Serving Springs 2015
Dear First Pres Family, The month of August feels like an end and a beginning. It’s the end of summer — long, lazy days with the family, vacations and barbecues. But it’s the beginning of a new year — the start of school, GTW and many new ministries. It’s an exciting month of transition for so many in our church family. This month we’ll celebrate that transition with our Fall Kick-off, a barbecue on the Weber Street Lawn from 4 to 6 p.m. on Sunday, August 16. That’s also the day we’ll celebrate our birthday. First Pres began on August 17, 1872, as a handful of men and women answered God’s call to come together in fellowship in the heart of downtown Colorado Springs. More than 140 years later we continue to celebrate that call as we meet and fellowship together each week. I hope you’ll make plans to join us for this year’s Kick-off barbecue on August 16. In the pages of this issue we’ll explore more about calling and our history at First Pres. You’ll have a chance to hear the inspiring story of Dani Patterson, our new GreenHouse intern, and the long journey she took with God that led to her ministry at First Pres (Page 4). We will also celebrate one of our summer ministries — Serving Springs — which offered our middle school students a chance to live into their calling through a week of service. On Page 6 you’ll find a two-page spread on this year’s Serving Springs, including images from the week and comments from students about how the experience opened their eyes to the needs in our city. Finally, as we celebrate another birthday as a church, we’ll celebrate the past. Our archivist, Dale McClure, offers a story about the construction of our 1888 building at the corner of Bijou and Nevada streets, and how that helped shape the future ministry at First Pres (Page 8). As we conclude summer, I hope you’re feeling inspired by our preaching series — Drawn Into God’s Story. In seeing how God called those in Scripture, and how they responded to that call, I hope you’re considering your own journey. How is God calling you into His story? How will you respond? Warmly,
Jennifer Holz
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august 2015 contents Called to Colorado . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Dani Patterson Serving Springs . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 No Ordinary Building . . . . . . . . . . 8 Dale McClure
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Contributing Writers: Dale McClure, Dani Patterson Contributing Editors: Matthew Fox, Alison Murray Graphic Design: Beryl Glass Proofreading Team: Mary Bauman, Deb Berwick, Christine Dellacroce, Betty Haney, Daisy Jackson, Marty Kelley, Karen Kunstle, Linda Pung, Chris Sebby All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, © 2011 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. First Pres Magazine August 2015, Volume Seven, © First Presbyterian Church of Colorado Springs, CO. Published by First Presbyterian Church, a non-profit organization. To contact First Pres Magazine: 719-884-6144 or 219 E. Bijou Street, Colorado Springs, CO 80903-1392 or magazine@first-pres.org. Printed in the U.S.A.
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Called Colorado By Dani Patterson
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hat brought you here?” Because the answer “Jesus” usually leads to raised eyebrows, I often say I’m waiting a gap year before getting my Masters in Social Work in Fort Collins, and I knew Scott and Kristen Boss from LA. The full story is much longer and usually involves tea. I was a sophomore in college trying to plan my summer. I messaged Scott and asked did his new church have any internships? “Just a long-term program. When do you graduate?” My answer was, “Not yet.” I found an ad online for an internship at FPC Montrose. I knew nothing about Colorado except for the kid in my Bible class who wore weird sandals. I stayed with Scott and Kristen the first night, hearing about their crazy move and their even crazier dog, before trekking over the mountains. Montrose changed the trajectory of my life. With a hardened heart, I rolled my eyes when Garrett Mostowski, my supervisor, told me that Colorado would become my safe place. He was right — I had traveled the world, but Montrose quickly became my favorite place on earth. Junior year came and I got a job as a youth assistant in Pasadena with a contract until May. Summer came and I messaged Scott again, and he gave me the same answer. A new contract to become the real-deal youth
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pastor slid onto my desk, so I stayed in LA. I had “made it.” I was 20 with a pension plan and salary. I studied social work by day, taught kids about Jesus on nights and weekends and interned at a mental health clinic. The church talked about raises. The clinic offered me a position. People asked, “Social work or ministry?” I glared at them. After four years, I still didn’t know how to pursue or blend my two loves. I had everything, but I was full of anxiety — the kind that wakes you up in the middle of the night in fear. I sat in the church pew, ruminating on all of the things I couldn’t control. God tapped me and said, “I’m not going to tell you what May will bring, but you aren’t going to grad school right away.” I mourned. My whole life I had been on the ultra-success trajectory. Wasn’t a Masters by 23 what good girls do? Like a good social worker, I did “concurrent planning.” I set up all my ducks in a row for both LA and Colorado. I wanted Colorado, but what would people think? What would I do? After 18 houses, did I want to move again? And what is a winter? I wanted to stay in the familiarity of LA, but my heart ached for the mountains. I already had a plane ticket to visit CSU when Kristen called out of the blue while I was packing. “Hey! So I was just thinking of
you. Have I told you about GreenHouse?” She told me I could work in ministry and social work at the same time. Check! I would get mentoring and training. Check! I would have housing and community. Check! “Do you have time to come check it out before you graduate?” I dropped the half-folded sweater in my hand, “I get on a plane for Denver tomorrow.” I handed in my only grad school application. I fell in love with CSU and the Springs. I didn’t want to fall in love — what if it didn’t work out? I made angry prayers to God that He better not get me excited, just to say no. It seemed God took away more than He gave.
I get to watch God redeem people, and sometimes I even get to be a part of it. I sat in another church pew on Christmas Eve — it’s apparently where God likes to talk to me. “I’m sending you to Colorado.” My heart skipped a beat. I let application deadlines pass. I tried controlling, figuring out where or what I was doing. “Wait and see,” is what I heard. I wrote a letter of resignation while I was still in the waiting. People asked the typical questions and I gave the typical answers. Then the dreaded question came: What’s next? I did the unthinkable: “I’m moving to Colorado. No, I don’t know what for or where yet, but I’ll figure it out.” I had a GreenHouse interview with a promise for a response within 48 hours. Almost a week passed. I began to mourn,
throwing my fists at God for taunting me. With a deep breath and rolled eyes, I let it go — but the anxiety returned as I made plans for Elsewhere, Colorado. A friend I hadn’t seen in over a year came up to me at school, “You know, Dani, I’ve been thinking and praying for you. I think you’d love Colorado.” Nate Stratman sent me an e-mail a few hours later and offered me the internship. “Pray about it and let us know.” Like a good Christian, I let 24 hours pass so they would think I had prayed before I replied back with several gleeful exclamation points. It sounds a little dramatic, but I left everything I loved in LA (except the traffic). I quit my jobs, sold all my furniture, boxed up wheelbarrows of books (it’s not hoarding if it’s books), said goodbyes with misty eyes, prayed and drove 20 hours. So what am I doing now? I’m playing Frisbee and just trying to not get hit in the head. I’m keeping 225 in business while drinking gallons of Earl Grey, praying over and for students and leaders. I’ll start working at a psychiatric hospital in a few weeks, being with people during their hardest days. I’m at a foster care agency, visiting families, writing reports, telling kids they are special. I’m listening to hard and beautiful stories. That’s the bulk of what I do — listening. People often ask me if I want to do social work or ministry. I don’t think they know what either of those terms mean. In both, I am welcomed into the most difficult and joyful parts of people’s lives. It is a call to bring light into the darkness and celebration into the brightness. I get to watch God redeem people, and sometimes I even get to be a part of it. Maybe we worship a God who gives more than He takes away, and it’s all a matter of pointing it out. Dani Patterson is a GreenHouse intern with First Pres working with our Student Ministry Department.
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Serving Springs Serving Springs is a week-long “mission stay.” It serves as a springboard to knowing the needs of our city, worship and serving for students entering grades 6-9 in the Fall. This year we had 33 kids and 10 adults who lived and served together. Teams served each day at Family Life Services, Zach’s Place, Broadmoor Court Assisted Living, Springs Rescue Mission and at the First Pres VBS.
Dillon Powell 14 Dillon participated in Serving Springs for the third time in July, spending his week volunteering with Family Life Services. “I like that Serving Springs is not the same as other summer camps. Most summer camps are about having fun, and Serving Springs is about having fun, but it’s also about serving people. I feel like I get a lot more out of this than other summer camps because it lasts. With other summer camps, once it’s over it’s over. But with this, you can keep on serving even after the week is over.”
Peter Lark, 14 Peter has participated in Serving Springs three times. Each time he’s volunteered with Family Life Services. “My favorite part is seeing the faces of those I’m serving and those I’m serving with. The people you’re serving are grateful and happy to have someone care about them, and the people you’re serving with are having fun, despite a lot of hard work, because they feel emotionally fulfilled.” 6 | www.first-pres.org 8/15
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Olivia McCrery, 14 Olivia has participated in Serving Springs several times the past few years. Each summer she returns to serve at Zach’s Place. “I love that we’re such a family here. We come in on Sunday, and some of us know each other already, but throughout the week we get to know each other and we become a big family. I also love the kids at Zach’s Place. All of them have some kind of disability, and they’re so misunderstood. People judge them based on what they can’t do, but when I go there, spend time with them and play games, I see that they’re so smart. Serving Springs has taught me not to judge people. We were all made in the image of God, and He loves every single one of us. It’s our responsibility, as followers of Christ, to love people the way He does.”
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hurches are made of people, not buildings. But church buildings are important because in them people make life-changing decisions and celebrate some of the most important events in their lives. Our first building was put together in 1873 on the corner of Kiowa and Weber. By 1886 it was being stretched to its limit; there was not room for all who wanted to worship there. A committee was created at the annual meeting in April of 1887. In the committee were representatives from the Ladies’ Aid Society, The Ladies’ Missionary Society, The Young Peoples Society, a few “at large” church members, plus a smattering of Elders and Trustees. That cumbersome group of people was divided into two smaller committees; one to raise the money and the other to secure a site. Rev. James S. Black was made chairman of both committees. Rev. Black, a full-figured man, had been born and educated in Scotland. In 1870 he came to America to pastor a church in New Hampshire. While in New Hampshire, he met and married Helen Kimball. In 1874 the Scotsman was called to a prominent pulpit in 8 | www.first-pres.org 8/15
By Dale McClure Montreal, Canada. There, Helen’s health began to fail and doctors advised Rev. Black to seek a drier climate for her sake. Consequently they moved to Colorado Springs in 1884. Rev. Black liked to make things happen. He had already replaced the little reed organ with a magnificent pipe organ two years after his arrival. Now, he wanted to push the site committee to work a little faster. He walked into a meeting and said, “Gentlemen, I have secured options on two sites that would be ideal for our new sanctuary. You choose one and I will purchase the other.” The committee chose the corner of Bijou and Nevada. Black bought the corner where Palmer High School stands today. But Helen’s health was not getting better. On January 29, 1888, she passed away. After a funeral service here, Rev. Black accompanied the body back to Helen’s home in New Hampshire. Rev. Black observed a respectful period of mourning, and then returned to Colorado Springs and the building program. A noted Denver architect was retained to draw up the plans and the cornerstone was
laid on April 12, 1888. When it was finished, we had an extraordinary edifice of Castle Rock stone which was an amalgamation of Tudor, Romanesque and Georgian architecture – all for only $36,000. The auditorium was square and everything inside was built on the diagonal. The entrance was in the northwest corner and the chancel was in the southeast corner. The chancel area was defined by dark wooden paneling. Furnishings which might best be described as Gothic were also of dark wood. Walls and ceilings were half-timbered. East of the auditorium was a large room called the Lecture Room. It had a roll-up wall between it and the auditorium that made it possible to use the Lecture Room as overflow space. We don’t have a floor plan, but there may have been a
couple of small classrooms adjacent to the Lecture Room. The structure was dedicated to God’s purposes on March 12, 1889. Rev. Black wrote a new hymn text to mark the occasion, and our cowboy organist, “Professor” Pearson, composed the music. With the new building, we got a new custodian. Appropriately, his name was Mr. Bible. Cleaning the church was not his only responsibility, he was also required to collect the money for pew rentals. In those days, if you rented a pew, you were guaranteed a seat. This notice from a 1900 Sunday bulletin explains the system: “This church depends upon the voluntary offerings from worshipers. All the seats are free, but members of the church and regular contributors have permanent sittings. Everyone is welcome. Attendees upon the services are invited to contribute toward their support. Regular attendees are expected to become regular contributors. Offertory envelopes will be furnished to all who desire them.” For many years in that sanctuary we had no choir. We used a paid quartet instead. Sometimes it was reduced to a single soloist for lack of funds. Shortly after the turn of the 8/15 | www.first-pres.org | 9
century some of our congregants were of the opinion that the choral responses by the quartet were becoming too long and way too elaborate. Session pondered the dilemma and then issued this edict: “From now on, the Doxologies and the Glorias are to be shorter, and you are to leave out the high notes!” Still the people came. They came because their spiritual needs were being met, and they brought others. By 1897 the crowds became too large for the new auditorium and balconies were built on the west and north walls. For 69 years the people of Colorado Springs were drawn to that temple. They On August 16, as part of our KickOff Sunday, we will be celebrating the143rd birthday of our church. There will be new “old” photographs on the History Wall. In the Narthex will be a display of furniture from our 1888 building, plus the original pump organ from our 1873 building. Happy Birthday, First Pres! 10 | www.first-pres.org 8/15
came bringing all the joys and sorrows common to human existence. Some came with boots caked with manure or covered with coal dust. There were a few that arrived in ruffled taffeta gowns and enormous hats festooned with ostrich plumes. During the Great Depression, you would have seen men in overalls and women in cotton dresses sewn from flour sacks. In an era not too long gone, they would have been driving up in twotoned automobiles with overgrown tail fins. They were married, baptized their children and said their last goodbyes to loving parents, all in the same building. For some, it was the place where they first heard about the love of God and where they invited Jesus into their hearts. In that sanctuary they celebrated the efficacious sacrifice of the omnipotent Son of God, with an ordinary piece of bread and a tiny glass of grape juice. It was a sacred dwelling; a house that God had furnished with grace and forgiveness and decorated with courage and hope. It was no ordinary building. It was their church home. Dale McClure is the Archivist for First Pres.
August 26th 6:30 to 8 p.m.
doors will open @ 5:30 p.m.
Registration will be available soon $5 per person, $20 family max
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