Hope Starts With You | Celebrating Volunteers
Slats Wathen. What a name! His real name was Evan, but no one called him that. He lived an impressive life: graduated from Texas A&M (no one is perfect), served in World War 2 and in the Korean War, founded an accounting firm that still operates today, father to 8 children, married for 49 years and a world-renowned rosarian.
But I didn’t know any of that.
Slats was ancient of days when I met him (or so it seemed to 6th-grade Matt) and this is what I knew of him:
He always arrived before me, which meant that I never had to worry about where to go. He always talked to me about God, but not in a pompous know-it-all kind of way. He spoke humbly and plainly so that I could keep up. He never missed a day, because that’s who he was. He knew how to show up
Slats Wathen was my Confirmation mentor 32 years ago at First United Methodist Church in Beaumont, Texas. And I still haven’t forgotten the impact he made on me. He didn’t have children or grandchildren in the youth group; he just wanted to invest some time and wisdom into young knuckleheads like me. What an extraordinary gift! He didn’t have any particular expertise, aside from a willingness to serve and the ability to show up. And it made a lifelong impression on me.
In our passion to reach out to our neighbors, it would be easy to forget just how many Slats Wathen’s serve within our church. Every week, followers of Jesus show up to tell our children about Jesus, lead us in worship, greet us at the doors, answer phone calls, steward our finances and facilities, encourage our staff, lead small groups for students, teach Sunday School, write notes to guests, minister to church members in crisis, serve families before and after memorial services, and a few dozen other ways of serving and loving our church community. Some are serving in very visible ways, while others are out of the limelight. Regardless of task, every one of our volunteers are pulling in the same direction: loving God’s people and equipping us to follow Jesus just a little more closely. They are living embodiments of Peter’s exhortation: “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” -1 Pt. 4:10
So we want to take this month to say ‘Thank you!’ to all of our volunteers! We have a few tricks up our sleeve to show our appreciation, but I hope each of you will take a moment this month to express your gratitude to those who are serving. They keep our church vital and alive, and without them, we could not be faithful to God‘s call on our church!
Peace in Christ,
Pastor Matt
PS- just to prove how cool Slats was, he gave me an Old Timer pocket knife on the day I was confirmed. Is there a cooler gift to give a 12 year old?!? I lost that knife long ago (unfortunately), but I haven’t lost Slats or his influence yet.