“Pastor, we need to change.”

David Wood heard those words when he arrived eight years ago at Walnut Park Baptist Church in Muscatine, Iowa. Surprising, maybe—not the sort of thing every pastor hears. “They gave me liberty to try things that I knew needed to be addressed for the health of the church,” he says.

Actually, what the church really said was, “Pastor, we’re dying on the vine. We need somebody who is old and can help us make changes without blowing it apart.”

Dave fit the bill (not necessarily old, but experienced). Church members embraced his direct style. He was the sort of guy who would say, “Read your Bible, pray every day, and don’t do anything stupid”—and deliver it with such warmth that it sounded encouraging.

His first step seemed both obvious and scary. “We’ve got to get beyond the walls of the church and get in the community.” With a popular city park just down the road, the target seemed obvious.

“So we decided to have ice cream at the park—give free ice cream to anybody that shows up and just have a conversation with them.”

Maybe a teeny bit of pushback from the congregation. (“No, there’s no way that’s going to work. That’s going to be so embarrassing!”)

“But we did it. Then they wanted to do it again. And eight years later, it’s part of our routine. Every summer there’s fruit that remains because of it. We found a real passion for reaching the next generation. And this church is alive with that.”

The whole question of change can be stressful for a church, and Dave recognizes the need for a gentle shepherd. “A pastor needs to be joyful and excited and trustworthy—all of that takes time. The pastor can’t just come in and make changes,” he says.

On the other hand, the church is responsible to recognize the need for change. “That’s what I love about our church—people say, ‘Okay, we’ll try it. We don’t know if we’re gonna like it, but we’ll try it,’” Dave says. “It’s been ongoing, a little bit here and a little bit there.”

His cardinal rule for change? “Never spook the sheep.”

Dave also credits the impact of church leaders. “I think it takes men being discipled. And then it becomes a vision of those men and not just somebody at the pulpit saying, ‘This is what you’re supposed to do.’”

Jordan Allen, associate pastor at Walnut Park, describes Dave (also his father-in-law) as “a discipler and a mentor at heart. Much of what he does is about the Great Commission.” Jordan sees the fruit of discipleship as he helps with administration, works with the teens, and leads Sunday worship.

“It’s helped men to get in the Bible, and some may not normally have a habit of that. And they’re asked to adore God from their Bible reading each week. I think that’s really helped. I think it’s helped guys to take initiative with things in church, by thinking more about leading and what that looks like in a church.”