“Hello, my name is Travis Jordan and I’m calling from Antioch, Washington.”
“And are you calling for counseling?”
“No, I’m—”
“Well this is the counseling department. Did you dial the right extension?”
“It’s all right. I wanted the counseling department. I’d like to speak to one of the pastors or counselors.”
“Are you currently attending The Cathedral of Life?”
I stifled a witty comeback and answered her question. “No, I’m living in Antioch, Washington.”
“Are you attending a church there?”
“Uh . . . listen, I’d like to speak to a pastor.”
“Are you currently receiving counseling from a minister at your own church?”
“I am not calling for counseling. I need to speak to a pastor, somebody in charge, please.”
“Well, you’ve called counseling.”
“Then how about connecting me with Dale Harris’s office?”
“Thank you.”
Praise music came over the line as I waited. “Great and mighty is he, Great and mighty is he, Great and mighty, Great and mighty, Great and mighty is he . . .”
“Pastor Harris’s office.”
“Hello. This is Travis Jordan. I’m calling from Antioch, Washington and I’d like to speak to Pastor Harris.”
“Is he expecting your call?”
“No.”
“Pastor Harris is unavailable. I can connect you with someone on the pastoral staff.”
“Okay. Sure.”
“Great and mighty in the morning, Great and mighty at noon, Great and mighty in the evening, Great and mighty all the day through . . .”
“Norm Corrigan’s office.”
“Hello. This is Travis Jordan from Antioch, Washington. I’d like to speak to, uh—” The name escaped me. “The pastor.”
“Well, this is Norm Corrigan’s office. Did you wish to speak to him?”
“Is he someone in charge?”
“Oh, yes.”
“Then I’ll speak to him.”
“He’s out of the office right now. Would you like to leave a message on his voice mail?”
I don’t know why I fell into it. “All right.”
“Hello. This is Pastor Norm Corrigan. I’m away from my desk right now or on another line. You can leave me a voice mail mes- sage after the beep, or dial one-two-two-zero to speak to my assistant, Joanne Billings. God bless you and have a great day.”
I decided to try for Joanne Billings. “One-two-two-zero!” I muttered as I pounded out the numbers.
“Hello, you’ve reached Joanne Billings, Pastor Norm Corrigan’s assistant. I’m away from my desk right now or on another line. You can leave a voice mail message after the beep, or dial pound-star-nine-nine for an operator to assist you.”
“Pound . . . star . . . nine . . . nine . . . ”
“The Cathedral of Life. How may I direct your call?”
I sighed and actually groped with my hands as I tried to think of what to say next. “Can I talk to someone in charge, uh, preferably a pastor?”
“I can connect you with our counseling department.”
“No, no, I was just there. How about . . . is there a pastor I might talk to?”
“Great and mighty is he, Great and mighty is he . . . ”
“Hello. This is Pastor Norm Corrigan. I’m away from my desk right now or on another line. You can—”
I slammed the phone down and sat there quaking with an old, familiar anger. Things hadn’t changed much at The Cathedral of Life. If anything, they’d gotten worse.
I’d have to go down there.
But I didn’t want to. Didn’t want to set foot in the place ever again. The very idea dredged up painful memories for me, memories I’d rather just forget. . . .
19
MY FIRST CRACK at the ministry, and I’d blown it. After we were cast out of Northwest Pentecostal Mission on our ears, I spent at least a month wallowing in self-doubt, self-pity, and self-flagellation. I never heard a peep from anyone, but still I imagined the talk circulating through the denominational district: “Look out for Travis Jordan. He’s a hothead. He’s cantankerous, disrespectful, and big-mouthed.” I would have agreed.
Well, I asked myself, what can I learn from this? What’s the Lord trying to teach me?
I supposed the Lord was trying to teach me to be more coolheaded and cooperative, more respectful. I had some repenting and changing to do, most of which took place on my knees— scrubbing toilets. No more of this young ruler conquering the world for Christ stuff. Next time—if there was a next time—I’d be thinking more in terms of what it meant to be a servant, in submission to the authority God placed over me. After all, God loves a servant’s heart.
Fortunately, Marian stood with me. “Travis, you don’t think I knew what I was marrying? I don’t have any misgivings. A few bruises, sure, but I got them by standing with you.” I remember her resting her arms on my shoulders and looking at me with admiration—and maybe a little mischief—in her eyes. “When you stood up to Brother Rogenbeck—” She drew in a breath and let out a deep sigh. “A little more patience might have been a good thing for both of us,” she admitted, “but that didn’t mean Sister Marvin wasn’t an old busybody. As for Brother Rogenbeck, the only reason his head is wrinkled is because it’s low on air.”
Thankfully, our loss of the ministry position did not have a significant impact on our monthly income. Marian still had her job at the hydraulic valve and coupling company, and I still had my janitorial job at the mall. Even so, we were restless.
“We’ll try again,” she said. “We’ll trust God, and we’ll try again.”
“If God will have me,” I retorted.
“I’m not worried,” she said. “He knows you.”
It’s typical of the Lord to close one door only to open another. A month after Northwest Mission threw us out, Marian’s company offered her a higher paying position with the parent company in Los Angeles.
“Hey,” she said, “you could go to school down there and get your teaching degree.”
That seemed prudent. I’d always felt that, were I not a pastor, I would just as soon be a teacher, and I minored in education at West Bethel. With the credits I had earned so far, I was within easy reach of a teaching degree—a safety net should I get booted out of the ministry again, or be unable to re-enter the ministry at all.
We saved our money, applied for some grants, filled out some paperwork, and went through that open door in the spring of 1979. We found a small apartment, I enrolled at UCLA, and we settled in for a two-year stint.
That’s how we started attending The Cathedral of Life. According to the Christian grapevine, it was the place to be. Pastor Dale Harris was reputed to be an incredible teacher. Anybody who was anybody went there—actors, recording artists, Spirit-filled billionaires who flew Lear jets. I don’t know what I was thinking when I decided we should go there. I guess I expected I would learn something from such a godly man. Perhaps I would gain new wisdom and insight into the ministry. Maybe I’d get my spiritual cobwebs cleared out just by being shepherded, nurtured, and pastored by someone so highly respected. I was ready to submit to good leadership. I was ready to do it right. While getting my degree and widening my skills, I could submit to mature, godly leadership and deepen my spiritual walk.
Looking back, I think I did learn things I never would have known otherwise. It just didn’t happen the way we expected.
When we showed up at the Cathedral for our first Sunday, we discovered church as we’d never experienced church before. We were accustomed to arriving for church, greeting our friends, shaking hands and jawing with the pastor, casually finding our way inside, and sitting down. We had never worried about finding a place to park, never seen “FULL” signs on the first, second, and third parking areas, never been directed down side streets by parking attendants in fluorescent orange vests with walkie-talkies. We’d ne
ver been to a church where the congregation worshiped in shifts and you had to be early for your shift or wait for the next one. We’d never had the church door closed in our faces and locked by a polite usher who placed a sign in front of the door: “SERVICE FULL. NEXT SERVICE AT NOON. DOORS WILL OPEN 11:45.”
There were four Sunday morning services. We arrived entirely too late for the seven o’clock and eight-thirty services, but on time for the ten o’clock, which was still too late. Enough people had already gathered on the front steps and down the sidewalks to fill the sanctuary before we could get through the front doors. We ended up standing on the front steps of the church under the midmorning sun with a few hundred other people we didn’t know, not yet aware that none of these people knew anyone else either. Little introductory conversations started up throughout the crowd. Marian and I met the people immediately around us. “Hi, I’m Travis, this is Marian.” They were Bob and Joan, Mike and Carol, James, Ronny, and Andre. Marian told them how she worked for a company that manufactured hydraulic connectors and valves. I told them I was going to UCLA, working on my teaching degree. They told us how they sold real estate, custom-painted expensive cars, managed a Taco Bell, went to school. After that morning, we saw one or two of them from a distance, but never met or talked with them again.
At 11:45, the rear doors opened. The third shift flooded out onto the streets, sidewalks, and parking lots, combining their numbers with the fourth shift still arriving and throwing the main avenue and surrounding neighborhood into gridlock.
As for those of us already waiting at the front door, we poured like floodwater into the sanctuary, moving down the aisles and filling the pews to the music of piano, organ, worship leader, and three-voice worship team. Folks all around us knew the drill; they were taking up the song even as they moved along the pews to sit down: “Making melody in your heart, unto the King of kings . . .” They were raising their hands, getting into the worship. The place was already cooking.
Marian and I joined in. She wasn’t a tongues-speaker, but she was a God-lover and a hand-raiser. We knew the songs and we were enjoying it.
The good things we’d heard about this church were true. The worship was robust, joyous, and heartfelt. Emotion was natural and flowing, without excess. The song leader at the pulpit was a handsome, articulate man who sang with gusto and displayed his joy with dignity. The worship team standing to one side, two women and a man, were polished and well dressed, each with a color-coded microphone. The pianist and organist were polished and coordinated—they even had an intercom between them.
This church seemed to cater to the educated. Anyone who spoke from the platform spoke well, using words like “problematic,” “specificity,” “pedagogical,” “well-orbed” and even college-brewed hybrids like “distantiate.” You never heard a double negative, and I never caught anyone using “where” and “at” in the same sentence. There had to be teachers in the congregation. Cool.
Pastor Dale Harris lived up to our expectations and then some. A man of medium height and broad build, he was animated, personable, and articulate, and he loved to work the audience. “The psalmist says that praise is comely for the upright, which you can take to mean that praise and worship lift the countenance. When you praise more, you look better. Turn to somebody and say, ‘You look like you’ve been praising the Lord.’ Go ahead.”
Marian and I turned to the people on either side of us and said at the same time they did, “You look like you’ve been praising the Lord,” and then we all had a pleasant, social laugh about it.
Pastor Harris taught out of Ephesians that morning and we hung on his every word. It was great stuff, insightful and eloquently presented. When he was finished he gave an altar call, and even that had a nice touch of no-nonsense sophistication: “We offer you two questions. The first is, Do you know Jesus? The second question is simple and direct: Would you like to? If you’d like to know Jesus, after the closing prayer just slip through this door to my left and our pastoral staff will meet with you, pray with you, and show you how to find him. We’re not set up here to argue or debate. You know the answers to the questions I’ve offered. You know what to do.”
We sang the closing song and I saw six or seven people go to that door. Souls finding Jesus! What a feeling!
At the close of the service I decided I’d like to go to the front and greet Pastor Harris, just let him know who we were, where we were from, and how happy we were to be in the service. We stepped into the aisle and had to swim against the current—everyone else was heading the opposite direction. I looked around all the heads, returning smiles as I tried to see up front. I couldn’t see him anywhere.
“I think he’s gone,” said Marian, holding my hand so we wouldn’t get separated.
I kept going anyway. I’d never been to a church like this and I didn’t know any better.
We broke into the clear near the front of the sanctuary and found one man standing near a door to the right of the platform. He was either an associate pastor or an usher. He had that man-in-charge look about him. “Good morning,” he said.
“Good afternoon,” I said, aware of the time. I shook his hand and introduced us.
“Miles Newberry,” he said. “Associate pastor.”
“We just moved down from Seattle. I’m going to UCLA, working on my teaching degree, and Marian’s working for . . .” I went on. I thought it would be okay to be conversational.
An usher came up. “Miles, did you check with Ron about the alternate scheduling? I don’t think we’re reading off the same page.”
Miles said to me, “It’s good to have you with us this morning. Have you filled out a visitor card?”
“Oh.” We had. I dug it out of my jacket pocket. “Yeah, here you go.”
But Miles was talking to the usher. “The page is right. Ron is wrong and I told him that.” He saw the visitor card in my hand. “No, don’t give it to me. It’s supposed to go in the offering plate. Were you here for the offering?”
Suddenly I felt a little stupid. “Uh, yeah, sure. We just didn’t have it filled out in time.”
He shook my hand again. “Well, next time just drop it in the offering plate. It’s nice to have you here.” Then he turned to the usher. “Henry and Al have it squared away. Let them handle it.”
Marian tugged at my hand.
I thought I was still having a conversation with Miles Newberry. “I’d like to say hello to Pastor Harris.”
Miles Newberry smiled. “I’ll tell him you said hello.” He went back to the usher. “We’re implementing it this Sunday but locking it in next Sunday. That’s the mix-up.”
Marian got the hint long before I did and tugged at my hand again. I finally followed.
“Elvis has left the building,” she said.
I looked again toward the empty platform and toward every door where people hurried to join the gridlock. No Pastor Harris. As a matter of fact, no pastor at all. This wasn’t the chatty, leisurely after-service leaving we were used to—this was an evacuation.
“Please keep moving toward the doors,” said another usher, his hands extended to press upon our backs if need be. “We need to clear the building.”
Well, I thought, this is how they do things in L.A. I have a lot to learn.
Because we were the last shift, we could go out any door we wanted. Marian and I chose the front door again, and walked several blocks back to our car.
“Pretty neat service,” I commented.
“They move you through there quick, don’t they?” she replied.
“Yeah.” At the moment I wasn’t sure whether that was good or bad.
“He snubbed us.”
“Huh? Who?”
“That Miles Blueberry or whatever his name was.”
“Well, I don’t think he meant it. He was busy.”
“The usher was more important than we were, didn’t you notice?”
“Well . . .” I did notice, but I didn’t want to fuel any negative feeling
s by saying so. “It’s a big church; they have to keep things running smoothly.”
“Then the church is more important than us.”
I wanted to try the church for a while. This was Southern California, I told her. People down here are used to standing in line two hours for a three-minute ride at Disneyland. They did hours of business by cell phone just waiting for a chance to pull onto Ventura Boulevard. Everywhere they went was far and through traffic, so they described distances not in miles but in minutes. There was more to do than time to do it. Churches could get so big that the pastor couldn’t possibly stick around to greet everyone. We could learn to live with that. We could get used to it. It was a different world down here.
I gradually talked her over to my side. That was in the days when I prided myself on my logical, empirical way of viewing things and figured she responded too much from emotion.
Actually, she had already seen the end from the beginning.
We made The Cathedral of Life our church home, and just as I was raised, we never missed a service. We were there Sunday morning for whatever service could fit us in; we turned out Sunday evenings and always got in, even if we had to watch the service on closed-circuit television in an overflow room; we were there every Wednesday night without fail. We planned our day in order to make it to the Young Marrieds Sunday school class, one couple among fifty other couples. When there was a business meeting, we were there, on time, thoroughly studied, and ready to vote.
This was a deeply religious matter for me. It was time for me to humble myself and submit to God-appointed authority. If the man of God was sharing the Word, it was our duty to be there.
So we were always there, humble and submitted. For ten straight months we waited on the front steps for the ushers to unlock the doors, entered praising the Lord, and got out fast so the ushers could lock them again. In every service, we stood when told to stand, sat when told to sit, raised our hands, clapped our hands, said Amen, and turned to greet those around us the moment we were told to do so. Every Sunday the pastor told us to turn to someone and say to them whatever catchy phrase he wanted us to say, and we always turned and said it, laughing a social laugh at the cuteness of it. If Pastor Harris warned us against being prideful and self-willed, we repented and prayed that the Lord would help us be more childlike and submissive. When he said he saw an ugly spirit of pride attaching itself to members of the body to make them rebellious, we believed him. When he spoke about laughter being good for the soul, we all broke out laughing.
The Visitation Page 31