The receiving line was long, but the mood of the assembled was respectful, a bit melancholy, a bit pensive, with maybe even a little joviality thrown in for good measure.
Unfortunately, I wasnt' there, but that's what I was told. The calling hours were from 4 in the afternoon until 8 in the evening. My wife was in line for a good while before she was able to offer her condolences to Andrea, Krista, Elise and Jessica. But she said it was a good wait seeing old friends and acquaintances. They shared some brief stories and caught up on children and now grandchildren. They shared memories of a friend.
Dave would have liked that.
On Saturday, the church and Family Life Center were almost filled to capacity with many, if not most of these same people plus their children and many others who traveled from various parts of the United States. We gathered to remember the life of a man who meant so much to us.
The memorial service was special. Dave's mom played the piano to start things off. There was lots of music; old hymns and modern choruses alike. There was even Dave's favorite hymn that I frankly never, in almost 27 years, remembered singing at any service; "May the Mind of Christ." Friends and relatives and co-workers - I think co-laborers in the work is a better way to say it - stood to give testimony of Dave's life in service to God and all of us.
But most of all, we worshiped God. We worshiped God in the reading of His Word and in prayer as well as the lifting of our voices in songs of praise.
Dave would have liked that too.
The images of Dave and his family, including lots of 1980's style hair cuts, were rotated on the screens as we remembered our mentor's life. He was a modest and sometimes shy man who tended to shun the limelight, especially if it was about him. It literally took Dave years to learn to accept praise and a real compliment. But if the occasion were to highlight or direct people to God and the power of the Gospel, Dave would readily be there. We remembered his ministry to us. We remembered his ministry to God.
Dave's life verse was Proverbs 3:5, 6. A simple verse that many, if not most, Christians know by heart. "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." He did his best to live that verse.
Personally speaking, I have known Dave for almost all of my Christian life. He was the assistant pastor of Calvary Evangelical Free Church when my wife and I started attending. Within about 18 months, he was named the senior pastor following the retirement of his predecessor. Honestly, Dave had really big shoes to fill. Pastor Anderson had been used by God to grow this flock from several dozen, mainly Scandinavian families, to several hundred families that crossed almost every ethnic boundary. And now, with the foundation laid, God would continue building. The building would be of saved lives as well as structures.
This humble man from Michigan would be used by God to build God's Word into all of us in the greater Trumbull, Connecticut area as well as in such far flung places as Southern Sudan. Dave not only had a heart for knowing God his Savior, but a heart to reach the lost and dying with the saving message of Jesus Christ.
I could speak for hours about Dave's ministry to me. He was there when my wife faced life-threatening health challenges; for the both of us. Dave dedicated our daughter shortly after her adoption. He heartily supported us and allowed the church and its premises to aid an international youth organization that sought adoptive homes for Russian orphans. We are the recipients of two of those boys. We weren't sure where God was leading us or how He would provide, but Dave taught us how to seek after our Father God in those times.
At the death of my dad in 1993, Dave came alongside us. He may not have said too much, but actions spoke louder than words. In business trials, he directed me back to God. Proverbs 3:5 - 6 was applicable there too.
We fasted together. We worked shoulder to shoulder in Men's Ministries. Dave mentored me to be a good teacher and I promise that I will work as diligently as he did in the preparation of a lesson. In support of Sunday school teachers, his library was always available. Even many of the those "light reading" books had some sort of highlighting or margin notes. Dave was constantly learning. He sought Godly wisdom and counsel. If he was sitting with other pastors who were preaching, he would have a ready pen and paper for brief note taking.
The most significant thing that I will remember about Dave's teaching and preaching ministry is that he would always, and I mean always, direct you back to God's Word. Dave did not want anyone to blindly trust him about what he taught. He wanted each and every one of us to learn how to feed ourselves when it came to knowing God and studying His Word. I'll come back to that thought in a minute.
You can kind of figure out that Dave had a heart for people. He loved his wife Andrea and their three girls. He cherished his privacy with them. That's something that many of us in ministry and business could learn from him. A family train wreck was not an option. God was always primary in his life. His wife and family were next in line. Everything else jostled for third place and so on. I wish I had learned that lesson better. We all need to understand that kind of prioritization.
Over the last 10 years or so, God began to pull Dave out of his comfort zone. Literally and figuratively. Dave always had a proper heart for missions. Little did he know that God would give him a heart for central Africa. I'll never forget his demeanor after coming back from that first trip to Pageri, New Sudan: he was a changed man. God put in his mind a ministry to these people whom he had never met before. And God was going to use Dave and Calvary Church to break out of our comfort zone to seek the lost in a hurting and sometimes hostile land. It's not that we had never done that before, Dave had pushed us into local inner city missions and church planting, but this was going to be something more "God-sized".
God provided the vision and made things happen over the course of several years. Is the work finished? Not by any stretch of the imagination. But a new school has been built and the people are hungry and thirsty for God's saving Word. Local pastors are still being taught and mentored. The people are learning to read and understand God's Word for themselves. They are learning how to search the Scriptures and to seek the Holy Spirit's guidance into Godly wisdom and knowledge. They will stand firm in the face of earthly conflict and obstacles to Faith in Christ. The ministry will continue.
And his ministry will also continue. Over the last couple of years, Dave was adamant about our congregation learning how to feed itself. We, the congregants, had to learn how to read and study and delve into God's Word as best as we possibly could. Pastor Scott was absolutely correct when he said that Dave's second favorite Sunday to preach in the entire calendar year, after Easter or Resurrection Sunday, was the first Sunday of the New Year. Dave wanted us to start the year off right by making sure that we all had a plan to be in as we individually read and studied our own Bibles. Dave made sure that the church provided the tools to make this happen, but I think he felt that it was his "duty" to make sure that we knew how to study and then apply God's Word to our daily lives. And not just for our daily lives, but with the intentional purpose of being right with God, right with one another, and to be well equipped to share the Gospel with the unsaved. We, the congregants, were to be co-laborers with the pastoral staff helping to sow and then to reap God's harvest of formerly lost people (1 Peter 3:15 - 16).
In light of this God-given idea, Dave presented our elder board with the book, "The Divine Mentor" by Wayne Cordeiro. Dave had found an additional "tool" to stimulate his desire that each and everyone of us sitting in the congregation would not only know HOW to study God's Word, but WHY we should do it. There was reason. There was purpose. I, for one, am very thankful of this last request of Dave's teaching ministry. I am greatful to have been asked to teach a Sunday school series based on that book. It has changed my life and many others. I would encourage you to read the book or look at the study. Thank you Pastor Dave.
In closing, I'll say it again, Thanks Pastor Dave for all that you have done in and for my life. Thank you for always directing me back to God. Thank you for being a "divine mentor" used by God. Thank you for being a man of extreme integrity. Thank you for being and showing how to be courageous in the face of diversity and obstacles. We are sad for ourselves because we have lost someone we loved, but who also loved us; warts and all. We know, without shadow of doubt, that when you closed your eyes on March 22, you opened your eyes completely healed in the arms of Jesus. He took you and I'm sure He said, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Come and share your Master's happiness." Matthew 25:21.
May we follow as well.
Dave would like that.
David R. McIntyre. May 27, 1951 - March 22, 2011.
Leeland with Brandon Heath - "Follow You"
