Please forgive me for that bad headline pun as I tell you about my friend, Gerre.
In my post last week I talked about saying affirming things about people while they are still around to hear them and I mentioned that I would be doing so over the next few weeks.
I met Gerre when I started my current job as Executive Director/Lead Strategist of Harvest Baptist Association in 2008.
This tall, lanky smile-in-cowboy-boots-and-Wranglers dropped by my office to say hi and get acquainted. At that time, he was serving as the interim music minister in one of the association churches.
I immediately liked him. (How could I not like a fellow “G”)?
Fast forward about three years and he was serving as the interim music minister in another of our churches—the one to which I had just moved my church membership. Due to the nature of my job, I don’t have many Sundays at my “home church,” so I mostly went on Wednesday evenings on my way home from my office in Decatur.
It was during those few months of his interim there that we really became friends. I also got to see how he interacted with people besides me.
It was a little disappointing to find out that he really didn’t like me better than anyone else.
Here’s the thing I have said many times about Gerre over the years that I have known him:
He has the unique gift of being able to make every person in the room feel like the most important person in the room.
It is because of that gift that he is legendary in Decatur and Wise County.
Now, he is a gifted singer and worship leader. He’s friendly, funny, tells a great story, and never takes himself seriously. He’s been head-over-heals in love with his dear wife for 52 years this month. He’s a model dad and grandpa.
But make no mistake—the character quality that puts him in a category by himself is the way he genuinely loves people and lets them know it.
There are so many “Gerre quotes” I could share, but the one that stands out above all others is,“I love the fire out of you. And I’m not kidding this time.”
I discovered a few years ago that it is next to impossible to have a lunch conversation with Gerre in a public place in Decatur because everybody in town is so happy to see him walk in the door.
A handful of people who read this will know Gerre and understand what I’m talking about.
But for everyone else, here’s the lesson for today.
For Gerre, “minister” is not a title or occupation; it is an all-consuming identity. When he looks at the world, he sees needs that can be met and people who must be loved. And it has absolutely nothing to do with their church membership, politics, or anything else.
He just sees people and loves and serves them (the most basic definition of ministry) with all his heart.
When I grow up, I’d like to be that kind of Gerry.
And there is no greater aspiration for any of our names.
Be amazing today, my friend.
