Pastor Paul Tillman

In my first months pastoring in Oakdale, MN, I worked with a young man to complete his community service hours. The church had a large hole in a wall that needed patching. I brought my miter saw and other tools over to the church and asked the young man if he knew how to use the saw. He had a look on his face as if he expected disappointment from me as he said, “No.” I quickly responded that he was smart. When a person only pretends to know how to use a power tool to save face, that’s when someone gets hurt. I taught him how to safely use the miter saw, and we completed the repair together. However, even though I own the tool, I do not pretend to be a professional carpenter. There is a difference between owning a tool and knowing how to expertly use it, a lesson I still needed to learn about my pastoral toolkit.

       At 17-years-old, I started working in youth ministry, and was youth director before I was old enough to drink. I did a passable job, but I knew I didn’t have all the tools I needed. When a parent asked my advice about raising a teenager, as a teenager myself, I thought they’d be better off talking to my dad.

       I ended up earning a degree in Biblical Studies, another in Humanities and Religious Studies, being ordained in The Wesleyan Church, and earning my MDiv at Wesley Seminary at IWU. During those years, my ministry experience included youth, discipleship, technology, music, building projects, small groups, administration, preaching, mission trips, and marriage counseling. I had quite the toolkit, but all my experience was in California, and my jack-of-all-trades gifting (spiritual gift of helps) led me to 2-3-year-old church plants that needed to go to the next level.

       Called to Oakdale (now Heartwood Church), I found myself for the first time in the lead pastor position, in a new geographical culture, of a church planted in 1959, in debt $20,000, with $100,000 in deferred facility repairs, and at the end of a lifecycle. I didn’t even know what a church lifecycle was, but with experience and my practical MDiv from Wesley Seminary I (pridefully or ignorantly) really believed I was an expert with my toolkit. I’m not knocking my seminary education, which was great, but with 70% of U.S. churches declining or plateauing, unless a pastor is planning to plant, we need to be ready to revitalize.

       I’m nearing my seventh year at Heartwood and we are 2 ½ years into our revitalization work. Turn-a-rounds typically don’t take less than 3 – 5 years, so I don’t yet have an end to this congregation’s story, but I work with purposed determination knowing the future of The Church is a great multitude from every ethnicity, nation, and language, pure in worship before the Lamb. I keep praying, working my toolkit, and getting all the help I can.

I never had the privilege of taking a course from Dr. Safiyah Fosua (she and Dr. K were hired the semester I graduated), but every time I visit the seminary her door is open and she teaches me something. I’ve talked preaching with Dr. Luchetti, who upon graduation said, “Call me Lenny.” Dr. Bob and Rebecca Whitesel recently came by Heartwood for a visit, and I received encouragement, a mini-consult, and some practical next steps for engaging guests. I read whatever Dr. Ken Schenck posts online. I know Dr. Wayne Schmidt prays for me. With the help of the Spirit and others, I continue to kindle afresh the gift of God in me.