Farewell to a Mentor and Friend
Today, I attended a Service of Death and Resurrection in celebration of the life of Reverend Charles (Chuck) Goodin. The service took place at Franklin Street United Methodist Church in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. It was a poignant time of worship that both glorified the Triune God and illuminated the life of a brother in Christ whose presence will be dearly missed by many.
In the retired relationship since 1999, Chuck served as a United Methodist pastor in the Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference for well over 40 years. Most recently, in his retirement, he served as chaplain at Arbutus Park Retirement Community in Johnstown.
Back in the summer of 1988 (just over twenty years ago), I participated in the United Methodist intern program here in western Pennsylvania. At the time, I was a 22-year-old recent college graduate who was a few months away from beginning his seminary studies. The people overseeing the internship program made the decision to assign me to First United Methodist Church in Greenville, Pennsylvania. The pastor of that church was none other than Chuck Goodin.
For three months during the summer of 1988, Chuck mentored me and put me to meaningful work. During the mornings, I ministered with children and youth in the church and community. During the afternoons and evenings, Chuck and I shared together in the ministry of visitation. We visited with people in hospitals and nursing homes. We also visited with people in the comfort of their living rooms and kitchens. Somehow, no matter where the evening took us, we wound up at Dairy Queen, talking and laughing over a Banana Split or a Peanut Buster Parfait.
Those were good and important days for me. During those three months, Chuck blessed me with his integrity and his graciousness. He inspired me with his devotion to pastoral care and his love for the church. He helped me to appreciate both the beauty and the struggle of local church ministry.
We laughed a great deal together that summer. We also moved beneath the laughter rather effortlessly in order to experience with one another the depths of prayer and the complexities of theological dialogue.
Chuck Goodin was a mentor to me. He was also my friend. He taught me that authentic ministry is not ultimately about clever programing and shrewd leadership techniques. Rather, in the end, ministry is about preaching the Way of Christ and incarnating the time-consuming relational intimacy of his love. Chuck did both faithfully throughout his ministry.
It was a profound honor to sit with my mother and father in worship this day as the congregation sang praises to God and gave thanks for one of the newest members of the great cloud of witnesses.
It seems that your mentor was also keen enough to realize that ice cream is a conduit for conversations of the heart.