Episode description

In this episode, we start the difficult task of unpacking Dad’s 22 ½ years as the minister to the Steele Avenue Church of Christ in Ashland, Ohio.

Most Church of Christ ministers work with one congregation for an average of three years. Dad worked with the Steele Avenue Church of Christ seven times longer than that. During his 22 ½ years there, Dad preached and taught more than 5,000 lessons and sermons and the congregation almost doubled in size. By the time Dad left in January 2004, the congregation was bursting at the seams and flying high from a successful campaign to raise funds for a new building. What went so right that Dad's work with the Steele Avenue Church of Christ lasted so long and led to such growth? What went wrong that Dad felt like he had to walk away from the congregation just as things seemed to be peaking?   

In this episode, we'll start the long process of mining the meaning in Dad's long love story with Ashland, Ohio. We'll begin by listening to Dad talk about three of his milestone moments: 1) His last sermon at the Steele Avenue Church of Christ on January 4, 2004, 2) The "high water mark" of his life and work in Ashland, Ohio (around the early 1990s), and 3) His first sermon at the Steele Avenue Church of Christ on August 30, 1981.