A Pastor I Appreciate, part three

October has become Pastor Appreciation Month in many churches. With that as my filter, a quick glance up at my rearview mirror shows some pastors I appreciate from days gone by. Here’s one now —

Rev. Wm. J. Causer was appointed to our church in Belleville when I was in seventh grade and he was in seminary. He graduated and continued to be our Associate Pastor through my senior year in high school.

Like the other two I’ve singled out Monday and Wednesday here, Drs. Lippman and Leckrone, he took me seriously. He helped focus my growing and deepening interest in what we in our tradition refer to as The Call.

It was a fertile time: “Rev,” as we youth group members called him, along with Dr. Leckrone, helped shape and guide at least five of us in our responses to God’s Call and actions in our hearts, minds, and lives.

Examples and long stories about him are exploding in me! And they’re all good…so good they’re overwhelming!

Perhaps the best thing I can say about him and ministry is to fast forward from when I was a teenager to Wednesday, November 8, 2017. He preached my mom’s funeral at the First United Methodist Church of Okawville, IL, her home church. He and his family had stayed in touch with her over the decades, and this had been her request. He was simply amazing. He was a blessing. He still is.

He’s a hero of mine.

And he needs your prayers.

Please keep him and his wife Patty, adult children Lisa and Mark, and their extended families, in your prayers as he continues to battle cancer.

The day is coming when he’ll understand Matthew 25:23 better than the rest of us.

I miss him already.