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Note #7515 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Tentmakers celebrate living a double life
02451
November 8, 2002

Tentmakers celebrate living a double life

Conference stresses important role of 'tents' mixed with ministry

by Evan Silverstein

ORANGE, CA - For 34-year-old Mexican-born Daniel A. Jimenez, serving God has
been about coming of age and coming to America.

Raised Catholic in Veracruz, Mexico, Jimenez first discerned a call to the
ministry when he was baptized at age 18 after discovering the Protestant
Church a year earlier.

He eventually earned a bachelor's degree from a local university before
moving to the United States in 1990, but was deported to Mexico four years
later for allegedly overstaying his visa. Afterward he was nabbed trying to
sneak back into the U.S.  

"I thank God for everything that I've gone through," Jimenez said recently.
"Hard times and easy times, happy times and sad times. I don't have any
complaints."

Jimenez recounted the hurdles he faced coming to the United States, his call
to ministry and the importance of multicultural congregations during the Nov.
1-3 annual conference of the Association of Presbyterian Tentmakers (APT). 

Tentmakers are ministers who serve in church positions but derive all or most
of their income from outside employment.   

Jimenez told the gathering of about 30 Presbyterian and Episcopalian
tentmakers that he consulted God before his ill-fated midnight border run, a
treacherous excursion through the hilly terrain surrounding Tijuana adjacent
to the California border.

"If you really want me in America just let me get there safely," Jimenez said
he asked of God. "It's very scary, and I'll serve you. I couldn't figure it
out."

At first, being caught crossing the border was viewed by Jimenez as a sign
from above to remain in Mexico. But with help from a less heavenly force -
his attorney - Jimenez returned to the United States for good about a year
later.

Now, a graduate of San Francisco Theological Seminary and an ordination
candidate in Los Ranchos Presbytery in southern California, Jimenez is
working with First Presbyterian Church in Santa Ana to establish a
Spanish-speaking worship service and Sunday school class. 

A technician with a local engineering firm, Jimenez and wife, Flor, have
three children, ages 4-7. He was introduced to tentmaking possibilities at
the conference, co-sponsored by the National Association for the
Self-Supporting Active Ministry (NASSAM) of the Episcopal Church.

"I am excited about the idea and the concept," Jimenez said of tentmaking.
"I'll try it."
With the theme, Marching with a Different Drummer, the conference featured
perspectives from those on the front lines of tentmaking ministry in the
Presbyterian and Episcopal churches. It included panel discussions with
seminary, presbytery and diocesan leaders of the tentmaking role and the
possible impact of an expansion of tentmaking ministries.

Tentmakers in attendance included an airline pilot, philosophy professor,
farmer, and a micro-technology developer. A risk management consultant from
England, who is an Anglican priest, added an international presence to the
gathering. 

All were professionals, skilled artisans, and others who use their
professional, vocational or academic skills to support themselves while
serving congregations.

Jimenez, along with Taiwan-Americans the Rev. Paul and Grace Wu, and the Rev.
Raafat Zaki, a Sudanese-born staff member with the National Ministries
Division of the Presbyterian Church (USA), brought a multi-cultural
perspective, conference-goers noted.

"The diversity at this conference has been good," said the Rev. Ross Blount,
a tentmaker and farmer who serves Allerton Presbyterian Church in Iowa. "It's
interesting to see what the challenges of the metropolitan area are like.
They present other opportunities for tentmaking than the ones that we've been
more accustomed to."

The yearly program is a "spiritually enriching time" for tentmakers to
network and exchange personal experiences about secular employment and
ministry, according to the Rev. Darrell Lynn, conference coordinator.

 Lynn, whose "tent" is director of community ministries at Tustin
Presbyterian Church in Tustin, CA, said the conference gave him a new
perspective on tentmaking, especially from program speaker Fr. Allen Figueroa
Deck. The author, a Jesuit priest, shared his views with the group on
tentmaking in the Jesuit tradition.

"I like to think of our ministry within the context of our culture," said
Lynn, a community-relations supervisor with Toshiba America Electronic
Components Inc. of Irvine, CA. "We need, I believe, to continually broaden
our understanding of the context with other religious groups and faith
traditions."

Deck said tentmaking has not caught on within the Catholic Church, although
there have been some priests over the years who have dabbled in the alternate
form of ministry.

"In the Catholic context there is a tradition of maintaining hierarchical
form," Deck said. "I don't think tentmaking falls into that."
Backed by drums and piano, clarinet aficionado Russ Jolly, a commissioned lay
pastor and tentmaker from Freeport, KS, led musical worship services with
traditional hymns set to the sounds of such jazz legends as Benny Goodman. A
Spanish rendition of the classic Old Mac Donald nursery rhyme was brought to
life by the acoustic guitar playing of Jimenez, all present singing in
perfect unison, with help from a Spanish lyric sheet. 

Music is a tool also used by Grace Wu, a commissioned lay leader and music
therapist, to unlock the anguish of mental patients, many of whom are
criminals, at Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino County, CA.

"Through the music you can share what you experience," said Wu, who also
leads the music portion of worship services headed by her tentmaker husband,
Paul, a licensed clinical social worker and the hospital's chaplain. "It
really makes them slow down and then we talk about why they are always so
angry."

Tentmakers said Presbyterians and Episcopalians should recognize the reality
of tentmaking as a cutting-edge solution to the declining number of
congregations able to afford full-time pastors.
"We see this as a style of ministry that in some situations works just
extremely well," said the Rev. David Vallenga, a tentmaker from Raleigh, NC.
"We wish more people, particularly ministers, would see it as a real option
for themselves."

 Vallenga, who helps develop micro-computer chips for MCNC Electronic and
Information Technologies in North Carolina, added that tentmaking is not an
appropriate model of ministry for all churches, "but I think if people were
more open to it then we would be much better off in ministry."
He said in a small congregation like his Nutbush Presbyterian Church in
Townsville, NC, members feel comfortable because they have a regular pastor
available for worship, weddings, hospital visits and funerals. 

"But they're not having the financial burden of a full-time pastor salary,"
said Vallenga, who has spent two decades as a tentmaker. "So they're living
within their means financially. That allows them to contribute to mission of
the church beyond the congregation and on a per capita basis. Some of these
small churches give a lot more than larger churches."

Although tentmaking's roots date to the Old Testament, tentmakers are often
dismissed as pastoral flunkies forced into two-vocation careers because they
can't land a permanent calling. That's nonsense said retired tentmaker and
former computer software professional the Rev. Bill Dodge of Schenectady, NY.

"It's not part-time," said Dodge. "Your ministry is not what you do with your
congregation, but ministry is what you're doing the rest of the time."

Tentmakers, whose name is a reference to leather working, a trade of the
apostle Paul, exchanged stories about their own tents and discussed the
polity of the two denominations during the gathering at the Center for
Spiritual Development in Orange, CA, near Los Angeles.

For more than three years the Rev. Don Leckrone was a tentmaker. Each week he
hauled freight about 2,000 miles with an 18-wheel semi-truck while preaching
on Sundays.

He now works full-time as stated supply pastor at Shawnee Presbyterian Church
in Lima, OH, about 120 miles north of Cincinnati. He still drives a "big rig"
occasionally and likes the freedom tentmaking can bring clergy.

"It's like I have a safety valve, or a safety net, in the back of my mind,"
Leckrone said. "If things don't work out at a place I am at, I can
immediately . . . be employed full-time or back with the company that I am
still driving for occasionally . . . and not miss a paycheck."

The conference also provided time for bonding among the 25 Presbyterian
clergy and five Episcopalians, which also included a concession stand
manager, a building inspector, a real-estate professional and parents.

"It is always useful to have something of substance," said Phil Aspinall, an
Anglican priest who is a risk management consultant from Coventry, England,
about 100 miles north of London. "It's the networking, the fellowship, like
with Daniel (Jimenez). The welcoming in of persons who suddenly discovered
there are other people who share their vision. That is a big part of it."

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