this, go here: https://www.nowatamethodists.org/endowment-fund
Jim bell now hangs proudly among those others at the sanctuary entrance. We thank God to carry his legacy forward.
Take up thy cross, and follow Christ,
nor think ‘til death to lay it down,
for only those who bear the cross
may hope to wear the glorious crown!
May Brother Jim hear these words, "Well done, good and faithful servant" when he stands before our Lord. Thank you for sharing.