Onward & Upward

Normer Adams ’72 thought he was just overcoming his fear of heights. Little did he know that God had a whole new ministry in store.

BY AMBER RASMUSSEN

Making decisions can sometimes seem paralyzing. With so many options to choose from, it can be difficult to determine which option will allow us to have the most impact for the kingdom of God. At other times, however, the choice seems to be made all on its own. The road may be perfectly predictable or it may be wildly unexpected, but one thing remains: we must run the race set before us. One Point alumnus is determinedly running—or rather, climbing—to the finish line of his own race.

Normer Adams has dedicated his life to the service of others, even when the results have been different than he predicted. Adams attended what was then Atlanta Christian College with the goal of becoming a minister, and after graduating in 1972, he went on to Lincoln Christian Seminary. Then he accepted a job with Christian City as their first minister. Christian City is a unique organization that has a 500-acre campus in the Atlanta metro area. The campus houses a children’s home and senior living community, among many other services. After five years as chaplain, Adams became the administrator of Christian City’s children’s home, and there he grew a passion for advocating for children and families.

After another five years with Christian City, Adams moved into the role of child advocate with the Georgia Association of Homes and Services for Children. He served there for 23 years, lobbying at the state capitol for the rights and protections of at-risk children throughout the state of Georgia.

After such a fulfilling career, it would have been easy to retire and be satisfied with his service — but that was not the case for Adams.

Once he retired in 2013, Adams remained active in his community by serving on several local boards and continuing his prior work of advocating for the rights of children in Georgia. But he also picked up a more unusual activity in his newly acquired free time: rescuing cats.

Determined to conquer his lifelong fear of heights, Adams had begun climbing trees. Unlike the phenomenon that is rock climbing, however, tree climbing lacks a community aspect that Adams felt he was missing.

“In the entire Atlanta metro area there is only one tree climbing club,” Adams explains. “And on a good day, you usually only have about 15 people there.”

At this club, a fellow member recommended that Adams start rescuing cats from trees. Adams never anticipated that this one idea would change his life.

Looking for a reason to climb trees with other people around, Adams set up a Facebook page, naming it Cat Man Do Rescue, and a YouTube channel. During his rescues, Adams wears a GoPro camera and films the entire rescue process. He then posts the video of his rescues. The service started small, spreading by word of mouth and Internet searches, but Adams had no idea the demand that existed for cat rescues in Georgia.

“There’s one other person in Georgia who does cat rescues, but I’m the only one doing it free of charge,” says Adams.

Soon, Adams found himself traveling all throughout his service area to rescue cats. With around five million cats in the state of Georgia alone, he would certainly have to stay busy to keep up.

While he definitely has a love for cats and animals, Adams’s primary motivation in his rescues is serving the people who call him.

“Usually, when I get to the location, there’s a small group there, and I go up in the tree and I’m 100 feet up, and once I get the cat, I can hear them applauding down on the ground. Then when I get down, the owners are obviously thrilled, and a lot of times people cry. You can see tears streaming down

“You can see tears streaming down their faces from the joy. It’s just ridiculously gratifying,”

Adams is providing a service to people who otherwise would not be able to afford it.

“A lot of the people I help can’t pay $300 to get a cat out of a tree. They usually try to give me money, but I won’t take it,” Adams says.

Adams’s humble nature is obvious, and he would have been content to quietly rescue cats for the rest of his retirement without anyone knowing. In fact, he tried to guarantee just that.

“When I first started doing this, I tried to keep it quiet,” Adams laughed. “I didn’t want to be the ‘cat rescue guy,’ so I tried to stop it from getting out.”

God had other plans for Cat Man Do Rescue, however. One day, Adams received a call about a pet parrot that had gotten stuck in a tree. The parrot belonged to a reporter with whom Adams was acquainted from his time as a child advocate, so Adams responded and rescued the parrot in the pouring rain. This gained the attention of another Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter, who decided to write a story on Adams. The result was a snowball effect of high-profile news outlets and businesses wanting to feature Adams and his cat rescues. Soon he was contacted by Old Navy to participate in a fashion photo shoot, followed by The Dodo, a YouTube channel that features animals and aims to encourage care for the well-being of animals everywhere, which featured Adams in a video. Last year, he was invited to be on The Ellen Show, in a segment that aired on television in fall 2021. People magazine has written a piece about him, and he has

been featured on the television show Access Hollywood.

To say that Cat Man Do Rescue has taken off is an understatement. Last year alone, Adams rescued more than 350 cats in the Atlanta metro area, sometimes rescuing up to five cats in one day. “It’s very common to rescue three cats in one day,” says Adams.

Adams is also using his knowledge of tree climbing to train up a new generation of tree climbers. It is not unusual for Adams to invite the children and grandchildren of his friends over to his home to teach them how to climb trees safely and effectively.

“I don’t do it for the cats. I do it for the people... if it brings joy to people and shows love to them, then I’m glad, and that’s thanks enough.”

“I love sharing the joy of tree climbing, and all of my grandkids have been up in a tree with me, and I have videos of that, too,” he says. “I just want them to know how to do it safely.”

What will be the future of Cat Man Do Rescue? Adams explains that he is always searching for a mentee, a person or group of people who he can train to continue doing the work he has started.

“I’m always looking for other people to help me. I’ve had a lot of people come out and attempt tree climbing to see if they like it, but they never come back again,” he says. “I’m still trying to figure it out. I don’t want to corner the market on cat rescues. One cat a day is plenty for me.”

After dedicating his life and career to fighting for the protection and care of children, Adams admits that he finds it amusing that his rescuing cats has gained so much attention, but he continues to use his platform to display his love for people.

“People say to me a lot, ‘Wow, you must really love cats in order to do this,’ But listen, I don’t do it for the cats. I do it for the people,” he says. “The cats don’t show much gratitude once they’re on the ground, but if it brings joy to people and shows love to them, then I’m glad, and that’s thanks enough.”

Adams has discovered that ministry — his original plan when he enrolled in college — happens in a lot of ways beyond preaching from a pulpit.

“Point University is about ministry,” explains Adams. “It’s about figuring out how you live out the ministry of Christ in your everyday life, and I think that’s been a part of my life and part of my wife’s life. For us, this is just another phase of that ministry.”

Adams never would have predicted where a life committed to following Christ would take him, but through all of it, he continues to pursue the next step, to obey the next call, even when it is not the path he would have laid out for himself. Despite the changes and surprises, people have been impacted by his love and service, and lives have been changed. Adams’s whole life — not just part of it — has been a sacrificial ministry.

“I definitely didn’t choose this,” says Adams. “It chose me.”