A Message for the Masses A documentary on Dirk Damonte and the responsibilities of a pastor
Patrick Gaffney
“He’s disgustingly talented, but he’s incredibly humble about it”
D
irk Damonte sits on a worn down futon, his eyes closed and his body as still as a rock. The flickering light of a candle bounces off small religious figures and the hundreds of books that lay strewn against the wall. Time slows down in the small studio room, only moving at the pace of his breaths. In through the nose, out through the mouth. With each breath he takes in a mixture of must and espresso. After fifteen minutes, his morning routine is complete, and he flicks on the fluorescent lights and begins typing away at his Macbook. Dirk has engaged in this routine almost every morning
for four and a half years. “It helps with everything and definitely helps with the stress of work” (Damonte). For Dirk, meditation helps him keep a calm spirit and level head, both of which are necessary for Dirk’s profession: a pastor. To many Americans, the work of a pastor is unknown. This ignorance, as in all cases, has lead to many misconceptions. Dirk not only has to deal
with these misconceptions, but also deals with criticism that he receives for preaching his beliefs. The values that Dirk believe to be common sense are considered unconventional and controversial in the United Methodist Church. As tensions have grown in the Methodist denomination over the acceptance of LGBTQ members, Dirk has continually preached the idea that all are accepted in the church.
D
irk first realized that he wanted to be involved in ministry when he was at a high school retreat. “I had this really powerful experience of just feeling like God was calling me to ministry” (Damonte). Even though he realized that he was being called to ministry at a young age, he didn’t take a direct path there. After graduating from University of Puget Sound, Dirk decided to pursue a different passion: music. Dirk originally played in live shows at Great America until he was able to form a band. As the band traveled from bar to bar performing radio hits, he began to realize
4
that he wasn’t satisfied with his job. “You don’t always see the best of humanity. You’re kind of watching guys try to pick up on women and there’ll be bar fights and stuff” (Damonte). As Dirk lost interest in his work as a travelling musician, he became more and more involved at Los Altos United Methodist Church. In 1983, eight years after he started his career as a musician, he decided to work full time at the church. Dirk’s involvement in the church led him down the path to becoming a pastor. He attended seminary school (grad school for pastors) and received a Masters of Divinity
degree and a Master of Arts in Worship degree. After going through a series of interviews with a district committee and the Conference Board of Ordained Ministry, Dirk was ordained as a pastor in 2001. Few jobs have the same set of responsibilities that pastors do. Much of the work of a pastor is subjective, as the majority of their work is centered on their sermons (Damonte). Sermons are a pastor’s most important aspect of work, as they are preaching to an audience that funds the church, and essentially, the pastors. They are also relaying what they believe to be the teaching of Jesus and
God’s word. Due to the importance of their work for the funding of the church, pastors face a multitude of challenges that result from the pressure put on them to produce a quality sermon (Rainer). The pressure and high expectations set for pastors are a direct result of congregation members being uninformed about their work. Dirk explains, “I found consistently that people say ‘Oh you work at the church everyday? What do you do?’” (Damonte). The misconception that pastors have very little work to do has led to more work and responsibilities being thrown onto their shoulders. In truth, Dirk’s week is packed with writing, planning, and meetings. Pastors also deal with the unexpected, like a death or special service, that add on to the heavy workload. Debbie Weatherspoon, who is also a pastor at LAUMC, describes how demanding writing a sermon can be: “It takes a while to come up with a sermon, to keep it relevant, and to do the research.” A sermon, like a movie or a play, is intended to educate and intrigue an audience. If the pastor’s work fails to appeal to a congregation, then its members will disapprove of the pastor. The time consuming work and long hours not only add stress to the lives of a pastor, but also affect their family life (Wagner). Dylan Damonte experienced life as a pastor’s kid first hand: “When we were kids, they were working all the time, just [at the church] all the time.” A pastor’s long hours make it very difficult for them to spend quality time with their families. This can lead to a multitude of problems at home, such as growing apart from
“Oh you work in a church everyday? What do you do?”
a spouse or from children, creating additional problems outside of work to stress over. As waves of progress have been made in politics, pastors have increasingly had to deal with criticism over their views. Each member of the congregation has a mind teeming with their own ideas and values, and if a sermon disagrees with one of these, they will dislike the sermon and the pastor themselves. Congregation members will openly criticize a pastor over the most meager of issues. Dirk has been condemned over the music choice at services. “A lot of the time people will be like, ‘We don’t want to sing that kind of hymn, we want to sing this kind of hymn’” (Damonte). Criticism that pastors receive extend much further than the small issues. Pastors are often criticised for things they cannot change, such as their gender or sexual orientation, and their core beliefs. Debbie Weatherspoon, is in the minority group because she is a woman in ministry. Her position has been challenged simply because she is a woman in what some people believe to be a “man’s job.” Debbie explains, “The first church that I served as the pastor, I was the first woman to serve there. There were some people that had complained because they didn’t want a woman to be there” (Weatherspoon). These issues are rooted at the core of Christianity itself. As the church is torn between progress and conservatism, Dirk has been an advocate for minorities, and has preached that all are accepted in the church, especially those in the LGBTQ community. Even though Los Altos United Dylan Damonte Methodist is a Reconciling congregation that allows gay marriages, not all have supported Dirk’s beliefs. One member 5
6
of the Methodist Church felt so compelled that members of the LGBTQ communityshould not be allowed in the church that they wrote a letter to the Bishop condemning Dirk’s views. If full charges had been filed, Dirk could have been forced into a trial and potentially excommunicated from the Church (Damonte). This incident is a microcosm for problems interweaved throughout the church at the national level. As the United States has become more accepting of members of the LGBTQ community, the Methodist Church
opposing equality, Dirk has supported acceptance of all people in the church, no matter their race or sexual preference. A pastor must constantly live with the fact that people will tell them that their core values are wrong. Though being a pastor is an incredibly stressful job, his positive outlook and peaceful mindset make him excellent at his job. Dirk believes that the benefits that he has recieved by being a pastor far outweigh the constant pressure and disapproval. For Dirk, the biggest benefit of being a pastor is
has taken measures to suppress these people (Andrews) . At the General Conference, a meeting of church leaders that occurs every four years, the conservative Southern and African jurisdictions overpower the progressive western and northeastern churches. The polar mindset that permeates the United Methodist denomination has made a split in the church a considerable solution . Dirk only wants a split to be an ultimatum in order to give the denomination a chance to allow for churches to reconcile and accept gay members. “ I wish we could come to a place where it’s okay to disagree and it’s okay to be reconciling...Every time that’s been proposed it has been voted down” (Damonte). Even with a majority of the denomination
being involved in the spiritual and sacrosanct parts of people’s lives. He interacts with people of all ages, whether they are the older members of the congregation or the teens in the church’s high school choir, Starfire. “I do a lot of weddings of people who have come up through Starfire and just being part of that sacred moment or being there when people are really close to death or really sick, you’re apart of the most sacred parts of people’s lives” (Damonte). Going through these experiences with members of the church helps him overlook daily burdens of work, and has helped him be more supportive of those in need. Dirk’s character has had a large effect on the people around him,
especially Dylan. “He shows me what it means to just absolutely wow and amaze people and then just take it graciously and just say, ‘Thank you, and I really appreciate the support’” (Damonte). Dirk’s humility and compassion have helped him not only with dealing with criticism, but have also helped him become a better father. Dylan recalls that it is almost impossible for Dirk to be angry, as he is able to shrug off any minor inconveniences. “Any time he gets frustrated or mad, he finds a way to either laugh it off or he finds a way to ‘spiritual’ it off through his music”(Damonte). Instead of the trials and tribulations of being a pastor breaking Dirk down, he has only grown as an individual from these experiences. The reason that Dirk can simply disregard the problems that arise from working as a pastor is that he is doing what he loves. He loves that he connects with people going through the troubles of life.
He loves that he can preach what love really means and spread the word of God. Dirk Damonte is everything that a person could ask for in a pastor: he truly connects with people and improves their lives.
Works Cited Andrews, Becca. “The Methodist Church May Split over LGBT Issues. Meet the Lesbian Bishop Caught in the Middle.” Mother Jones, 29 Aug. 2016, www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/08/gay-bishopdivide-united-methodist-church. Accessed 13 Apr. 2017. Damonte, Dirk. “Personal Interview with Dirk Damonte.” 11 Mar. 2017. ---. “Follow Up with Dirk Damonte.” 2 Apr. 2017. Damonte, Dylan. “Interview with Dylan Damonte.” 1 Apr. 2017. Rainer, Thom S. “Eight of the Most Significant Struggles Pastors Face.” ThomRainer.com, 28 Feb. 2014, thomrainer.com/2014/03/eightof-the-most-significant-struggles-pastors-face/. Accessed 15 Apr. 2017. Wagner, Philip. “The Secret Pain of Pastors • ChurchLeaders.com.” ChurchLeaders.com, 29 Aug. 2014, churchleaders.com/pastors/ pastor-articles/167379-philip-wagner-secret-pain-of-pastors.html. Accessed 14 Apr. 2017. Weatherspoon, Debbie. “Interview with Debbie Weatherspoon.” 26 Mar. 2017.
Patrick Gaffney is a 17 year old currently enrolled at Freestyle Academy and Los Altos High School. He has a focus in Digital Media, a class that involves web design and video creation. For Patrick, Freestyle has enabled him to creatively communicate his ideas in an interactive and professional way. Freestyle has given him new inspirations, expanding his interest in reading, writing, and music. His passion in music is expressed during the summer, when he tours with his high school church choir. Freestyle has opened up a
vast set of oppurtunities and career options. He plans on going to college in a setting surrounded by nature due to his love for adventure and the outdoors. He aspires to gain the respect of others by presenting pieces of work that emit professionalism and feed the interests of readers.