By David Chapman |
In 1988, after eleven years in ministry, with ten of the eleven years in the pastorate, I entered the School of Theology at Virginia Union University. This move proved to be the defining line in my transition in ministry. Since 1991, the year I graduated from Union, my twenty-six years of ministry have been defined in terms of Pre-Union and Post-Union.
My Pre-Union period of ministry began with my initial sermon in 1977. Four years prior to my initial sermon, I had graduated from Bluefield State College in Bluefield, WV, with a B.S. Degree in Secondary Education. I proceeded to spend 10 of the next 15 years in bi-vocational ministry.
These days, in my Post-Union era, being able to pastor full-time, I thank God for youth. Back when I started in ministry, I taught school, which required traveling 40 miles one-way each day. For the first two years of my ministry I pastored two small, loving congregations in the coalfields of West Virginia. These two churches offered me a great opportunity to learn what pastoring was all about. I know now that they were the training ground for my next transition.
During the next eight and a half years, I pastored a church that, when they called me as their pastor, had the worst reputation of any church in the area. The church had been without a pastor for three and a half years. When I arrived in January of 1981, there were strong power bases in place. I entered in prayer from the very beginning. The popular wager on my tenure was that I would last no longer than six months. I found out that the people longed for a strong pastor. Through much prayer and God’s guidance, I stayed for over eight years. The church grew, prospered, and became highly respected throughout the Association and State Convention. During this period, I recognized a need to further my theological education. In 1984, I enrolled in Southeastern Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC. By this time our family had grown to five. Like many ministers, I realize that the call embraces the entire family. During the summers of 1984 and 1985, I traveled to Southeastern for classes. This was when I realized how much I needed to learn. There developed in me an unquenchable hunger for more theological learning.
While attending Southeastern, I had a friend who had moved his entire family from Indiana. I also noticed that near the end of the summer term there were a number of families moving to the campus.
Over the next three years, I prayed that God would put a seminary near enough to where we lived so that we would not have to move. In July of 1988, my family and I packed up everything and moved to Richmond, VA, so that, at the age of 38, after 15 years of teaching and 10 years of pastoring, I could enter Virginia Union University to satisfy my hunger and yield to what I believed to be the will of God.
I don’t have the time or space to tell all I desire to tell; suffice it to say that, as you and I obey God, God will never let us down. As the Apostle Paul says in Philippians 1:20, “it is my eager expectation and hope that I shall not be at all ashamed” (RSV).
Our move to Richmond came at a time in my life when finances were stable; my church was blessed to grow and prosper; the young people I taught and their parents revered me; and my family was happy and contented. Then our income plummeted, and the house we had recently remodeled was left empty with an active note for the remodeling cost. For the first time in her life, my wife had to leave all she knew, and our children had to say goodbye to their friends. I know that even though we were moving, we were blessed because our move was voluntary.
After setting up shop in Richmond, my family and I traveled over 600 miles each weekend to and from the church I was pastoring. I’m ever grateful to that congregation for their support and understanding during that period of ministry.
After I finished my first year at Union in July of 1989, I received a call to pastor the Union Branch Baptist Church in Chesterfield, VA. Union Branch was a small, rural church that was basically in the maintenance mold. Upon accepting this pastorate, I challenged the congregation to allow me to have one full-time job—that of serving as their pastor. I started my ministry on October 1, 1989, at a salary of $15,000 a year, and no benefits. My family and I have just completed our fourteenth year of ministry at Union Branch. The church continues to grow and prosper. Our children are all in college, in both undergraduate and graduate schools. My wife, Beverly, and I are in the midst of a second honeymoon. Financially, we are just getting back to the level of income we were realizing in 1988, but we have more today than we ever had. Like many of you who are reading this article, I know not what tomorrow holds as a minister and as a pastor, but I’m so thankful, I know who holds tomorrow.
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The Rev. David L. Chapman serves as Pastor of the Union Branch Baptist Church in Chesterfield, VA. He also serves as Vice President for Professional Effectiveness for the national Ministers Council.
