Faith Journeyt Narrative--A Very Difficult Year

Second Tuesday after Pentecost

'79-80' was a tough and tumultuous year, though not without its rewards. In the spring of '79 I concluded that with the college teaching job market being very tight, I was best to focus my energies on a career in parish ministry. I had been at a minimum salary 3 pt. charge in Chatham County for three years. It was time to move ahead. I told Bishop Blackburn that I wanted to move, that I wanted a station appointment, and that I did not want to be an associate. I would soon learn that Bishops did not want to be told that much. Bishop called in late March with an appointment as an associate in Greenville. I said no, and reminded him that I had told him I did not want to be an associate. Bishops really do not like being told NO by a young, minimum-salary guy. I could hear it in his voice. He called back in two weeks. He gave me a two point charge at minimum salary in Newton Grove. That was it. There would not be another appointment. He reminded me that I had turned down a very good promotion in Greenville. 

I decided to make the best of it. I went to Newton Grove. It was depressing. I located the parsonage. It was more depressing. Meanwhile, my 4 year old daughter April (yes, the same April who posts comments on this blog) and her mother and new stepfather had moved to Henderson, the opposite direction from Newton Grove. As I drove home, my mood went from depression to panic. I didn't think I could go there. I would have to find some other job and make do.

A week later I got a call from heaven. OK, it was from Duke Divinity School. Some folks get the two confused. Dr. Moody Smith, Director of Graduate Studies in Religion was on the line. He told me there was a job opening as Chaplain and Assistant Professor of Religion at Tennessee Wesleyan College in Athens, TN. Would I be interested in his recommending me. Three days later I got a call from Dr. George Naff, President of Tennessee Wesleyan. Could I come for an interview. I came. As I drove through the mountains (getting lost twice on the way), I prayed a lot. This was my big chance. I prayed I wouldn't blow it.

I arrived, spent the night in a hotel, and went through a most of the next day in an interview process. I thought I did well. Dr. Naff and the other staff seemed to like me. I had what they wanted, Ph.D. in Religion, Ordination in the United Methodist Church. When I shook hands with Dr. Naff as I was leaving, I could feel a very positive sense from him.  I got home about 8:00 that night. By 8:30 I had a call from Dr. Naff offering me the job. I was saved. Thanks be to God. The one big drawback was that I would now be much farther from April, who would soon move to Rocky Mount, even further away.

I would be at Tennessee Wesleyan for the next four years. The first year was the rough one. The job description was enormous. I would be the entire Religion Dept. My first task would be to teach a course in summer school on World Religions. Not only had I never taught World Religions, I had never taken a course in it. On Saturday mornings that summer I would drive 55 miles to Knoxville to teach an NT class in a TWC extension program. The class was from 8:00 am to 10:30 am for eight Saturdays. I was learning my chaplaincy duties and planning a four course teaching schedule for the fall. I would also be called to do supply preaching throughout the Holston Conference (East Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, and two counties in Georgia). In my four years there I preached in 54 different churches, many more than once. 

What I was not prepared for was my duty in, as I called it, "Hotel Management." TWC had seen better days. It had two dorms that were closed and another closed for the summer. I lived in the one that was open. The college rented the unused dorms in the summer to various church groups for meetings and retreats. I was to coordinate these meetings and arranged for the rooms, keys, make plans with cafeteria manager for the meals, etc. The first meeting on my schedule was the big one, the big Holston Annual Conference United Methodist Women's Meeting. I would be taking care of about 400 United Methodist Women in a three day meeting. 

There were the usual sorts of complaints one gets when the women first arrived. This didn't work in this room; that didn't work in that room. Then it happened! THE AIR-CONDITIONING WENT OUT IN TWO OF THE DORMS! It was July. 300 of the 400 United Methodist Women were blazing hot and had one man to blame. It almost made it worse that 100 of the United Methodist women had AC and were perfectly comfortable and having a great time together. 

300 physically blazing hot United Methodist Women can quickly become 300 emotionally blazing hot women. 300 blazing hot United Methodist Women can be a powerful force. I had to take the brunt of that force. It was July. The Chief Custodian was on vacation. President Naff was on vacation. The Dean was on vacation.  Everyone was on vacation. I had know idea what to do. The Conference President of the United Methodist Women told me what to do. "You idiot" (those were not her precise words), call the Heating and Air-Conditioning Company and get them out here to fix it. I had only been there a month. I had no idea who the HVAC company was. I asked everyone left on campus. They all said the same thing, "We don't know. Called the Chief Custodian." He was on vacation. He wisely did not tell us where he had gone. I finally called all the HVAC companies in town (it's a small town, so there weren't many). The AC eventually got fixed for the last night the women were there.  At least I accomplished one thing. The Holston Conference United Methodist Women would never again have their annual meeting at Tennessee Wesleyan. 

This was only the beginning. Things would get worse that year. Much worse.

Yet every night I thanked God that I was there. Things would eventually get much, much better.

Faithfully,

Christian