MY FINAL WORKING YEARS- 1969 - 1982
Jesus' disciples went back to their old occupation of fishing when they didn't know what else to do. Similarly, after resigning at Minnehaha Covenant Church, I decided that I should go back to some sort of work with which I was familiar.
My last day at Minnehaha was to be August 10th. After announcing my resignation to the church board on June 16th, 1969, I immediately began to look for a job. I learned that the position of Personnel Director at Deaconness Hospital was open, and applied there. I got as far as an interview, but someone else got the job. I also explored possibilities in the state service, and took two examinations for which I qualified. I received good grades in both exams, and enjoyed the whole process--both the written and oral examinations. The oral questioning was especially interesting.
Meanwhile, I helped with the annual Bible camp, held that year at Silver Lake Campground. The camp wasn't as effective as I had hoped, but not a failure, either. I preached at Minnehaha every Sunday as best I could. I was very depressed, and felt that I had been a failure as a pastor. I prayed for some definite leading from the Lord, but couldn't see anything to do but take a job. This change was by far the most difficult thing that had ever happened to me.
The 10th of August came and went. The church gave us a final reception and a generous cash offering that helped a lot. We needed to move out of the parsonage by the end of the month. We found a suitable duplex apartment on the north side of town, and moved our household goods there on August 30th.
A friend of Jane at Whitworth College offered us the use of her family cabin on Marshall Lake, about sixty miles from Spokane. That was a real break, and we decided to take advantage of it. Then, just as we were ready to go to the lake for a rest, I received a call from Olympia. An office there asked me to come for an interview for a position as Budget Officer III.
We went up to the lake cabin, and I drove from there to Olympia for the interview. When I reported to the State Personnel Office, where the interview was to take place, I was asked if I would instead consider a position as Personnel Officer III. This position offered a higher salary, and was with the Department of Social and Health Services! So I quickly investigated that offer, and learned that I would be headquartered in Spokane. I would be doing the same sort of "field personnel" work I had done in the Air Force years ago! I accepted the job without question, and cancelled my appointment for the interview for the Budget Officer job.
Part of the arrangement for the new personnel job was that I begin by spending some six weeks in Olympia, learning the ropes of Washington State personnel work, the personnel rules and regulations, the organization and main people in the Department of Social and Health Services, etc. That was fine with me! I could start on the job right after Labor Day. So back to the lake I went, with all that good news. The starting salary was almost twice what I had received as pastor at Minnehaha. I really think the Lord had this position all ready for me!
After a week at the lake cabin, we moved back to town. We quickly got settled in at our apartment. The location, on Everett street just north of the North Town Shopping Center, was convenient. I could walk to the shopping center for shopping for light items, and groceries.
When the month of September came, I packed a suitcase or two and headed for Olympia. I found my new job very pleasant, with good people to work for and with. I found a place to live in a little travel trailer located in a motel parking lot in the small town of Tumwater, about three miles south of Olympia. The rent was low, and I had complete privacy. They even provided a little radio for me. I prepared my breakfasts, and packed a sack lunch some days, to eat at the office, as several others did. I found lunch time a great opportunity to get better acquainted with others. Often, though, I ate out at a restaurant with staff people. Usually I ate my evening meals at a nearby restaurant in Tumwater.
Learning the personnel rules and procedures for Washington state was not difficult, and soon I was feeling right at home. I can honestly say that I always got along well with the people in the Olympia offices of Social and Health Services. I made good friends, too, with many in the state department of personnel, with whom I had to work closely.
The four or five weeks of training and orientation (not six, as originally planned) went quickly, and I then set up an office in Spokane. This was in early October, 1969. Desk space was found for me in a large room already occupied by three minor agencies--Services for the Blind, Services for the Aged, and Support Enforcement. The other men all shared the services of one secretary. Secretarial help for me came from another office in the same building, in another room.The girls there were busy, but gave me good help.
My boss, Mike Baldwin, came over to Spokane to see me get settled. He took me to a scheduled Regional administrators' meeting, to get acquainted with the administrators of the Social and Health Services offices in the counties east of the Cascades. My territory was a very large one, and I was the first person appointed in the state to serve as a "field personnel officer," to help administrators and employees with all kinds of personnel matters right on the spot. It was very helpful service, if I do say so, and several other state agencies later copied the idea.
I met the Administrators of the two regions I would serve at that joint meeting in Spokane. Those two men, and some local office administrators, were suspicious of Personnel, and of me. It took several months to overcome their reserve. When they became convinced that I was there to help, and could get personnel matters handled efficiently and confidentially, I worked well with nearly all.
I had a personal phone line, as I did much of my work by telephone. In fact, in the first few months of my work, my boss became pretty excited over my phone bills. They were the highest of anyone in the agency, he said. He became convinced that it was necessary and efficient, as the personnel paperwork and problems were handled so much more quickly.
Right away I began extensive travelling, visiting all my offices monthly, and sometimes even more frequently, as necessary. There were five social and health services offices in Spokane alone, and about fifteen other offices located at county seats, in the eastern half of the state. In addition, I served as personnel officer for Adult Probation and Parole, Juvenile Probation and Parole, and the regional Vocational Rehabilitation office, to name a few. Visiting these offices took a large share of my "free" time--that is, when I wasn't on the phone!
I did enjoy the travelling around to the various offices, and enjoyed the travel so much I often wondered why I should get paid for such work. Some evenings I spent in driving on to the next town on my itinerary, thus reducing the loss of office hours while on the road. Often while visiting one office I would receive several phone calls from other offices, asking for advice and help of one kind or another.
I soon found I needed a newer, more economical car, and bought a new Datsun 10 sedan, probably the most satisfactory car I have ever owned. I travelled at high speed most of the time. I put 56,000 miles on that little car in the two years I drove it.
Our children were all in school that fall--David and Mary at Whitworth College, and Martha at Rogers High School. Mary became engaged in November, 1969, and was married early in 1970.
Working as a personnel officer took far less time than pastoring a church. I had much more time in those days for fishing, hunting, and other activities. This was pleasant, though at the same time it disturbed me. I constantly feltI should be more involved in the Lord's work. Early in the year 1970 a new Canoe Club was formed; Jane and I were charter members, and greatly enjoyed the several river trips the club took that year. Then late in the year, one evening when I was staying in a motel in Olympia, I received word that I was a grandfather! Mary had given birth to a baby girl, Christianne Noel.
Early in 1971, at Jane's urging, we began to look at houses for sale. I admit I was very reluctant; I have always hated to go into debt for any reason. In February we found a dandy house in our price range, at 4820 North Allen Place. We made an offer on it on February 27th, and were a bit surprised when the owners accepted our offer. The house was very comfortable, had a double garage, and a fine large yard with several fruit trees already established.
We moved into our new home on May 1st. That seemed to trigger a series of bad events. Early in the morning of May 4th, I had a serious accident with the little Datsun. I was able to drive the Datsun back home, but the Volkswagen I collided with was a bad wreck. Fortunately, no one received serious injury.
Then only a few days later, David accidently started a nasty fire in the basement of our new home! We all woke up with the house full of terrible smoke, and a lurid fire glow coming from the basement. We had wonderfully prompt help from the fire department, though there was much smoke damage throughout the house. The fire destroyed Jane's beautiful big braided rug. She had worked two years or more on that rug. It measured about twelve by fifteen feet! The insurance took care of everything just fine, but the rug could not be replaced.
Late in 1971 I began working at a new hobby--painting. The next fall I began a series of art classes at Whitworth College and Spokane Falls Community College. After driving the little Datsun for two years, and 56,000 miles, I decided early in 1972 that I should have a heavier car for road work. The Datsun was very light, and sometimes would swerve sharply in heavy winds. On March 4, after looking at several different autos, I drove home with a new Dodge Dart sedan, with the "slant six" engine. Jane approved, as she was also indulging in a project--new carpet for our living room. I'm sure our neighbors must have thought we had found a gold mine! (The new car, including the sales tax, cost less that $3000, though that was a lot of money in those days.) On May 10th my sister Jean called to tell us that our Dad had died that morning, in a nursing home in Great Falls! We drove to Great Falls on the 11th. The funeral was held in the Methodist Church in Glasgow on the 13th. Dad's body lies alongside our Mom's in the cemetary there. My brother Robert had flown out for the funeral, and rode back to Great Falls with us.
Now that we had that new, heavier car, my personnel assignment and territory were changed in May. With the addition of another personnel officer located in the Tri-cities, my field was reduced to only eleven counties, requiring considerably less travel.
A big blow to Jane that October of 1972 was the death of her sister, Margaret Hoxworth. Jane flew to Kansas for the funeral. Jane inherited a modest sum of money, a number of good stocks, and silverware and dishes, etc. She and Mary went to California to bring the things back.
In November we began to attend the First Free Methodist Church. They were very evangelical, which I liked. Invited to preach at the evening service there on December 3rd, I had a good response to my sermon on Mary, the mother of Jesus. I preached there again later. Then we changed churches again! This time we joined with the Baptists, at Central Baptist Church, whose former pastor had been a good friend of mine in the Evangelical Ministers' Association. This was in January, 1973. As you see, we were really browsing around. We worshipped there, taught the college age Sunday School class, and I led in the mid-week Bible study meetings for more than a year.
In April that year (1973) we bought a new 18-foot Grumman canoe, specially designed for running rapids and fast water. It was much larger and more stable than our former seventeen footer. The new canoe carried us on many wonderful trips and I used it a lot. for fishing. One notable river trip was with friends, Conn and Myrna Wittwer, a grand float trip down the Flathead River from near Ronan, Montana, to the little town of Paradise, on the Clark Fork River. We camped out three nights along the river.
During the fall I took a drawing class at Whitworth, with a fine teacher, Mrs. Haas. That drawing class greatly increased my little skill, and gave me new enthusiasm for art work. Another new interest was to come in 1973--we took up cross-country skiing! We had many, many good times on ski trips in the next several winters. It was not only good fun, but good exercise.
We were still busy at Central Baptist all this year. I preached once or twice when the pastor was away. I again led the mid-week Bible study all winter, with fair attendance and interest. January of 1975 brought lots of snow, demanding heavy shovelling of the driveway and walk. I even had to get up on the roof in late January, to keep the snow level down to reasonable levels. We enjoyed the snow, though, getting in much cross-country skiing.
In 1975-76 our daughter Martha was working on the wonderful Freedom Train, touring all around the United States. She was administrative assistant to the director, and really enjoyed her work.
During these years we moved from one church to another. 1976 found us visiting other churches. We just couldn't seem to settle down anywhere. I know that I was too critical of them. For me the biggest event of this year was my attending the reunion celebration at Hinsdale High School. Our class of 1936 enjoyed the spotlight--it had been forty years since we were graduated. I drove to Hinsdale alone, taking the little camper and the canoe. I arrived the day before the big events, and did some canoeing on the familiar old Milk River.
Next day I enjoyed visiting with many old friends--the Carter girls, Earl Britsch, and several members of my graduating class. I enjoyed every minute of the reunion. Also, having my own private living room, kitchen, and bedroom (in the camper) was great.
On my way back to Spokane I stopped for a visit with my sister, Jean. Then, despite a big electrical storm coming up in the west, I decided to drive on toward home. That night's driving was something else! At one point I had to stop, pull off the road and park the rig facing the wind, to avoid having the canoe blown right off the camper. When the wind went down a little, I started on. Brilliant, blinding lightning flashed all around me. I thought that at any moment I might attract a bolt, with that aluminum canoe on top of the camper acting as a lightning rod. Nothing happened, however, and I drove on over Roger's pass to camp at the city park in Lincoln.
In our spare time (!) that summer we were busy preparing for the opening of Jane's quilting shop, the Sampler. She had left her job at Whitworth, and with Mary's help, was going into business. The new business was exciting if not very profitable. I helped often with that, selling, putting up new fixtures, and making routine entries in the accounts, under Mary's supervision. When Jane took on selling a line of fine sewing machines (Elnas and Whites) I became a sewing machine mechanic, too. I took special training in Portland and Seattle over the years while the shop was operating, to keep up with the servicing of the new models coming out. Another big change took place at my office. My former secretary, who never was very satisfactory, decided to leave. I then asked Nancy Hijiya, a Japanese lady who worked in the big Spokane DSHS office, to transfer over. I had told her once before that if I ever had a vacancy, I would like to have her work for me. She turned out to be an excellent helper, very hard-working, efficient, and quick to learn the personnel rules and procedures. Before I retired she had become very skilled in personnel matters,and always seemed happy in the job. I still continued my regular visits to the offices assigned to me.
For some reason I made no entries in my office diary for January of 1980, so I can't recall at all what happened then. The record shows that in February we had switched churches, and were now attending Shadle Park Presbyterian. I was soon busy there. I was finding plenty of work to do at the rental place at North Standard. Changes in renters always involved cleaning, repairing, and repainting, especially after students left. Jane was very busy with her quilt shop, too.
Early Sunday morning, May 18th, David's birthday, I went outside for a few minutes. It was a quiet morning. Suddenly I felt something like a distant concussion, almost a "shudder," as if there had been a heavy explosion somewhere far away. I told Jane about it, but thought nothing more of it. We went to church as usual. Early in the afternoon I was down at the rental place working on something. A huge blue-black cloud was coming up in the west, like a big storm. Then Richard Stubbs, renter of one unit, came out and told me that Mt. St. Helens had erupted, and that the ash cloud was coming our way. The explosion I had felt (more than heard) in the early morning was the volcanic eruption!
The late afternoon and evening was one of the strangest times in my life. Instead of rain, we began to have a gentle shower of volcanic ash, fine light gray stuff, which settled everywhere. We all kept inside, as the health authorities were issuing warnings to everyone by radio to avoid breathing the ash, for fear of silicosis. No one really knew what was going on. We received only a quarter to a half inch of ash here in Spokane, while other areas received much larger quantities--up to three inches or even more.
It took us several days to get things going again. We were afraid to run our cars, lest the engines be ruined. After two quiet days, mostly staying indoors, I walked to work Wednesday morning. I spent most of the day cleaning up around the office, sweeping the ash into the street, and so on. All offices were closed. At home I hosed the ash from the roof, and gathered up one wheel barrow load after another of ash, placing it in the compost area. I had to shake the vegetable plants in the garden, to let the dust fall off them.
This summer of 1980 we began a new outdoor activity-- backpacking. Don and Marilyn encouraged us in that. After an initial trial trip over in Idaho, we invested in backpacks, light-weight stove, and other light weight gear. We used borrowed tents. It was great fun and wonderful, though heavy, exercise. There is something "freeing" about loading everything you need on your back, and leaving civilization (that is, the car) behind for a few days. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and would still undertake it if it were not for the doctor's warning of potential heart trouble while in some remote spot!
In late August I decided to take early retirement, with most generous help from John and Mary. I was to work until the end of September, 1981. I used my remaining time at the office in sorting and culling files, trying to leave things in good shape for the person who would succeed me in the job. My secretary, Nancy, well trained, would be of great help to my successor. The Regional DSHS Office, and the personnel and training office where I worked, gave me grand farewell parties, and fine gifts. I hated to leave, in a way, but was happy to know that I had done at least a decent job!

FINAL YEARS AS A PASTOR
We arrived in Spokane late on a Monday afternoon, July 20th, 1964. We had been on the road several days, coming across Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Montana, and Idaho. Of course the area around Spokane looked different without the dirty snow I had seen in February. Now it appeared brown and dry, after a hot summer.
We drove to the home of Vic Anderson, where I had stayed when candidating. Vic took us all out to a good dinner at the Stock Yards Cafe, then back to the parsonage. Our household goods had already arrived. Several people from the church came in that evening to help us sort things out. With their help, we got our house fairly well organized by bedtime. The willing help and friendliness of the people encouraged us.
Although I wasn't yet officially installed, I had my first funeral the following Saturday--for a man in a family who were complete strangers to us. The Conference Superintendent and his wife also stayed at our house that Saturday night. He preached my official installation sermon the next morning. The congregation gave us a reception that Sunday evening; a very nice beginning. My salary at this church started at $500 per month, with the parsonage provided, though we paid the bills for heat and city utilities. The church also paid into my retirement account. The Social Security tax was my responsibility. They also provided a small allowance for car usage. We were a little better off financially!
The church building and parsonage were on a good- sized lot, land donated by Vic Anderson. Vic had a small dairy farm located just a few blocks east of the church property. He pastured his herd of Holstein cows in an eighty-acre pasture immediately south of the church. It was a rustic setting, though well within the city limits. To the north of the church rose Beacon Hill, named for the aircraft warning beacon located on it. Also, a public golf course lay only a half mile away, northwest of the church property.
Houses in the area were mostly small dwellings, of wood frame construction, built in the era following World War II. Many were vacant, and many occupied by renters, rather than owners. Cooper School, the local elementary school to which Martha would go, was only ten blocks away. Rogers High School, where Mary would be a Junior, was maybe two miles distant. Rogers was one of six or seven High Schools in the city, and served the poorest area of Spokane. Hillyard, the business area nearest to Rogers High School, and located about a mile and a half north of us, was familiarly called "dog town." The Great Northern Railroad, then negotiating with the Burlington for consolidation, had once had major locomotive building and repair shops in that area. The shops employed hundreds of men when at their busiest. When we arrived, the shops were closed and were being dismantled.
South of the church about a half mile ran the Spokane River, in a deep channel. The greater part of the city lay south and west of the church, though there was a growing unincorporated area stretching east along the valley for twenty miles. The population of Spokane at the time was about the same as that of Rockford--approximately 180,000.
The congregation of Minnehaha Covenant Church included about seventy members, and a very active Sunday School of about two hundred. The church membership grew but little in the next few years. The Sunday School declined slowly. The church had begun as a mission Sunday School held in Cooper School. People from First Covenant Church had started the work. After a few years, the people formally organized a church, and built the sanctuary. The chartered church organization was about eight years old when we arrived.
Here, as at my former churches, I found no adequate church records. I bought a good record book, and worked at bringing the membership and other records up to date. We also went through the usual necessary business of getting auto and drivers' licenses for ourselves. In the first few weeks I made many calls in the homes of church members and Sunday School families. The church had an adequate church office, and a good mimeograph for printing of bulletins. We had fine musicians available to play the organ and piano, and a very good choir director. Our daughter Mary played the piano for choir rehearsals that first winter.
We also found that the church people counted on using the parsonage basement for a Sunday School class each Sunday. There was no garage at the parsonage, instead there was a convenient breezeway to park our car and the church lawn mower. I used that mower to mow the parsonage lawn, too. The meeting schedule included regular Sunday morning worship, a less formal Sunday evening service, and a mid-week Bible study meeting Wednesday evening. During the school year, I led a Saturday morning confirmation class for 7th and 8th graders. We had a large class that first year, though there were fewer in attendance in successive years. I found plenty to keep me busy right from the beginning. I made calls in all the church member homes as quickly as I could, to get acquainted. Also, I made regular calls in the homes of Sunday School families, and at times went door to door, inviting people to attend services. During the years I pastored this church, the whole community called on me to conduct weddings and funerals, regardless of whether the people involved had any previous connection with the church. Soon after arriving in Spokane I joined the Spokane evangelical ministers' fellowship, and took an active part in the annual Sunday School convention. The group elected me president for 1968. More about that later! We also had many joint meetings and other activities with First Covenant Church, Minnehaha's "mother church." On occasion Pastor Otteson and I exchanged pulpits. That was interesting, as First Covenant was a much larger church, and had a fine big sanctuary and a real pipe organ. The congregation there always made me feel right at home. As in Rockford, the old-time Covenant people had probably too much respect for pastors, placing one on too high a pedestal. That always bothered me, as I knew I was certainly no better, and probably a poorer Christian than some of the lay people.
On that first Labor Day weekend in Spokane, Jane and the girls and I, and a friend of Mary's, went camping. We drove to the Indian Creek Campground on beautiful Priest Lake in Idaho, about ninety miles from Spokane. We had a fine camping spot on the beach, and really enjoyed ourselves. While there Jane and I walked one morning far up into the hills, and enjoyed picking the late huckleberries we found there. That was our introduction to huckleberry picking, which we enjoyed doing nearly every year after that. The berries are plentiful in many areas north and east of Spokane.
Our son David was then working at my sister Jean's place in north central Montana. He came to Spokane in late August, intending to go back to Illinois to college. Then we learned, to our dismay, that the University of Illinois had cancelled his earned honors scholarship because we had moved out of the state! We all were very sorry about that. So instead of going to Illinois to school, he took courses at the nearby Spokane Community College. He also found a part-time job at the Penney's store, selling shoes. He was good at that, and did well.
Mary got started in Rogers High School, and Martha at Cooper School. Martha had quickly adjusted to the change in location, and made friends quickly. Mary had a more difficult time, and didn't adjust well to the change of schools that first year in Spokane. That was another mark, in my mind, against the practice of hiring pastors to move from one church to another. I had begun to think the practice, so commonly accepted in most churches, was not Biblical. About this time the Falcon acted up again--we had to have the radiator core replaced. That car seldom went more than a few months without some major failure! Then to make a little more money to pay for such items as car repairs, Jane and I became Amway dealers. That was fun, but really a fiasco! We found a friend at First Covenant who bought our stock of supplies, with the exception of some things we could use. After several months of trying, we had netted something like $90 for all our time and effort!
As at Rockford, I rarely took a day off from work, and was busy many nights of each week. I know that I did not give enough time to the family.
Eugene Lowe, our Chinese friend from Pasadena, came for a visit in November. He spoke in a morning worship service, and did very well. He was then attending Fuller Seminary on a part-time basis. Among his many other skills, he had recently earned a pilot's license. The next day he took David and me for a great airplane ride over the city, and south over the Palouse hills. I got a few pictures from the plane. We always enjoyed visits from the Lowes.
Guess what? More trouble with the Falcon in December--starter and ignition system repairs, $36! Then again on Dec. 31, I had the brake lights repaired. There was always something wrong with that car!
A note from my diary of Dec. 21st, 1964, reads--"16 inches of new snow, went out calling anyway; got stuck 7 times!" That was the first of many heavy snows that winter! The year of 1965 went by much like 1964. Early in the spring Vic Anderson brought his tractor and plowed the garden spot I wanted, just east of the house. The soil was very rocky, but produced a good garden. I have always found that work in the garden is more fun than work. Hoeing is a good unwinding activity!
In the summer of 1965 our son David enlisted in the Marine Corps, and left for basic training in California. He did well there, and later attended the combat correspondents' school at the University of Indiana. He was home for Christmas, went back for more training, and then flew to Vietnam. He had a very good career there, and signed up for extended service. We enjoyed sending recorded letters on tape back and forth. Some of his letters had live artillery firing as background accompaniment! He earned the Bronze Star for bravery on one occasion, helping remove wounded men from an aircraft on fire, while under attack!
Mary did much better in her senior year at Rogers High School. She enjoyed singing with a madrigal group, very fine singing, a capella. She was popular, sufficiently so that some boy gave her a rabbit as an Easter gift. Lacking any other good place to keep it, we confined it in a room in the basement. After a few days we found that he had other food than that we had been giving him. He had eaten the insulation from an electric cord, laid the wires bare, without causing a short or killing himself! He had to go!
Our vacation trip that summer was to Mt. Lassen, in California. We were to meet the Lowes, our Chinese friends from California, and camp with them for a few days. We took a friend of Mary's along, a girl from the church. Driving down into central Oregon the Falcon seemed a bit noisy and sluggish. We camped out in the open, without a tent, that first night.
When I started the Falcon the next morning, to go on our way, it made a fearful racket. Something was definitely wrong in the engine. We drove into John Day, Oregon, and found the little Ford garage. Fortunately the Lord had been anticipating us, and the mechanic had on hand one set of valves for a Falcon! He replaced the whole upper valve assembly while we waited, and the cost was not unreasonable, though it was high enough. That was the second time we had had that valve assembly replaced. The poorly designed engine, the Ford people admitted, did not receive enough lubrication.
We went on and found the Lowes without difficulty, and had a good trip considering everything. One day I climbed to the summit of Mt. Lassen, with the whole tribe of children, Lowe's and ours. Actually it is an easy climb, on a well-tended trail. I found the beautiful crystals of sulphur at the openings of the vents in the crater most interesting. Later, on our way back to Spokane, we explored a lava tube, a fascinating feature found near some volcanos. We really enjoyed the desert country of eastern Oregon.
Things went on as usual at the church. I tried hard, and preached and taught as best I could. I enjoyed the various meetings with the other pastors in the North Pacific Conference. The church could not afford to send me to the annual meeting of the Covenant, in Chicago, so I had to miss that. In the spring of 1966, after a particularly bad time with the steering mechanism on the Falcon (it would turn to the right, but not to the left!) we decided we must change cars. After extensive looking around I found a 1964 Plymouth Fury Sedan, with high mileage, but in fine shape otherwise. It had the "slant six" engine, and burned no oil whatever. It also had an automatic transmission, which we much appreciated.
With that "new" car, we took a trip back to Rockford. A young couple at Evergreen Church had invited me to conduct their wedding, at the church. After the wedding, Jane and Martha went by bus to Kansas to visit relatives. I left Mary in Rockford, visiting with a school friend, and went to Chicago to attend the Covenant Annual Meeting. That was good! I then went back to Rockford for Mary, and we drove to Kansas to join Jane and Martha. The car handled perfectly on the entire trip, and for some years later.
On our return to Spokane, Jane found work at Whitworth college, as secretary in the alumni office. She did well, and moved in subsequent years to the development office, and finally became secretary to the academic vice president. Jane's working at Whitworth made it possible for Mary to attend there, with her tuition paid. That was a tremendous help for us all. Mary lived at home at first, then later lived on campus. Jane's employment was the only thing that made that possible.
I've already mentioned my joining and being active in the Spokane Evangelical Ministers Association. The local association belonged to the National Association of Evangelicals. Being a part of the local group surely helped me in the years I was a pastor in Spokane. The men were a great bunch, mostly pastors or associates, from evangelical churches. We all had a common goal or aim--the winning of the lost people all around us. We had lunch together about once a month, with some business, and much time spent in prayer.
From the start I helped with various committees. In 1967 they asked me to be chairman of the committee organizing the annual Sunday School Conference. That was a good experience. Then the next year, 1968, the association elected me president!
As president of the local group, I attended the annual meeting of the National Association of Evangelicals, held in Los Angeles. The group paid all my expenses. Jane went with me, and we stayed at the Los Angeles Hilton hotel, the meeting place for the convention. There I had opportunity to listen to and talk with some of the best-known evangelicals in theUnited States at the time. It was wonderful!
Jane spent only a day or so at the hotel, then went to visit the Lowes. When the convention was over, the Lowes loaned us a car to go to Forest Home, the big Christian campground near Redlands, California. There we visited the Jim Dyers, old friends from seminary days. Jim had worked at the campground for several years, in charge of their printing and publications shop.
But I didn't stay up there in the mountains. I had applied and been accepted to spend a week at a pastor's conference at the headquarters of Campus Crusade for Christ, at Arrowhead Springs, just outside of San Bernardino. So I buzzed off down there, and checked in at the huge hotel. That was a wonderful experience--hearing a series of lectures by Bill Bright and others, fellow-shipping with pastors from all over the United States and Canada. Early in the week I came down with a horrid cold, and had to have special medication.
On Thursday, we pastors planned to go out and work at door-to-door evangelism, sharing the message of the Gospel using the "4 Spiritual Laws" booklet devised by Campus Crusade. Despite my dripping nose, I decided to go. We were to go out by twos. My assigned partner was a big, roly-poly, jovial Salvation Army man, complete with skin-tight uniform! I thought, to my shame, this will never work out! People won't want to talk to us, when they see him coming up the walk. I was much mistaken. No one slammed their doors in our faces, and in the two hours spent that afternoon, we prayed with several people who accepted Christ as Savior! It was a great afternoon, and did a lot to encourage me. The next day I drove up the canyon to the Dyers to get Jane, and we went back together to stay with the Lowes a day or two longer. Then we flew home to Spokane.
Over the past years I had been becoming more and more discouraged in pastoral work, because few new people were coming to the church. Attendance at the mid-week Bible study and prayer meeting was dwindling down to only half a dozen people. About that time I decided to expand our efforts by having Bible study meetings in private homes. We had already been having one such study, in the home of a young couple. Soon we had another study going regularly, an afternoon meeting, with only women attending. Then one church member organized a group that met at the parsonage while the regular midweek meeting was going on at the church. Soon more people began attending there than at the church! Two or three Catholic nuns were among those who came to that study!
That encouraged me! However, others in the church didn't like it at all, though I didn't realize that at first. The resentment of some grew in that last year of 1968. I kept on teaching and preaching, and working with the Confirmation class. In the fall of 1968 Campus Crusade conducted city-wide evangelism training for people in Spokane and the surrounding area, and we took part in that. A few from Minnehaha church attended. In the neighborhood visitation done following the training, Jane and I had one man receive the Lord.
Each summer our church cooperated with First Covenant Church in conducting Bible camp for our young people. That was good experience, and we had fine times. I sometimes did the speaking in the evenings, and once conducted a baptismal service in the river near the camp. That was memorable to me.
During all the years at Minnehaha church I attended the regularly scheduled meetings of the North Pacific Conference, and the special retreats held for pastors. There were good times in those meetings, but I was growing increasingly discouraged. A couple of times I lead the prayer meetings with the other pastors, and enjoyed doing that.
Sometime in 1968 a fine couple in the church decided to leave to go to another church. Bud, the husband, had worked hard starting the work at Minnehaha. That was a serious loss to us, and a bitter pill for me to swallow. However, I decided not to try to hold them. Later they served as missionaries with International Students, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. We have personally helped support them for years.
I tried to be consistent in sometimes preaching the need for a new birth--which our Lord Jesus plainly stated is necessary to receive salvation. Some old line church members resented that message, perhaps because they could not tell of any such experience in their own lives. Some accused me of saying that everyone must have an experience like that of the Apostle Paul. That wasn't true, but I wouldn't argue with them. I could only point out the words of Jesus.
My preaching, plus the home Bible study program, was arousing increasing resentment in the fall and winter of 1968-69. Unknown to me for a time, two families in the church began calling special meetings of the congregation to discuss getting rid of me! The trouble makers never told me face to face of their objections. Word came back to me, finally, through friends, that I must either "shape up, or ship out!" as put in the navy words of one person. (Years later, when that man was dying of cancer, I went to see him several times, but he never mentioned the part he had played. Neither did I!) The objectors wanted me to stop all the Bible studies outside the church building. They said that if people wanted to study the Bible, they could come to the church!
Meanwhile, David returned safely from Vietnam, and received his discharge from the Marines. As soon as possible he entered Whitworth College, where Mary was already attending. He lived on campus, for a time, and had a part- time job or two, to help with expenses. He was receiving help from the GI education bill, too. We were very glad to have him home safely from Vietnam.
Another great problem for me was the realization that none of our three children were showing any interest in the Lord or in spiritual matters. That, too, increased my discouragement and sense of failure as a pastor. Things came to a head in early summer of 1969. Vic Anderson, the man who had donated the land for the church, announced that he would no longer stay in the church while I was pastor! He was also treasurer of the church; a fine problem! After consulting with Jane and with the conference superintendent, I announced my resignation as pastor, and my decision to leave the pastoral ministry.
I hoped that my leaving would heal the troubles in the church, and avoid a church split, the last thing in the world I wanted. There was no split, though a few good people did leave and go elsewhere to worship services. I still think leaving was the right thing for me to do. I believe the objections some had to my ministry were not altogether valid, as I had not neglected my duties at the church.
So on June 16th, 1969, I announced my resignation, with my last time in the pulpit to be August 10th. The church denied me any vacation for the past year. Though the Conference Superintendent urged me to go on to another church, I stuck with my decision to leave the ministry. I felt that I had been a failure in too many ways. Also, both Mary and David were then enrolled at Whitworth College, partially supported by Jane's working at the school. If we were to leave Spokane, the children would lose their tuition benefits. Jane felt that she couldn't face going to another church. Also, Martha was ready for her senior year in high school, and I knew that to force her to change to another school at that time might be disastrous for her. Although I did receive an invitation to candidate at a church on the west side of Washington, I refused it. The whole matter made me very depressed, believe me, and I still have times when I wonder if I made the right decision.
Thus ended my poor career as a pastor. Next began a long period in my life in which I have wondered why and how I had failed. Though no longer a pastor, I have tried to find other ways of serving the Lord. But that belongs in a later chapter.