Calvary Baptist Church, Mount Pleasant, Iowa, celebrated its 75th anniversary.
During the anniversary service, Pastor Zach Fischer led three former pastoral staff members in a Q and A panel. His questions for the pastors focused on the church’s slogan for this year: “Celebrating Our Past and Inspiring Our Future.”
Dave Tebbenkamp, youth pastor from 1995 to 2003, says one blessing from his time at Calvary Baptist was working with Duke Crawford, then pastor of the church and now pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church, Toledo, Ohio. Dave says he and his wife, Lori, “will forever be indebted” to Duke and his wife, Deb. “They invested so much into us,” Dave says. He calls Duke a pastor, mentor, and friend.
A blessing that stands out to Dan Whitcher, pastor from 1976 to 1982, is the love and care of the congregation. He and his wife, Peggy, arrived at the church “as a young family with two small children,” he says. “The thing that stood out to us was that the people loved us and took us in and cared for us.” Following his pastorate, he and Peggy served for 41 years as missionaries sent by the church.
Earl Swigart, pastor from 1982 to 1989, shared some wisdom for the church as it moves forward. First, magnify Jesus in your life. “The more that the Lord Jesus is magnified in your life as a pastor or as the people, the more that your ministry will be multiplied,” he says. Second, put Christ first in all things. And third, avoid pride. “Pride destroys love, contentment, and common sense.”
Zach says that knowing these pastors—whom he calls a “brotherhood of pastors”—is a privilege.
