By Pastor Terri Cummins
I remember our leave-taking. Almost a decade ago. I was excited to be going to a new appointment and back to only one church. But I was so very sad to leave you. Claybanks UMC folks all have a very special place in my heart. Now, I thank God, the Bishop, and the Cabinet for bringing me back! I feel like Jack Nicolson in the movie The Shining….I’m baaaaccck!!!!!!
Anyway, I’m glad to be back among you. Some of you may not know me, there are some new faces, and some of you don’t remember things about me, so I’ve been asked to fill you in. There’s a lot to say, but I think I’ll just tell you about my beginning……….. I found my faith a little late in life. I was in my mid-thirties when my children started asking questions about God that I couldn’t answer. So, I began to ‘take’ them to Sunday school, but I didn’t go in with them. My home church, Crestwood UMC, had Sunday school after their service so I would get them there and when I saw folks coming out I would send my children in.
They usually would get there in time for Kool-Aid and cookies and then Sunday school was after. I would take my Sunday newspaper and a cup of coffee and go down the street to a park and sit in my car and read my paper and enjoy some quiet time for an hour and then go back and pick my children up. One Sunday, the folks didn’t come out on time….the minutes ticked by and finally I got out of my car and peeked into the window to see what was going on. And SOMEONE SAW ME! She saw me and insisted that I come in! She said that church was just starting and we hadn’t missed much! WHAT?! Just starting!? Seems, that I had forgotten about the time change! OOPS.
The way the people treated my children, and the way my children walked around in the church with confidence and belonging, impressed me. I began to go inside with them on a regular basis, and we began to go in time for worship. God caused a lot of things to happen for me in the next couple of years, and one day, as I sat in the sanctuary, I realized that I was a believer. I can still feel the awe of that realization as I sat there, understanding that I was His!
My call started soon after, but I kept ignoring it until after my children were grown. I was a single parent and needed to raise them. Plus, I was sure that I was not ‘fit’ to be a pastor. I didn’t know enough, I hadn’t been raised in the church. But God calls who He calls and in 2010, following several careers including those as a Church Administrative Assistant and as a 911 Dispatcher, I finally said ‘yes’ to the persistent call I had been hearing to go into ministry. This decision turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life. I finally knew what it felt like to be EXCITED to go to work! And I shouldn’t have worried about my lack of knowledge because when I finally decided to say ‘yes,’ God filled me so completely that I was able to lead with confidence, even if I had to ‘look things up’ once in a while.
I think it is because of my late-blooming faith, that I carry such a deep passion for sharing my faith with folks who don’t know Him. You see, I can still remember what it feels like to not know Him. It is my mission in life, even in retirement, to share Christ and His Good News with EVERYONE! Everyone must at least have the opportunity to Know Him! No matter who you are, what you’ve done, or what you know. Everyone is a much-loved child of God and needs to hear about their Father and the Salvation purchased for them by Christ!
So now I have been given the opportunity to come back, part-time, and follow the call God is still sending me. I am so excited and feel so blessed that He has chosen me to partner with the good people of Claybanks UMC as we walk the faith walk together. We were a great team together once. I know that we’ll rock it again!
Pastor Terri
Claybanks United Methodist Church 