- Joined
- Jun 27, 2003
this is a paper I had to write for my journalism class over the break... it's 4 freaking pages long (double spaced) !!!
does it look ok?
Kenai pastor announces he’s moving on
Kenai, ALASKA--The morning of March 19 should have been like any other Sunday. Members of First Baptist Church of Kenai’s congregation began arriving in the church parking lot around 9 a.m. and were greeted by their pastor of 18 years. What many didn’t know was that today he would be announcing his early retirement.
Pastor Alan Dean Nichols, or as most call him Pastor Dean, moved his family from Texas to the Kenai Peninsula in June of 1988. Nichols remembers the trek north fondly.
“We had this rickety old brown van, you could literally see the ground move under you through the holes in the floor,” he said with his typical Texas twang. “It was a pretty awful sight.”
Nichols was unlike any pastor Kenai had experienced before. The man from Texas did not believe in cherry-coating words, and strongly believed in the infallibility of the Bible. This conservative Southern Baptist style did not sit well with the members at first, and by the third month Dean was facing the possibility of being fired.
Had it not been for the elders of the church standing up for Dean, he might not have had quite the career he’s had. As a member of the Southern Baptist Convention and Alaska Baptist Convention, Dean has been an integral part in how Southern Baptist churches locally and worldwide work for the kingdom of Christ. As an executive board member in the Southern Baptist Convention, he stood up for Southern Baptists to stay true to what the Bible teaches. Not shying from the more controversial topics of homosexuality, women as pastors, and divorce, Dean tackled everyone head on reminding that Christians do not answer to “the world,” they answer to God.
At every turn, it seems, Dean has faced and equal amount of resentment and respect. Each time he felt the Word of God was being challenged or even ignored, he stood up. This was not only true in the convention, but at home as well.
“Dean has the difficult job of getting God’s message across,” long time member and friend Sheila Bierdeman said. “Very few like to hear that they’re sinning and out of favor with God. Dean doesn’t like it either, but he can’t rewrite God’s word.”
It is that very reason that Dr. Page Patterson, President of Southwestern Seminary and Bible College in Fort Worth, Texas, approached Dean in the end of summer in 2005 with the proposal that Dean leave the pastorate and become a professor at the school. With a lot of prayer and council from his wife, Dean made the decision that it was time to move on.
“This is a huge deal for Dean, he doesn’t even have a master’s degree and he’s being asked to teach,” Sue Reitter, secretary for and wife to First Baptist Kenai’s youth director said. “But it’s going to be a long while before this all sinks in.”
The first news of Dean’s “promotion” came in February when he called Alan Reitter, the church’s youth director, into his office after one of the evening services. Alan, his wife said, was in shock.
“Dean was the reason Alan and I came to know Christ,” she said. “He’s been [Alan’s] closest mentor.”
Alan and Sue weren’t the only ones from the administrative staff in shock. Secretary Joy McCaul knew that Dr. Patterson had offered Dean a job, but didn’t believe he would actually accept the position. Church secretaries have one of the most precarious positions when faced with a new pastor, and Joy realizes that she could be face being laid-off.
“It depends mainly on how well the new pastor and I get along,” she said. “It’s all about getting into a rhythm. Not all of the pastors jive quite like Dean, and I doubt that many would even try to put up with me the way he has.”
While the youth director, music minister, deacons, and Sunday school teacher positions are chosen by the church members, the administrative staff chooses the secretary; namely the pastor and youth director. In fact, the only position the pastor has total say in deciding is the secretary.
“It might not bode well for me,” McCaul said.
Still, everyone you talk to believes this is the right decision for the Nichols family. The now father of nine, three of which are adopted, has in recent years been discouraged by a lot of what he has seen in the downfall of young pastors. At Southwestern, Dean will head the newly created division that focuses on the Pastor’s relationship with his family, a topic that Dean knows well.
“Dad is part military drill instructor, part cowboy, part best friend,” said son Josh Nichols. “Even though there are a lot of us, and a lot of church people he needs to minister too, he makes sure he had single time for each one of us.”
Josh said the move will be tough, but with this being his senior year of high school a move was bound to happen anyway. “Now I’m really looking at Southwestern so I can still be there to help at home.”
Some of the others are not as positive. “It stinks,” younger brother Jeremiah said. “I finally am old enough to have a girlfriend and I have to move away from her!”
The new program will involve Dean teaching pastors how to keep their ministry from taking over the family, and how to set aside enough personal time for themselves. Dean’s wife, Mary, and Dr. Patterson’s wife Dorothy will also have a key role in the program by teaching pastors’ wives their role in their husband’s ministry.
So when Pastor Dean stood in the pulpit last Sunday and announced his decision, he was met with a wave of shock and a huge band of support. After 18 years, leaving and going on to the unknown is not an easy decision. When Dean stood up, he knew that making the announcement would truly finalize the decision he’d made.
“I knew it was coming, but I still felt shocked when he said it,” Joy said. “And then the sadness finally hit. It was for real.”
Dean told the congregation that the job starts on June 1 of this year and that his family would be moving sometime in May. The family is looking at a ranch close to the school where Dean and Mary can minister to the students and their families. He understands that it will be a big adjustment for the church but that God will provide.
“God has a purpose and plan in all of this,” he said. “You might not find a new pastor by the time we leave, but if that happens, it happens. Either way God is in control and knows what’s best.”
does it look ok?
Kenai pastor announces he’s moving on
Kenai, ALASKA--The morning of March 19 should have been like any other Sunday. Members of First Baptist Church of Kenai’s congregation began arriving in the church parking lot around 9 a.m. and were greeted by their pastor of 18 years. What many didn’t know was that today he would be announcing his early retirement.
Pastor Alan Dean Nichols, or as most call him Pastor Dean, moved his family from Texas to the Kenai Peninsula in June of 1988. Nichols remembers the trek north fondly.
“We had this rickety old brown van, you could literally see the ground move under you through the holes in the floor,” he said with his typical Texas twang. “It was a pretty awful sight.”
Nichols was unlike any pastor Kenai had experienced before. The man from Texas did not believe in cherry-coating words, and strongly believed in the infallibility of the Bible. This conservative Southern Baptist style did not sit well with the members at first, and by the third month Dean was facing the possibility of being fired.
Had it not been for the elders of the church standing up for Dean, he might not have had quite the career he’s had. As a member of the Southern Baptist Convention and Alaska Baptist Convention, Dean has been an integral part in how Southern Baptist churches locally and worldwide work for the kingdom of Christ. As an executive board member in the Southern Baptist Convention, he stood up for Southern Baptists to stay true to what the Bible teaches. Not shying from the more controversial topics of homosexuality, women as pastors, and divorce, Dean tackled everyone head on reminding that Christians do not answer to “the world,” they answer to God.
At every turn, it seems, Dean has faced and equal amount of resentment and respect. Each time he felt the Word of God was being challenged or even ignored, he stood up. This was not only true in the convention, but at home as well.
“Dean has the difficult job of getting God’s message across,” long time member and friend Sheila Bierdeman said. “Very few like to hear that they’re sinning and out of favor with God. Dean doesn’t like it either, but he can’t rewrite God’s word.”
It is that very reason that Dr. Page Patterson, President of Southwestern Seminary and Bible College in Fort Worth, Texas, approached Dean in the end of summer in 2005 with the proposal that Dean leave the pastorate and become a professor at the school. With a lot of prayer and council from his wife, Dean made the decision that it was time to move on.
“This is a huge deal for Dean, he doesn’t even have a master’s degree and he’s being asked to teach,” Sue Reitter, secretary for and wife to First Baptist Kenai’s youth director said. “But it’s going to be a long while before this all sinks in.”
The first news of Dean’s “promotion” came in February when he called Alan Reitter, the church’s youth director, into his office after one of the evening services. Alan, his wife said, was in shock.
“Dean was the reason Alan and I came to know Christ,” she said. “He’s been [Alan’s] closest mentor.”
Alan and Sue weren’t the only ones from the administrative staff in shock. Secretary Joy McCaul knew that Dr. Patterson had offered Dean a job, but didn’t believe he would actually accept the position. Church secretaries have one of the most precarious positions when faced with a new pastor, and Joy realizes that she could be face being laid-off.
“It depends mainly on how well the new pastor and I get along,” she said. “It’s all about getting into a rhythm. Not all of the pastors jive quite like Dean, and I doubt that many would even try to put up with me the way he has.”
While the youth director, music minister, deacons, and Sunday school teacher positions are chosen by the church members, the administrative staff chooses the secretary; namely the pastor and youth director. In fact, the only position the pastor has total say in deciding is the secretary.
“It might not bode well for me,” McCaul said.
Still, everyone you talk to believes this is the right decision for the Nichols family. The now father of nine, three of which are adopted, has in recent years been discouraged by a lot of what he has seen in the downfall of young pastors. At Southwestern, Dean will head the newly created division that focuses on the Pastor’s relationship with his family, a topic that Dean knows well.
“Dad is part military drill instructor, part cowboy, part best friend,” said son Josh Nichols. “Even though there are a lot of us, and a lot of church people he needs to minister too, he makes sure he had single time for each one of us.”
Josh said the move will be tough, but with this being his senior year of high school a move was bound to happen anyway. “Now I’m really looking at Southwestern so I can still be there to help at home.”
Some of the others are not as positive. “It stinks,” younger brother Jeremiah said. “I finally am old enough to have a girlfriend and I have to move away from her!”
The new program will involve Dean teaching pastors how to keep their ministry from taking over the family, and how to set aside enough personal time for themselves. Dean’s wife, Mary, and Dr. Patterson’s wife Dorothy will also have a key role in the program by teaching pastors’ wives their role in their husband’s ministry.
So when Pastor Dean stood in the pulpit last Sunday and announced his decision, he was met with a wave of shock and a huge band of support. After 18 years, leaving and going on to the unknown is not an easy decision. When Dean stood up, he knew that making the announcement would truly finalize the decision he’d made.
“I knew it was coming, but I still felt shocked when he said it,” Joy said. “And then the sadness finally hit. It was for real.”
Dean told the congregation that the job starts on June 1 of this year and that his family would be moving sometime in May. The family is looking at a ranch close to the school where Dean and Mary can minister to the students and their families. He understands that it will be a big adjustment for the church but that God will provide.
“God has a purpose and plan in all of this,” he said. “You might not find a new pastor by the time we leave, but if that happens, it happens. Either way God is in control and knows what’s best.”
) I personally would substitute "Everyone seems to feel that this is the right decision for the Nichols family."
