I
first got to know of Ward when I served as the pastor at Community Presbyterian
Church in Plainview. He was known in the
Presbytery as an architect who had particular skills in designing
churches. Our congregation was talking
about re-designing our building, so we invited Ward to come talk to a group of
us. He made the two hour drive to
Plainview. The drive must not have done
much for him because Ward immediately told us that our church should buy the
three lots of property adjacent to the church.
Certain thoughts went through my
mind—thoughts that I couldn’t share as a pastor at a meeting. But toned down the thoughts were like “thanks
for driving from the Cities to tell us what to do something that we can’t
afford.”
That
was Ward—willing to state the truth as he saw it—even if people didn’t want to
hear what he had to say.
I’ve
always enjoyed honest people, so Ward and I quickly hit it off well. When he became the moderator of the
Presbytery he invited me to speak about the ministry at Plainview. As the moderator he did his work with grace
and a sense of humor. Every time he
addressed the Presbytery as the moderator he would say something like, “it’s
always a pleasure to be with you.”
He
had the task of moderating the special meeting where the Presbytery voted to
ordain Paul Capetz. It was a difficult
and contentious meeting. Ward did it
with grace and a sense of humor. He
later told me that he slept for two days after that meeting.
Ward
was a big supporter of the new church development called Chain of Lakes. When I first started as the Organizing Pastor
I needed a place to stay. Ward was able
to secure the church house at Presbyterian Church of the Way and convinced
their session to let me stay there. It
was a big help for me at the start of this ministry.
Ward’s
lasting legacy to Chain of Lakes will be the hundreds of hours he put in to
help secure a piece of property. Before
we started I told him I would be willing to get down on my hands and knees to
beg him to be the leader of our first group.
He laughed and said that wasn’t necessary. At our first meeting he, Dave Nyberg and I
drove around the area looking at listings from a MLS print out. We finished our meeting eating hamburgers and
drinking a beer at Millers on Main. We
never could have dreamed that a little more than a year later the Presbytery
would unanimously approve the purchase of a 8.9 acre parcel of property at the
northern edge of the Lakes Development.
Ward’s leadership was a significant reason that this purchase happened.
When
cancer struck Ward, he faced it liked he faced all his projects—with an upbeat
attitude and a realistic assessment of what could happen. As he did with others, Ward came to visit me
when he closed his office because of his health. He talked about what he wanted to accomplish,
the treatment plan that he had chosen, and we shed some tears about what was
happening. We prayed together putting
our trust in God who knows much more than we do.
I
last talked to Ward about ten days before his passing. He had already shared publicly that he had
stopped taking treatment, so we didn’t talk about his health. He was thrilled about going to church at
Presbyterian Church of the Way on Easter and the wedding of his son.
The
world does not shine quite as bright because of Ward’s passing. None of us understands why a person at age 57
and in the prime of his life is suddenly taken.
We can give thanks for all of the qualities in him that we loved. Ward, it was always a pleasure to be with
you!
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