Mentoring Ministry Working Well in Alaska

KALSKAG, AK (February 10, 2005) - Nearly a year ago, Evangelical Covenant Church of Alaska regional director Rodney Sawyer was looking for a pastor to help one of his younger ministers in the region.

After sending 300 letters to various retired pastors and sharing his request in a news story as part of this Covenant online news report last March, Sawyer found a "taker." A couple from California responded to Sawyer's request and the mentoring relationship that has blossomed has blessed not only the pastor, but the mentors as well.

Jerry and Venita Meyers of West Point, California, have been spending the winter in Alaska and mentoring a pastor couple, Macarlo and Darlene Christensen. They've done so through counseling, babysitting and other means. The Meyers do not receive a salary - the church pays for housing and fuel, however. Jerry and Venita visited Kalskag in October and moved to Alaska in early November. They will remain until later this fall. So far, they say they have learned a lot about the unique Alaskan culture – and themselves – during the past three months.

"It's been pretty slow building relationships," says Jerry. "But we've had some good times with Macarlo and I think we've helped him. He and his wife, Darlene, started the church eight years ago and we've been able to give them a little break now and then. We've found out that I'm a whole lot like Macarlo.

"I was a 'working pastor' - I drove trucks while I was in (active) ministry," he observes. "Macarlo is a fisherman and has his own boat. We draw a lot of our sermon material from our work experiences. Our personalities are similar and Macarlo has a real heart for the people – and we do, too."

There is more to it than just the mentoring relationship, says Macarlo, whose congregation recently was adopted by the Evangelical Covenant Church. "I also work another job and I needed some time to focus on my family, and he's (Jerry) been very helpful. He's done most of the preaching lately and it's been great to have someone to talk with about being a pastor.

"My wife and I both came to the Lord as adults, so we had no idea about church life – we had little understanding about how a church works," Macarlo continued. "It's been a lot of trial and error. It's been good to have someone around to help make church life smoother. And we'll get more of the full impact (of the mentoring) once the weather gets better. It's been a blessing for me."

Both Jerry and Venita Meyers grew up in West Point, a town of 300 in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. They married after Venita finished high school. They graduated from Azusa Pacific University in southern California and Jerry went into ministry as an Evangelical Methodist pastor.

In 1962, the couple moved back to West Point and a month later they took over the pastoral ministry at Community Covenant Church, the congregation in which they were raised. They continued to serve there until Jerry retired in 1998. The couple say they enjoyed being the grandparents to their children and being involved in the community. However, when Sawyer's request came, the couple thought they would at least inquire and see if God might have something else planned for them to accomplish.

"We just saw this notice . . . and waited a couple of weeks before contacting Rodney Sawyer," Jerry said. "When we asked how many others had contacted him, Rodney said we were the only ones." Venita recalls a conversation several years ago when the Alaska conference asked if the couple might be interested in coming up there, "but we didn't go because of where our kids were at in school," Venita explained. "But the fact that there was need, and because it was Alaska, got us interested." She recalled meeting some Alaska Native pastors who she described as "much like our Miwuk American Indians here in West Point. They were very nice and we knew they had the same problems that the Alaskan Natives had. I thought we could help and I sympathized with the needs of Macarlo and Darlene."

During a typical week, Jerry says that he reads a lot due to the fact that people stay inside their homes during cold weather. Jerry and Macarlo are starting a men's Bible study and Venita has considered coordinating a women's Bible study. The couple has a snow machine that allows them to travel to and from church and around the village, which only has four miles of road. The town is located 350 miles south of Anchorage and one can only get into town by airplane during the winter.

A pastor for nearly 50 years, Jerry says that Kalskag (a village of 300) is much like the town the Meyers family resided in during the past three decades. The weather is a lot colder, however - Kalskag has been around zero degrees Fahrenheit for most of the winter (West Point is normally 50 degrees warmer).

"Growing up in West Point, everybody knew us," Jerry said. "Here, we're still trying to get to know people. And when I preach, I try to break things down a little more here. The Natives speak their native tongue, but use English regularly. It's really pretty here. I've really enjoyed the scenery. The sunrises and sunsets are beautiful and the snow on the mountains is pretty."

"We're not the majority here, we're the minority," Venita adds as she explains the process of building relationships with the residents. "A lot of times, the natives want to know what the white people are doing here. But we tell them that we just want to help and I think they're beginning to trust us. It's been an adventure."

To learn more about the mentoring ministry in Kalskag, call Sawyer at the ECCAK office in Eagle River at 907-694-6348 or email him at iditarodney@gci.net. Information about the regional ministries may be found by visiting the ECCAK website at www.home.gci.net/~eccak.

Printable version of this page.