Conversations with Leaders: Ross Paterson

I have been fortunate to serve on the pastoral staff for the past twenty-one years at, CrossPoint Community Church,
Modesto, CA which has recently gone through a major transition. For 36 years one man was responsible for a passionate execution of Pastoral Care for our congregation. Three years before his mandatory retirement, the decision was made that he would not be replaced. I will always remember sitting in our weekly adult ministry meeting and learning along with my peers, that I was the one to form a plan to take care of the needs of our congregation. Not only was I shocked by my added responsibilities, but it also took me some time to recover from the way I learned the news. So the long journey into unknown territory began. Funds were non-existent to help me gain the knowledge for my new venture. Where do I start and how do I structure a ministry using volunteers?

After I realized and accepted I was the man for the job (I didn’t want anything to do with it initially) I reached out to three lay leaders (Jeff Fontes who is now our head chaplain; Jim Groft our Administration/training Chaplain and Bob Casey who now works part-time as a chaplain for Hospice) who had taken a keen interest in pastoral care. The resulting relationships grew into monthly meetings over a three-year period. I also spent time with our then Pastoral Care Pastor, which climaxed into a day trip, visiting three large northern California churches, all who had different models of caring for their congregations and all three very successful. This gave me enough information to develop three different structural models that I presented to my immediate boss and then ultimately the whole pastoral staff. This process was challenging and full of many difficult moments. This time was even more frustrating in that I had three bosses during these three years. I also felt continually at odds with my friend who was about to retire from a ministry role that gave him reason and purpose to get out of bed every morning.

The more I researched and planned, it became clear that the possible new structure for members of the congregation taking care of each other was more biblically sound than one man being responsible for the whole ministry. However, I did not accept this view at first and did not see the need to change a system that was serving the congregation well. This period was also complicated by the fact that tensions rose between me and the retiring pastor, as our philosophies of how best to care for the people drifted further apart. There was also no discussion at the pastoral staff level or invitation for input explaining the changes in responsibilities. In addition, new authority was given but never acknowledged publicly with the pastoral staff. This helped contribute to a very dysfunctional transition that hurt progress in the early years. After two and half years of meetings and writing reports, we had very little to show for our efforts. With only eight months before we were on our own to care for the church family with volunteers, we had no chaplains trained to serve in this vital ministry. God came to the rescue in crossing my path again with Chaplain Mark O’Sullivan of Rocklin, California, to help me arrive at plan number four. Chaplain Mark had been one of the main trainers when I went through the Modesto Police chaplaincy academy some 11 years before.

Within three months, God had worked in the hearts of 26 potential chaplains. They had filled out a detailed application form, their background check was completed, training was set (16 hours), chaplains graduated, outfitted in the sharp new uniforms with photo I.D.’s, and their certificates were framed. All was ready for them to be presented before the congregation and commissioned. From a very slow and messy start God has brought forth a wonderful and effective ministry that is now embraced by the congregation and community alike. I was once again reminded of God’s amazing faithfulness upon a journey that started with very little enthusiasm but culminated on that special commissioning Sunday with much excitement and relief.

As pastor to seniors at our church, I already had in place both hospital and homebound visitation teams and also a funeral food team. These three teams together totaled about 70 people. Two and a half years later, our current congregational care team is 133 strong. This increase is made up of addition teams; chaplains, Deacons fund administration team, card coordinator, memorial service team, memorial team coordinator, continued prayer support team and prayer wall team.

Our chaplains are required to do one 24-hour shift per month, attend a monthly encouragement and ongoing training meeting and wear their chaplain uniform one Sunday per month to church services. The reason for going to a 24-hour shift once a month was largely due to the fact that those we wanted to serve in this ministry were already involved in other ministries. This way they would not have to leave their other ministry and we would achieve our goal of attracting experienced and qualified volunteers.

We have now gone to an automated phone system. The first two numbers (chaplain’s primary and secondary numbers) in this system are changed each day, but my number and the head chaplain’s numbers remain in the system constantly. If a congregational member cannot get the chaplain on call that day with the first number, it automatically calls his secondary number 10 minutes later, and if necessary, my number, and then the head chaplains number 10 minutes consecutively thereafter.

Chaplains log onto our secure website with a required password access page to report on visitations and other congregational care information. This is accessible 24/7 by all chaplains along with a live calendar so they can sign up for their shifts up to three months in advance.

Some of our chaplains took additional training in Sacramento under the training expertise of Chaplain Mark O’Sullivan and graduated from their academy. We have been so fortunate to have one of the foremost authorities in the country, involving input and training. I cannot say enough about Chaplain Mark’s willingness to help us get our ministry up and running and for his continuing support.

We are still a work in progress, striving to find better ways to effectively minister to the hurting and needy in our congregation and beyond. We have helped train chaplains from three other churches in our town over the last two and half years. God has also opened the doors for our training chaplain, Jim Groft, to start a chaplain ministry in our high schools and middle schools in our area. The demand for chaplains well exceeds the supply we are able to provide at this stage.

May I end by saying the congregation was not on board when we launched this ministry, but with God’s power, wisdom and guidance we are now experiencing the congregation’s embrace. God has changed hearts; provided experts to guide us along the way, and has established a unified team.

The greatest reward is hearing the stories of our chaplains leading people to Christ as a result of a family or friend requesting a visit from our chaplains for their loved one. One of the additional benefits of our chaplains being in uniform is they are often stopped in the hospitals and asked to come and pray with their family member. This has led to many receiving the Lord as their Savior. We have seen and experienced God’s mighty hand at work and give Him all the glory for the success of this ministry despite our having times of wrong attitudes, decisions and motives.

 

New Zealand-native Ross Paterson spent 10 years in sales and management in Wellington and Auckland, New Zealand, before heeding the call to full-time ministry. Ross has served as senior adult pastor at CrossPoint Community Church in Modesto, CA, for 20-plus years.