On this 10th Sunday after Pentecost, July 28th, 2024, we celebrate Steve and Nancy Cothran, honoring their 35 years of ministry, including 6.5 years with us. We are joined by special guests Dr. Russ Dean and Rev. Kyle Matthews, college roommates of Steve, who lead us in worship.
Music in the service is by Kyle Matthews. In addition to being Steve's college roommate, he is a song writer and the Minister of Pastoral Care at First Baptist Church Greenville, SC.
Russ Dean, co-pastor of Park Road Baptist Church in Charlotte, NC, shares a heartfelt message, reflecting on his long friendship with Steve and their shared experiences, including a memorable bet about marriage and a legal document that turned into a lifelong tradition. He also recounts his pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago, emphasizing that the journey itself is the destination, a metaphor for faith and life.
Russ highlights Steve and Nancy's dedication to youth ministry, describing their 35 years of service as a continuous journey of walking with God and guiding young people. Testimonials from former youth members praised Steve's unwavering presence and support, illustrating the profound impact he has had on their lives.
In closing, Russ reminds us that ministry and faith are ongoing journeys, encouraging Steve and Nancy to continue their walk with God. He concluds with a simple yet powerful message: "Keep walking."
We hope this time of worship leaves you encouraged and emboldened to be faithful representatives of our church and our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's keep walking together.
Chapters
(00:00) Welcome and Introduction
(02:07) Call to Worship
(03:09) We Have a Shepherd
(07:25) Walkin’ and a Walkin’ and a Walk-in’ and a Walk-in’
(27:13) Final Reflections
(27:38) A Blessing Like a Tree
Bios
Dr. Russ Dean is co-pastor at Park Road Baptist Church in Charlotte, NC, where he serves alongside his wife, Amy Jacks Dean. Russ earned his doctorate from Beeson Divinity School and served churches in Alabama and South Carolina before moving to Park Road Baptist in the summer of 2000. Russ is also a published author. His most recent book is “The Power of the God Who Can’t.”
Rev. Kyle Matthews serves as Minister of Pastoral Care at the First Baptist Church of Greenville, SC, and is an accomplished singer/songwriter. His music has featured on multi-platinum selling albums and has earned numerous music awards including the Dove Award for Traditional Gospel Song of the Year and ASCAP’s 2002 Christian Song of the Year. Central was honored to host Kyle as our guest composer for Composer Weekend in 2018.
Central is proud to be a place
- where all generations worship, grow, and serve together.
- where women and men have equal opportunities for leadership.
- where traditional worship is engaged with excellence.
- and where diverse approaches to Christian faith and theology all find themselves at home under the lordship of Christ.
Want to learn more about Central? Visit our website at centralbaptistnewnan.org or give us a call at 770-683-0610.
[00:00:01]
Matt Sapp:
I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. Good morning and welcome to worship at Central Baptist Church on this last last Sunday in July. And I refuse to call it the last Sunday of summer because there are nearly 2 whole months of summer left. But it is, believe it or not, the last Sunday before school starts. We are at right at the beginning of back to school week today. And this morning, this Sunday is also what we have affectionately been calling over Steve's vociferous objections. Where is Steve? He's not there there he is. Steve Cothran Sunday.
As we worship this morning, we are also celebrating Steve and Nancy Cothran and their 35 years of ministry, including 6 and a half years of ministry here with us. As we do that, we have some special guests to welcome to worship. Russ Dean and Kyle Matthews are both college roommates of Steve's. They will lead us in worship this morning. Russ is the co pastor of Park Road Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he co pastors alongside his wife, Amy Jack Steen. Kyle is the minister of pastoral care at First Baptist Greenville, and he has led in worship at Central before, serving as our guest composer on composer weekend in 2018.
This is not Russ's first time at Central, although it is his first time to join us for worship. Russ and his wife brought a youth group from their church down here as a missions project to help rebuild our community in the aftermath of the tornado. While they were here, they got to stay at Central. We got to feed them some meals, help them out with a few activities. Russ, welcome back to Central. You'll find a bit more information about both of them printed in your worship guides. There are some other lifelong friends of Steve's here, friends who have known him since college at least. We also have at least one representative from Bayshore Baptist Church in Florida, the very first place that Steve and Nancy served together in youth ministry. Jody Long and Megan Dowd are here from the c Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Georgia. Welcome all of you, and thank you for making the effort to be here on this special morning for all of us.
We gather for worship every week at central because we believe that the shared shared experience of God in worship has the power to transform us. So my prayer for you and my prayer for me this morning is as it is every week, that God might use these next few minutes to change our lives. As we continue in worship together, I invite you to join me as we turn our hearts together toward God in prayer. Heavenly father, we worship this morning seeking the wisdom that comes from you. Wisdom that is pure and peace loving and considerate and full of mercy and sincere. In other words, we come to worship this morning seeking to be more like you.
By your presence in this room, by your presence in our worship, by your presence in our lives, may it be so in each of us today. We offer our prayers in Jesus' name. Amen.
[00:03:27] Kyle Matthews:
We are willful and stubborn, and we're sure we know best. Though we need one another, some rush on up ahead. And by nightfall, we find some were lost, some were left, and we cannot save them all. But we
[00:04:24] Kyle Matthews:
We
[00:04:31] Kyle Matthews:
are blind to the tainter and so quick to believe when the wolves in sheep's clothing come to prey on the weak, and they have us surrounded before we can flee, and we cannot save ourselves,
[00:04:57] Kyle Matthews:
but
[00:05:54] Kyle Matthews:
Still my heart's prone to wander from the path I have known, to the wild bear in desert, unprotected alone, till I'm starving for meaning. My hope has run dry, and I cannot find my way. But
[00:07:26] Russ Dean:
I bring you greetings this morning from my wife, Amy, and from the Park Road Baptist Church in Charlotte. It is an honor to be back with you again. As Matt said, we were here several years ago for a mission trip. You hosted us. Your hospitality was generous and wonderful. We've heard about your love as a community of faith from our friends, Steve and Nancy. We have I have experienced it in being here today. So thank you for the invitation, to be here on such a special day. I'm always glad to be here and always glad when I have a chance to be together with, some of my oldest friends. 6 of my 7 college roommates have been here this weekend.
We've been together, 41 years ago. We met at Furman mostly because of the friendship of Steve, Catherine, and Kyle Matthews. For 3 years, we took turns rooming together. And in 1985, in the winter, we were on a foreign study, studying in Israel and Italy. Steve said, I can see the place in the road between Israel and Jordan as we were driving there. Steve said, I heard about a bunch of guys like us who were friends in college, and they made a bet that the first one that got married would have to pay all the rest of them a bunch of money. I think that's a really good idea. Like, he wasn't a sucker enough. He got married early. He had to, you know, pay everybody else off. And so, John I thought John was on the verge of being engaged, and so I signed up for my $50 right there. Well, as it turns out, a year later, Amy and I were the first ones to get engaged. And as soon as I announced our engagement to my friends, they started talking about their $50.
They wouldn't let it go. They were gonna get their $50 when we got married. Well, that was $300 in 1985, and I'd probably never seen $300 at one time at one place. And I didn't know what I was gonna do. And then I had an idea. We had a good friend named Shaffer Kendrick who was an attorney in town. He was a member of First Baptist Church. We all had gotten to know Shaffer. So I went to his office in downtown Greenville, and I said, Shaffer, I've got a problem, but you can help me. He excitedly called his secretary into his office, and, he sat down and and she wrote out the most legalese document you have ever ever heard. Whereas and whereas and whereas and whereas. And the bottom line is my friends get their $50 paid $1 a year on the date of the anniversary of our wedding.
And so every year, promptly on August 16th, I write a letter, and I send $6 in the mail to my 6 friends, and we have stayed together all these years. And it's wonderful every prompt. It's not it's not prompt. It always gets there. Yeah. According to Roman Catholic tradition and legend, the disciple James the Great, the brother of John, those sons of Zebedee. James traveled to the Iberian Peninsula in keeping with Jesus' command to take the gospel to the end of the Earth. Though details of that legend vary, central to the narrative is that he returned to Israel and was beheaded by Herod Agrippa, whereupon the body of James the Great was returned to Spain.
8 centuries later, a hermit named Palaios, guided by a bright star one night, discovered a body in a field. The Spanish word for field is campo. The Spanish word for star is stella. Campostella. A shrine was erected in Campostella that 9th century, and pilgrims began traveling to pay homage to the relics of the great Saint Iago Santiago, Saint James. Pilgrimage grew in popularity in the middle ages, leading king Alfonso the the 6th to order the construction of a new cathedral. The current large Romanesque cathedral, which was cons, consecrated in the year 12/11.
More and more pilgrims seeking the blessing of the church began walking to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. And then in 2010, Martin Sheen starred in a film called The Way, which may have put El Camino de Santiago, The Way of Saint James, on the map for secular tourist as well. Today, the Peregrino office in Santiago issues more than 3,000 certificates of official pilgrimage, the Compostela, every single day. There are 10 well marked routes across Spain, all converging on the cathedral. Pilgrims come from all over the world. In 2009, Amy and I Amy and I had the opportunity 70 miles of the Camino with our then young sons.
We loved the opportunity. And so 2 years ago, we took a group of 16 from Park Road Baptist Church to Spain, and we walked those same 70 miles. And then Amy and I continued on another 5 days, another 75 miles to the coast of Spain, a little town called Finasterre, which literally means the end of the earth. Now, the best known of the Spanish routes actually begins in Saint Jean Pierre de Porte, France. It climbs 47 100 feet over the Pyrenees mountains. It descends into Pamplona and crosses the length of northern Spain through Lagrono and Burgos and Leon, and a 100 quaint Spanish farming villages.
Years ago, we set our sights on this French path. And with sabbatical time allotted this summer, Amy and I headed to Spain for a third time. We began walking on Sunday morning, May 26th. And on July 5th, with the Atlantic Ocean at our backs, we posed for a picture at the 0.00 kilometer marking at the end of the earth. We had walked 40 biblically inspired days, awaking every morning with 14 miles ahead of us. Trails, paths, roads to walk, mountains and valleys, pastures and plateaus, rural roads, and a few urban cityscapes to traverse, we covered 555 miles on foot.
It's a walkin' and a walkin' and a walkin' and a walkin'. You need not be a religious pilgrim, to find all those miles, all that walking to be a deeply spiritual experience. We have new friends and acquaintances now from 28 countries and 22 US states, and every one of them will witness to the power of this experience. As magnificent as that cathedral is, when you walk the Camino, it doesn't take long to realize that the Cathedral of Saint James is really not the destination after all. It's not the goal. As mystical as it feels to arrive in Plaza Obrador, to stand in the shadow of those looming twin spires. The statue of that great saint staring down in approval at you, the miles underfoot, the exhaustion and elation, the sore feet and tired backs, and the hours and hours of looking at the long road ahead and just putting one foot in front of the other, the Camino teaches you that the journey is a destination of its own.
And that when you reach Santiago, the real journey just goes on and on and on. For those of us who are religious, I can imagine no better way to begin understanding the consistent biblical metaphor of faith as pilgrimage. Life as a journey through the world where strangers become friends along the way, discoveries of the self and the world are at at every turn. Life as walkin' and a walkin' and a walkin' and a walkin' with God. It saturates the biblical story, this metaphor. In the Hebrew text, God calls Abram and Sarai, go to a land that I will show you.
There is no destination. It's just the call to a journey of a lifetime. Israel discovers god in the wilderness and learns much about itself wandering for 40 years. Talk about walking and a walking and a walking and a walking. God says to Israel, this is the way. Walk in it. And the Christian testament continues this imagery. Jesus calls his disciples not to doctrinal conformity, but to discipline and to movement. If you wanna be my followers, Jesus said, if you wanna be my disciples, Jesus said, follow me. We are encouraged in the new testament to walk in the light, to walk by faith, to walk in love, to walk in Christ.
The spiritual life, Christian faith is in and a walk in and a walk in and a walk in. And I do not know any better way to characterize 35 years of youth ministry since the summer of 1990. Steve Cothran has been a walkin', and a walkin', and a walkin', and a walkin', and laughing and a running and a skipping and a jumping, if I can borrow a phrase from Van Morrison, just to keep up with all those young people and as a companion on their journeys of faith. And for all of those years and across all those miles, Nancy has been there with him and with them. So this celebration should be as much about her, as much about the 2 of them together as it is about Steve alone.
Not many of us who start in youth ministry have the vision and the vitality, the consistency and the courage, the discipline and the dedication to put one foot in front of the other for that long. But Steve and Nancy have. John Claypool, the late Baptist icon turned Episcopalian priest, once defined ministry as staying close to God and staying close to people and helping people stay close to God. So it's reading and studying and praying, it's listening and it's talking, and in youth ministry it's planning and recruiting and training leaders and researching new games and looking for effective bible studies and cheering at ball games, and attending piano and ballet recitals, and it's setting up a lot of tables and moving a lot of chairs.
And it's mostly just walking and walking and walking and walking with them. I have never seen anybody do it any better than Steve and Nancy with integrity and charisma. One of Steve's youth from Greensboro says it this way, at the time, it was fun, and I knew Steve was special. But it became even more clear during college when I came back home, he was there, all caps, he was there, to welcome me with a warm embrace and a genuine listening ear. After college, in the wee hours of the morning before a major surgery, he was there to pray over me as I lay in the hospital bed.
And on my wedding day, he was there to officiate and bless my marriage with encouragement, truth, and laughter. And the day I brought my first baby home, he was there to celebrate the beginning of our adventure as mom and dad, he was there. One of the best eulogies I have ever heard was delivered by a grandson. That young man's father was an embarrassment to his family, a falling down drunk who could not pull his life together. And into the the void, that void of parental leadership, the grandfather showed up. For school functions, he showed up.
When I needed a ride, he showed up. At my ball games, he showed up. When I needed him, he showed up. It ought to be a simple thing to do. It is not. Just showing up, being there, just making the time, just putting one foot in front of each other day after day over all those hills, around all those turns, across all the miles. But most people cannot do it. But for 35 years, Steve and Nancy have been there. They showed up. Four churches, 35 years, 100 of youth, and 100 more stretching across the university universe. In all, a few 1,000 young people have been personally touched by Steve Cothran's stupidity and his sincerity, his zaniness and his zeal, all the foolishness and all his faithfulness.
Whether 1 week, a year, or 247, 365, Steve leaves a legacy of young people, many now adults, scattered across the country and making their way through this difficult world as better people with better understandings of themselves and their world and their god because he was there. This morning, a few more voices offer their testimony. 1 youth says, our time was like a sketch from in living color. Bold, beautiful, and unforgettable, you brought laughter, joy, and wisdom to our lives. Another says, I was a little bit nervous to be in the youth group since I didn't know anyone, but Steve created space where everyone was friends. There was nothing to be afraid of. Another says, Steve perfectly embodies one of the smaller themes of university, which is there is room at the table, so welcome everyone.
He is encouraging and he is just Steve. There's almost no other way to put it. One final voice said, have you ever been told you never belonged somewhere and then someone sat beside you and insisted that you did? That was Steve's ministry. That is Steve's ministry. Steve always looks for the outcast, the downtrodden, the alone. He brings them back into the flock, making them feel more loved and welcomed than ever. Not only has he restored my faith in Jesus, but he has restored my faith in Christians. Can you hear it? Those voices representing 1,000 more speaking out in this moment.
Lives changed by bold, beautiful laughter, joy, and wisdom. Lives changed by one who has been willing just to show up by 30 5 years of walking and walking and walking and walking. Like all pilgrimages, there is no end to ministry. You never get to the end of any single day and you think, wow. I got it all done today. No. There is always more. There is no destination, just the ongoing journey. And so this morning, even as we gather to celebrate an ending to Steve's official ministry with youth, to the Catherines' departure from you, because we know who they are, and because we have heard the testimonies of their young people, we know this ministry will continue. If anyone needs them, they will show up.
The same can be said, I think, of Christian faith as a whole. It would be easy to think of Christianity as a journey with heaven as the destination, the whole point of it all. And while we can rightly think of heaven as a destination, such thinking easily makes Christianity into a kind of escapist vision. If it's all about then and there, not here and now. If the only thing that is important is some next life and not this one. It would be too easy for Christians to become complacent about the work of faith and the life, the abundant living to which Jesus calls us. The apostle Paul gives us a strong but subtle reminder of this truth.
The 15th chapter of 1st Corinthians is an extended thesis on resurrection, this life and the next, earthly bodies and heavenly bodies, death and immortality. He says, without resurrection, Christian faith is in vain. Yet at the end of this very long, very heady, and lengthy vision of what a next life might look like, Paul brings us back, back to this life, back to what has to be the point of faith, not just hope for an escape from it all, but hope to be immersed in it all right here, living and working in the messy middle of it all. Instead of some ending some glorious vision of heaven, Paul ends this treatise with an encouragement to a very earthy occupation.
He says, with all this said about resurrection, therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the lord right here. Because you know that in the lord, your labor is not in vain. Always excelling. There is no end. So Steve and Nancy, well done. Well done, good and faithful faithful servants. You have been faithful in a few things and it is not over. It never ends. So as you go from this place, know that God is calling you to even greater things. Therefore, our beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord because you know that in the Lord, your labor is not in vain.
We had been walking all day. It was hot. The road was dusty. My 25 pound backpack was weighing on me, and my feet were tired. And then we came over a hill and there it was, our town for that evening on the horizon. We could see it, the destination. But what we had learned what we learned in those long days was that just because you could see it did not mean you were there. Oh, the last mile was always the longest no matter how far you had walked to that point. So as we walked into Azophora, Spain that day knowing we were just gonna have to get up and do it all over again the next day, that simple little melody came to me.
Are we there yet? Keep walking. It's a walkin' and a walkin' and a walkin' and a walkin' and a walking and a walking and a walking and a walking. Steve and Nancy, thank you for all the miles. You're not there yet. Keep walking. Amen. May it be so. Amen.
[00:27:14] Matt Sapp:
I wanna encourage all of us, and I hope that all of us leave this hour of worship as I hope we do every week, encouraged and emboldened to be faithful representatives both of our church and of our Lord Jesus Christ as we keep walking and walking and walking and walking. I invite you to be seated now. We'll be dismissed with words from Kyle Matthews as our benediction. Kyle, lead us, please.
[00:27:52] Kyle Matthews:
Deep roots, wide branches, fresh fruit in the leaves. With strength so subtle, it could bend in the breeze, cool shade. And in winter, some kindling free, Oh, assign peace so travelers can find their way home. A shelter so strangers never feel all alone for children. A hideout, a lookout, a swing. Make me a blessing. Make world that it needs, then die and discover how from death new life for me. Deep roots, wide branches, fresh rooted beliefs Amen.
I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. Good morning and welcome to worship at Central Baptist Church on this last last Sunday in July. And I refuse to call it the last Sunday of summer because there are nearly 2 whole months of summer left. But it is, believe it or not, the last Sunday before school starts. We are at right at the beginning of back to school week today. And this morning, this Sunday is also what we have affectionately been calling over Steve's vociferous objections. Where is Steve? He's not there there he is. Steve Cothran Sunday.
As we worship this morning, we are also celebrating Steve and Nancy Cothran and their 35 years of ministry, including 6 and a half years of ministry here with us. As we do that, we have some special guests to welcome to worship. Russ Dean and Kyle Matthews are both college roommates of Steve's. They will lead us in worship this morning. Russ is the co pastor of Park Road Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he co pastors alongside his wife, Amy Jack Steen. Kyle is the minister of pastoral care at First Baptist Greenville, and he has led in worship at Central before, serving as our guest composer on composer weekend in 2018.
This is not Russ's first time at Central, although it is his first time to join us for worship. Russ and his wife brought a youth group from their church down here as a missions project to help rebuild our community in the aftermath of the tornado. While they were here, they got to stay at Central. We got to feed them some meals, help them out with a few activities. Russ, welcome back to Central. You'll find a bit more information about both of them printed in your worship guides. There are some other lifelong friends of Steve's here, friends who have known him since college at least. We also have at least one representative from Bayshore Baptist Church in Florida, the very first place that Steve and Nancy served together in youth ministry. Jody Long and Megan Dowd are here from the c Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Georgia. Welcome all of you, and thank you for making the effort to be here on this special morning for all of us.
We gather for worship every week at central because we believe that the shared shared experience of God in worship has the power to transform us. So my prayer for you and my prayer for me this morning is as it is every week, that God might use these next few minutes to change our lives. As we continue in worship together, I invite you to join me as we turn our hearts together toward God in prayer. Heavenly father, we worship this morning seeking the wisdom that comes from you. Wisdom that is pure and peace loving and considerate and full of mercy and sincere. In other words, we come to worship this morning seeking to be more like you.
By your presence in this room, by your presence in our worship, by your presence in our lives, may it be so in each of us today. We offer our prayers in Jesus' name. Amen.
[00:03:27] Kyle Matthews:
We are willful and stubborn, and we're sure we know best. Though we need one another, some rush on up ahead. And by nightfall, we find some were lost, some were left, and we cannot save them all. But we
[00:04:24] Kyle Matthews:
We
[00:04:31] Kyle Matthews:
are blind to the tainter and so quick to believe when the wolves in sheep's clothing come to prey on the weak, and they have us surrounded before we can flee, and we cannot save ourselves,
[00:04:57] Kyle Matthews:
but
[00:05:54] Kyle Matthews:
Still my heart's prone to wander from the path I have known, to the wild bear in desert, unprotected alone, till I'm starving for meaning. My hope has run dry, and I cannot find my way. But
[00:07:26] Russ Dean:
I bring you greetings this morning from my wife, Amy, and from the Park Road Baptist Church in Charlotte. It is an honor to be back with you again. As Matt said, we were here several years ago for a mission trip. You hosted us. Your hospitality was generous and wonderful. We've heard about your love as a community of faith from our friends, Steve and Nancy. We have I have experienced it in being here today. So thank you for the invitation, to be here on such a special day. I'm always glad to be here and always glad when I have a chance to be together with, some of my oldest friends. 6 of my 7 college roommates have been here this weekend.
We've been together, 41 years ago. We met at Furman mostly because of the friendship of Steve, Catherine, and Kyle Matthews. For 3 years, we took turns rooming together. And in 1985, in the winter, we were on a foreign study, studying in Israel and Italy. Steve said, I can see the place in the road between Israel and Jordan as we were driving there. Steve said, I heard about a bunch of guys like us who were friends in college, and they made a bet that the first one that got married would have to pay all the rest of them a bunch of money. I think that's a really good idea. Like, he wasn't a sucker enough. He got married early. He had to, you know, pay everybody else off. And so, John I thought John was on the verge of being engaged, and so I signed up for my $50 right there. Well, as it turns out, a year later, Amy and I were the first ones to get engaged. And as soon as I announced our engagement to my friends, they started talking about their $50.
They wouldn't let it go. They were gonna get their $50 when we got married. Well, that was $300 in 1985, and I'd probably never seen $300 at one time at one place. And I didn't know what I was gonna do. And then I had an idea. We had a good friend named Shaffer Kendrick who was an attorney in town. He was a member of First Baptist Church. We all had gotten to know Shaffer. So I went to his office in downtown Greenville, and I said, Shaffer, I've got a problem, but you can help me. He excitedly called his secretary into his office, and, he sat down and and she wrote out the most legalese document you have ever ever heard. Whereas and whereas and whereas and whereas. And the bottom line is my friends get their $50 paid $1 a year on the date of the anniversary of our wedding.
And so every year, promptly on August 16th, I write a letter, and I send $6 in the mail to my 6 friends, and we have stayed together all these years. And it's wonderful every prompt. It's not it's not prompt. It always gets there. Yeah. According to Roman Catholic tradition and legend, the disciple James the Great, the brother of John, those sons of Zebedee. James traveled to the Iberian Peninsula in keeping with Jesus' command to take the gospel to the end of the Earth. Though details of that legend vary, central to the narrative is that he returned to Israel and was beheaded by Herod Agrippa, whereupon the body of James the Great was returned to Spain.
8 centuries later, a hermit named Palaios, guided by a bright star one night, discovered a body in a field. The Spanish word for field is campo. The Spanish word for star is stella. Campostella. A shrine was erected in Campostella that 9th century, and pilgrims began traveling to pay homage to the relics of the great Saint Iago Santiago, Saint James. Pilgrimage grew in popularity in the middle ages, leading king Alfonso the the 6th to order the construction of a new cathedral. The current large Romanesque cathedral, which was cons, consecrated in the year 12/11.
More and more pilgrims seeking the blessing of the church began walking to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. And then in 2010, Martin Sheen starred in a film called The Way, which may have put El Camino de Santiago, The Way of Saint James, on the map for secular tourist as well. Today, the Peregrino office in Santiago issues more than 3,000 certificates of official pilgrimage, the Compostela, every single day. There are 10 well marked routes across Spain, all converging on the cathedral. Pilgrims come from all over the world. In 2009, Amy and I Amy and I had the opportunity 70 miles of the Camino with our then young sons.
We loved the opportunity. And so 2 years ago, we took a group of 16 from Park Road Baptist Church to Spain, and we walked those same 70 miles. And then Amy and I continued on another 5 days, another 75 miles to the coast of Spain, a little town called Finasterre, which literally means the end of the earth. Now, the best known of the Spanish routes actually begins in Saint Jean Pierre de Porte, France. It climbs 47 100 feet over the Pyrenees mountains. It descends into Pamplona and crosses the length of northern Spain through Lagrono and Burgos and Leon, and a 100 quaint Spanish farming villages.
Years ago, we set our sights on this French path. And with sabbatical time allotted this summer, Amy and I headed to Spain for a third time. We began walking on Sunday morning, May 26th. And on July 5th, with the Atlantic Ocean at our backs, we posed for a picture at the 0.00 kilometer marking at the end of the earth. We had walked 40 biblically inspired days, awaking every morning with 14 miles ahead of us. Trails, paths, roads to walk, mountains and valleys, pastures and plateaus, rural roads, and a few urban cityscapes to traverse, we covered 555 miles on foot.
It's a walkin' and a walkin' and a walkin' and a walkin'. You need not be a religious pilgrim, to find all those miles, all that walking to be a deeply spiritual experience. We have new friends and acquaintances now from 28 countries and 22 US states, and every one of them will witness to the power of this experience. As magnificent as that cathedral is, when you walk the Camino, it doesn't take long to realize that the Cathedral of Saint James is really not the destination after all. It's not the goal. As mystical as it feels to arrive in Plaza Obrador, to stand in the shadow of those looming twin spires. The statue of that great saint staring down in approval at you, the miles underfoot, the exhaustion and elation, the sore feet and tired backs, and the hours and hours of looking at the long road ahead and just putting one foot in front of the other, the Camino teaches you that the journey is a destination of its own.
And that when you reach Santiago, the real journey just goes on and on and on. For those of us who are religious, I can imagine no better way to begin understanding the consistent biblical metaphor of faith as pilgrimage. Life as a journey through the world where strangers become friends along the way, discoveries of the self and the world are at at every turn. Life as walkin' and a walkin' and a walkin' and a walkin' with God. It saturates the biblical story, this metaphor. In the Hebrew text, God calls Abram and Sarai, go to a land that I will show you.
There is no destination. It's just the call to a journey of a lifetime. Israel discovers god in the wilderness and learns much about itself wandering for 40 years. Talk about walking and a walking and a walking and a walking. God says to Israel, this is the way. Walk in it. And the Christian testament continues this imagery. Jesus calls his disciples not to doctrinal conformity, but to discipline and to movement. If you wanna be my followers, Jesus said, if you wanna be my disciples, Jesus said, follow me. We are encouraged in the new testament to walk in the light, to walk by faith, to walk in love, to walk in Christ.
The spiritual life, Christian faith is in and a walk in and a walk in and a walk in. And I do not know any better way to characterize 35 years of youth ministry since the summer of 1990. Steve Cothran has been a walkin', and a walkin', and a walkin', and a walkin', and laughing and a running and a skipping and a jumping, if I can borrow a phrase from Van Morrison, just to keep up with all those young people and as a companion on their journeys of faith. And for all of those years and across all those miles, Nancy has been there with him and with them. So this celebration should be as much about her, as much about the 2 of them together as it is about Steve alone.
Not many of us who start in youth ministry have the vision and the vitality, the consistency and the courage, the discipline and the dedication to put one foot in front of the other for that long. But Steve and Nancy have. John Claypool, the late Baptist icon turned Episcopalian priest, once defined ministry as staying close to God and staying close to people and helping people stay close to God. So it's reading and studying and praying, it's listening and it's talking, and in youth ministry it's planning and recruiting and training leaders and researching new games and looking for effective bible studies and cheering at ball games, and attending piano and ballet recitals, and it's setting up a lot of tables and moving a lot of chairs.
And it's mostly just walking and walking and walking and walking with them. I have never seen anybody do it any better than Steve and Nancy with integrity and charisma. One of Steve's youth from Greensboro says it this way, at the time, it was fun, and I knew Steve was special. But it became even more clear during college when I came back home, he was there, all caps, he was there, to welcome me with a warm embrace and a genuine listening ear. After college, in the wee hours of the morning before a major surgery, he was there to pray over me as I lay in the hospital bed.
And on my wedding day, he was there to officiate and bless my marriage with encouragement, truth, and laughter. And the day I brought my first baby home, he was there to celebrate the beginning of our adventure as mom and dad, he was there. One of the best eulogies I have ever heard was delivered by a grandson. That young man's father was an embarrassment to his family, a falling down drunk who could not pull his life together. And into the the void, that void of parental leadership, the grandfather showed up. For school functions, he showed up.
When I needed a ride, he showed up. At my ball games, he showed up. When I needed him, he showed up. It ought to be a simple thing to do. It is not. Just showing up, being there, just making the time, just putting one foot in front of each other day after day over all those hills, around all those turns, across all the miles. But most people cannot do it. But for 35 years, Steve and Nancy have been there. They showed up. Four churches, 35 years, 100 of youth, and 100 more stretching across the university universe. In all, a few 1,000 young people have been personally touched by Steve Cothran's stupidity and his sincerity, his zaniness and his zeal, all the foolishness and all his faithfulness.
Whether 1 week, a year, or 247, 365, Steve leaves a legacy of young people, many now adults, scattered across the country and making their way through this difficult world as better people with better understandings of themselves and their world and their god because he was there. This morning, a few more voices offer their testimony. 1 youth says, our time was like a sketch from in living color. Bold, beautiful, and unforgettable, you brought laughter, joy, and wisdom to our lives. Another says, I was a little bit nervous to be in the youth group since I didn't know anyone, but Steve created space where everyone was friends. There was nothing to be afraid of. Another says, Steve perfectly embodies one of the smaller themes of university, which is there is room at the table, so welcome everyone.
He is encouraging and he is just Steve. There's almost no other way to put it. One final voice said, have you ever been told you never belonged somewhere and then someone sat beside you and insisted that you did? That was Steve's ministry. That is Steve's ministry. Steve always looks for the outcast, the downtrodden, the alone. He brings them back into the flock, making them feel more loved and welcomed than ever. Not only has he restored my faith in Jesus, but he has restored my faith in Christians. Can you hear it? Those voices representing 1,000 more speaking out in this moment.
Lives changed by bold, beautiful laughter, joy, and wisdom. Lives changed by one who has been willing just to show up by 30 5 years of walking and walking and walking and walking. Like all pilgrimages, there is no end to ministry. You never get to the end of any single day and you think, wow. I got it all done today. No. There is always more. There is no destination, just the ongoing journey. And so this morning, even as we gather to celebrate an ending to Steve's official ministry with youth, to the Catherines' departure from you, because we know who they are, and because we have heard the testimonies of their young people, we know this ministry will continue. If anyone needs them, they will show up.
The same can be said, I think, of Christian faith as a whole. It would be easy to think of Christianity as a journey with heaven as the destination, the whole point of it all. And while we can rightly think of heaven as a destination, such thinking easily makes Christianity into a kind of escapist vision. If it's all about then and there, not here and now. If the only thing that is important is some next life and not this one. It would be too easy for Christians to become complacent about the work of faith and the life, the abundant living to which Jesus calls us. The apostle Paul gives us a strong but subtle reminder of this truth.
The 15th chapter of 1st Corinthians is an extended thesis on resurrection, this life and the next, earthly bodies and heavenly bodies, death and immortality. He says, without resurrection, Christian faith is in vain. Yet at the end of this very long, very heady, and lengthy vision of what a next life might look like, Paul brings us back, back to this life, back to what has to be the point of faith, not just hope for an escape from it all, but hope to be immersed in it all right here, living and working in the messy middle of it all. Instead of some ending some glorious vision of heaven, Paul ends this treatise with an encouragement to a very earthy occupation.
He says, with all this said about resurrection, therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the lord right here. Because you know that in the lord, your labor is not in vain. Always excelling. There is no end. So Steve and Nancy, well done. Well done, good and faithful faithful servants. You have been faithful in a few things and it is not over. It never ends. So as you go from this place, know that God is calling you to even greater things. Therefore, our beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord because you know that in the Lord, your labor is not in vain.
We had been walking all day. It was hot. The road was dusty. My 25 pound backpack was weighing on me, and my feet were tired. And then we came over a hill and there it was, our town for that evening on the horizon. We could see it, the destination. But what we had learned what we learned in those long days was that just because you could see it did not mean you were there. Oh, the last mile was always the longest no matter how far you had walked to that point. So as we walked into Azophora, Spain that day knowing we were just gonna have to get up and do it all over again the next day, that simple little melody came to me.
Are we there yet? Keep walking. It's a walkin' and a walkin' and a walkin' and a walkin' and a walking and a walking and a walking and a walking. Steve and Nancy, thank you for all the miles. You're not there yet. Keep walking. Amen. May it be so. Amen.
[00:27:14] Matt Sapp:
I wanna encourage all of us, and I hope that all of us leave this hour of worship as I hope we do every week, encouraged and emboldened to be faithful representatives both of our church and of our Lord Jesus Christ as we keep walking and walking and walking and walking. I invite you to be seated now. We'll be dismissed with words from Kyle Matthews as our benediction. Kyle, lead us, please.
[00:27:52] Kyle Matthews:
Deep roots, wide branches, fresh fruit in the leaves. With strength so subtle, it could bend in the breeze, cool shade. And in winter, some kindling free, Oh, assign peace so travelers can find their way home. A shelter so strangers never feel all alone for children. A hideout, a lookout, a swing. Make me a blessing. Make world that it needs, then die and discover how from death new life for me. Deep roots, wide branches, fresh rooted beliefs Amen.
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