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07719 November 5, 2007
Stepping into the unknown
Spiritual signs lead pastor to remote nook of New Mexico
by Emily Enders Odom Associate, Mission Communications
LAS VEGAS, NM - Having followed God's call from the heart of the Sonoran Desert in Arizona into the mountains of Northeastern New Mexico, Randy Campbell understands firsthand what it means to step into the unknown.
Campbell undertook the strenuous journey to Las Vegas - in a rented U-Haul, which developed a flat tire along the way - to serve the First United Presbyterian Church here beginning Nov. 5.
"We really have an experience of the power of Christ when we get beyond our comfort zones," Campbell said. "When you move out of your comfort zone, you get more aware of where God is at work, and God was absolutely at work in so many details of this trip. Signs and affirmations just kept coming."
Foremost among those signs were a newly-assigned post office box in Las Vegas that matched his father's telephone number, and, most significantly, the congregation's unwavering affirmation of his call. "He fits us perfectly," said Joyce Litherland, who has served as church treasurer of Las Vegas United for more than 25 years, "and he seems to think we fit him perfectly."
"We also knew him before," she added.
Litherland was referring to the church's first association with Campbell, which reaches back some ten years when he was serving as director of Compañeros en Misión in Nogales, AZ. In that role, Campbell helped to facilitate and build relationships among people and congregations on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Campbell remembered clearly when mission teams from the Las Vegas church went down to Nogales in the late 1990s to learn about the border ministries, to work, and to cultivate "faith-to-faith" relationships.
"This church really understood the concept of mutuality of mission, that mission is not one-way but two-way," Campbell said. "They invited a church group from Magdalena and Nogales, Sonora, on a 'reverse mission trip' to Las Vegas. I was very much impressed by the congregation's dedication to mission in the finest sense of the word."
That same dedication recently translated into another major mission undertaking by the 120-member congregation.
While the church has continued with its long-term restoration project to refurbish and convert its 1871 mission church building into a community center, it also launched a $370,000 capital campaign in 2005, agreeing to pledge 10% of the monies raised to the Joining Hearts & Hands campaign of Santa Fe Presbytery.
The Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts & Hands (MIJHH), with which Santa Fe Presbytery is partnered in a $600,000 campaign in 2004, is the five-year fundraising initiative of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to raise $40 million for new international mission personnel and for church development in the U.S., particularly racial ethnic and immigrant congregations.
The goal of Las Vegas United's capital campaign was to raise the funds needed to add a large two-story wing to the current church building, which is itself only eleven years younger than the mission church, an adobe structure that is believed to be the oldest extant Presbyterian church building in the Southwest.
Through the Santa Fe Presbytery MIJHH campaign, a small portion of the church's tithe is being directed back to the mission church restoration program, which meets the presbytery's criteria for church transformation.
"About twenty-five years ago, our member Gabino Rendon made a $25 donation and told me he wanted me to start a new fund for the restoration of the old church," Litherland said. "Other small donations followed until the task force was formed, and he and Elder Susan Swan have worked continuously for all these years to keep it going, getting work camps to come and help during the summer, as well as students from our United World College doing community service."
Rendon's initial gift, although modest, was not insignificant. It set in motion a project that acknowledges and honors the legacy of his father, the Rev. Gabino Rendon. Rev. Rendon, one of the first converts to Christianity in the 1870s, attended the school at the mission church. He was later ordained, and pastored or founded many of the early churches throughout the Rocky Mountain area.
"We are thankful that the presbytery acknowledged this restoration as one of our presbytery missions," Litherland added. "In the past, the mission church has hosted Samaritan House, a shelter and thrift shop, and we expect that it will continue as an outreach to the wider community in the future. We are a mission-minded congregation."
Remarkably, the church's capital campaign took off during a period of interim pastoral leadership.
"Oftentimes churches in an interim period lose energy, but this church hasn't slowed down a bit" said John Detterick, a former executive director of the General Assembly Council of the PC(USA) who retired last year to his hometown of Las Vegas. "I have been impressed with this church's strong focus on mission, worship, and outreach."
Detterick and his wife, Bobbye, who was born in Las Vegas, are now members of Las Vegas United, where Bobbye is also a deacon. Detterick also serves the First Presbyterian Church, Mora, twice a month as a lay preacher.
Susan Swan, a member of the congregation's restoration task force, said that the church's strong missional spirit came from "our spiritual ancestors" in New Mexico. "Our mission is not just for ourselves but for the wider community," she said.
Litherland also attributes the congregation's
mission-mindedness to the region's rich Presbyterian history. "This area is where the Presbyterian Church first sent missionaries to start schools and provide hospitals and clinics," she said. "People in these churches today have mission in their blood. They went through the Presbyterian school system and had their health needs met through the church. This sense of being both recipients and givers of mission is part of the history of this area of Northeastern New Mexico."
That same missional spirit and tradition are expected to continue when Campbell begins his ministry on November 5.
"There are many strong lay leaders in this church, capable people that step up and do amazing things," Swan observed. "But the busier we get, the more the spiritual aspects get short shrift. Randy will be wonderful for us, because we need to stop and be nourished."
Because Campbell has himself observed that missional relationships are two-way, he anticipates a healthy and productive partnership with Santa Fe Presbytery. James M. Collie, executive presbyter Santa Fe Presbytery, looks forward to the same.
"Neither the First United Presbyterian Church in Las Vegas, nor its presbytery, the Presbytery of Santa Fe, would ever be counted among the so-called 'heavyweights' in this denomination," Collie said. "But year after year, the Las Vegas congregation leads our presbytery in per capita giving to national and international mission, this in a presbytery that consistently ranks among the top ten presbyteries for per capita giving to denominational causes. Las Vegas United is big in mission, both through our denomination and in their own community."
Collie also sees the legacy of strong missional leadership at the Las Vegas church - Al Jutterbock, Don Wales and Michelle Vetters - continuing with Randy Campbell.
Recalling his arduous journey to Las Vegas, Campbell observed, "It won't be an easy transition, but it will be a faith-building one. It all relates back to mission. To step into the unknown."
"It's like my friend Lynne Meyers said," Campbell added, citing the interim executive presbyter of de Cristo Presbytery in Tucson, AZ, "it's about trusting an unknown future to a known God."
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