Influences: John Willis

Myself, John, Todd, Pat and Keith at Todd's Senior Roast.

The Reverend John Willis was the Senior Pastor at the First United Methodist Church of Kissimmee for the first 5 years that I served there, and we had a very unique relationship.  If you are a regular reader of this blog, then you have already read about our trip to the Black-eyed Pea and my experiences with his muppet, Hollywood.  But John's influence on my life and ministry goes much deeper that any of that.

Before I ever arrived in K-town I sent out a survey to the adults who would be helping me with the student ministry, and I also sent a copy to John.  He returned it immediately.  One of the questions was "What role do you see yourself playing in our youth ministry?"  John's response tells you a great deal about the man as a pastor and a leader.  He wrote to me that his role would be to support me and the ministry in any way that I needed, but that I would need to tell him what I needed.  He was not going to interfere or micro-manage me;  he felt that the church had hired me to be the youth pastor because I had expertise in that area.  And he treated me as a fellow professional from day one.  Andrew Lewis used to tell me that I was John's "Golden Child" because he had championed me over other candidates for the position.  And our relationship was special.  Every Monday morning we would get together and talk about what was going on in my ministry and his.  John was open to every idea, and he wanted desperately for his ministry and our church to be on the cutting edge of creativity.  Whether it was Hollywood, bringing a Brazilian congregation to the church, Bear Sunday or dramatic and unusual sermon presentations, John was always looking for something new.  And he always wanted my ideas and my input.  He encouraged me to push the limits of what people expected from their youth pastor.  He prayed for me.  He was one of the first to arrive at the hospital after Will was born.  He was a friend and mentor to me, and I loved the opportunity to work with him.

Not everyone in the congregation shared my views of John.  He was a dreamer, and many people don't like dreamers.  Senior Pastors are called upon to serve many roles in a large church, and administration was not John's gift.   Many of the church members had loved the previous pastor and failed to give John the opportunity and respect he deserved.  It was not until John was gone and his replacement (a story which will come much later) showed his true self that some of those same people began referring to Rev. Willis as "Saint John."  Through all of that turmoil going on around him, he always encouraged and lifted up the staff, and especially me. 

I'll wrap this up with a final story.  In 1997 the youth ministry at FUMC-K took a huge risk and sponsored a major concert featuring the band Geoff Moore and the Distance at the Tupperwear Theater in Kissimmee.  I'll detail that event in a future post, but as the day of concert drew near it became clear that we were going to lose a lot of money.  A lot.  I walked into John's office and explained what the numbers looked like, apologized for the failure, and offered to resign.  John never blinked.  He told me we would survive this.  He told me that he was proud of me for encouraging dreaming and outside of the box thinking in my ministry.  And he told me that when it came time to account for the money (and did I mention it was a lot of money?) we would do it together.  I learned more about true leadership in that hour in his office than in most of my previous years of ministry combined. 

John, his wife Pat, and their sons Keith and Todd (and their dog Susie!) were so important in our lives.  I could have worked for John Willis for the rest of my life and been perfectly happy, but that was not the plan God had in mind.  FUMC-K changed dramatically when he left- and none of that change was good.  The last time I saw John I stopped by his church in Tallahassee in 2005 for an unexpected visit.  I told the secretary I wanted to see John, but I told her when she called back to his office to just tell him that someone was there to see Hollywood.  He came running out of his office with a huge smile, and we visited for a long time.  He retired a few years ago, and the United Methodist Church is the worse for that.

I was blessed to work with some wonderful pastors (and a couple of major duds!) during my 28 years in student ministry.  Two others can be found by clicking the "influences" label at the bottom of this post.  But if I was picking an all-time, all-star staff of people I worked with (and I may just do that someday) there is absolutely no question who would be the Senior Pastor and Chief Dreamer.  Thank you, John.  

Because of Jesus,