Formed around the rock of Jesus – Sam McClain's ministry
Contributed by Katie Sherrod

Sam McClain's work at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Stephenville began with a dream and then, grounded in the bedrock of Christ, grew into a ministry of radical hospitality with a model of stewardship unlike any other in the diocese.

Bishop Robert Terwilliger ordained Sam a priest in Dallas in December 1978. After he and his wife Jane had been in Plano for about a year and half, he got calls from two St. Luke's – one in Kansas and one in Stephenville, Texas – inviting him to come for an interview. The first visit was to be with the Kansas St. Luke's.

Before they left, Sam had a vivid dream in which he was celebrating at an altar facing the congregation. He was wearing a white chasuble with a blue emblem embroidered with a chalice. [This was in the days when the Episcopal Church was just beginning to have celebrants face the congregation. Many churches, especially those in the more conservative areas of the church, had not moved their altars.]

Off they went to Kansas, where the parish proved to be the perfect fit for a family. However, the altar was of stone and very firmly affixed to the wall. And there was no white chasuble with a blue emblem embroidered with a chalice in the sacristy.

So off they went to Stephenville for the interview with the second St. Luke's. Arriving the day before, they were frankly unimpressed with the town and, after peeking in the windows of the rectory where the former rector had painted all the walls Army grey, not too terribly excited about that either. What's more, several of Sam's priest friends had told him not to go there, that it was a "priest-eating church." But Bishop Terwilliger told him there was no such thing, that all they needed was somebody to love them.

And indeed, the interview went well, although, as would prove typical, it consisted more of Sam teaching them about the Body of Christ than it did them asking Sam questions. And while the altar faced the wall, it was free standing and made of wood and could thus be moved.

Then Sam went into the sacristy and . . . cue the Twilight Zone music . . . there it was – a white chasuble with a blue emblem embroidered with a chalice.

He accepted the call. They moved on Dec. 15 and on Dec. 27 he left for the Holy Land to lead a tour. While he was gone, Stephenville had an ice storm. Jane gamely soldiered on in his absence and clearly forgave him for the "desertion." On August 20, they celebrated their 49th wedding anniversary.

Upon his return, among other things, Sam began a slow process of inching that altar away from the wall, using a style that would mark his 30-plus years in Stephenville.

"I'm a gradualist," he said.

By the time he started celebrating facing the congregation there were no complaints. This was also the time when the church was adopting the "new" [1979] Book of Common Prayer. Again, Sam avoided most of the upsets experienced in other parishes by printing a Sunday missal with the readings, the hymn, the Psalms – everything the worshippers needed so there was no moving from book to book.

"We became a singing congregation," he said. St. Luke's still doesn't have a choir – the congregation is the choir.

"I never saw that," he said, referring to the "priest-eating" description. "I saw a parish with a lot of potential and resources, people who thought for themselves."

Sam encouraged this trait. After every major event in the wider church, St. Luke's would have three sessions on the topic. No one could speak unless they were holding up a picture of St. Luke's, and each person had to end his or her remarks with "and . . ."

Not "but." Just "and." Then the next person would pick up the picture of St. Luke's and begin to speak.

St. Luke's also stopped having an every-member canvass and adopted a model of "abundance stewardship," the principles of which are:

• God has already given the Church (St. Luke's) all that is necessary to do His will and meet our needs.
• The Church (St. Luke's) is made up of every member, visitor and guest that shows up.
• Money will NOT be used as a club to get our way.

The scriptural model used is Luke 9:15-17, the story of the loaves and fishes. Sam's handout on the process explains, "We operate on the assumption that whatever resources are made available for God's work at St. Luke's are a result of personal and corporate prayer. When the Church – each individual – responds in some way to what he/she hears God say, then there will always be enough to do God's Will and meet our needs. AND, there will always be abundance. Stewardship has little to do with getting money, making budgets, sponsoring every member canvasses."

"Stewardship has to do with taking care of what we have been given to take care of," Sam wrote. "We add the last line to make a point of remembering that ‘we've been given' is not ours and we need not attempt to act as if it is. It's simple. Whatever God gives us to take care of, as a parish or as an individual, is something we take care of – whether it's our families, our homes, health, the environment, money, puppy dogs and gold fish, time, persons in need, etc."

Out of this model of abundance stewardship grew a set of practices that helped define the St. Luke's community:

• "There are only two funds – God's abundance and regular checking. The latter is the general operating fund into which deposits are made and out of which expenses are paid. God's abundance fund is a holding and investment fund. This is the opposite of how many view their funds – the general operating fund becomes God's fund, and the savings and investments become our funds, which can lead to a begrudging reluctance to dip into our funds to help bail out God's funds.
• "The role of treasurer is that of bookkeeper. Too often the treasurer's opinion as to what the church needed was sought first rather than God's.
• "By doing away with pledge cards, we followed the principle that each person would pray, hear and respond accordingly. We emphasize the Spirit of the Tithe or some sort of percentage giving rather than an amount.
• "Parish ministry was no longer budget driven. As the vestry prayed and listened, studied scripture and listened to parishioners voice concerns, we trusted that the resources would be available.
• "St. Luke's budget is simple. Whatever was given in tithes the previous year, we faithfully assume the same amount plus five percent will be given the next year. All monies given in special offerings and fund raisings would be considered the amount projected for the next year. With the exception of known expense increases (not guesses), each actual expense became next year's budgeted expense.
• "Outreach budgeted line item is always 20 percent of whatever the total income was the previous year. Our goal is always to go over budget in this line item.
• "The church year is the fiscal year. We operate from December through November instead of January through December."

Adopting this model didn't happen overnight. It took about eight years, Sam said. St. Luke's also was intentional about welcoming people. "Whoever showed up became part of us."

A group of about 80 people came up with the following statement that Sam then used to guide the parish programs.

"St. Luke's is a Parish that:

• – provides a place of worship, reflection, and peace,
• – is Episcopalian in its Worship and Study,
• – invites people and includes them in our family,
• – involves and serves youth,
• – helps people."

In his "spare" time, Sam developed a program of education for the diaconate. He and his colleague Linda Curtoys have presented conferences on prayer and discernment for twenty years in many dioceses, including San Diego, Arkansas, California, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, all the dioceses in Texas, the Province VIII DCOM Convocation and the Diocese of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. Sam will be presenting the Day of Discovery at Trinity Episcopal Church on September 19.

So now after 31 years, Sam's retired. Interestingly, the current senior warden is the same man who was senior warden when Sam was hired. The parish threw a lovely party for them, at which they presented Sam with a gift -- the blue emblem embroidered with a chalice. A parishioner had painstakingly removed the emblem from the white chasuble and had it framed.

Sam and Jane have moved into an apartment in west Fort Worth. It is up three flights of stairs, done deliberately to keep their knees in shape, Jane said. The light and airy place is filled with art, books and good music, just perfect for exploring new ideas.

And what of St. Luke's? Well, they go into the search process for a new rector well prepared – the next senior warden is one of the first babies Sam baptized and the son of the senior warden who hired Sam.

Here are Sam's Principles:

JESUS IS THE ROCK IN THE MIDDLE
Being formed around a set of principles rather than being formed by outside pressures, authorities, and agendas. Christ is the most solid and is represented by The Great Commandment. The image of the Rock in the Middle came from a vacation church school exercise I did during my first year out of seminary. The theme that year was Jesus in my heart. To get that across, I took a piece of play dough and began forming a design. As I kept working it, pushing it, squeezing it and forming it into what I wanted, I then pushed too hard and my thumb went through causing the image to break apart. I then, on the sly, introduced a rock into the center of the play dough. I then demonstrated how regardless of all the forming pressure from the outside, that eventually the play dough started looking like the "rock in the middle."

THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH'S MISSION STATEMENT STEMS FROM JESUS.
As Episcopalians, every baptized person, lay, deacon, priest, and bishop are to fulfill this mission in the places and with methods called for by the Church. "To restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ."

GOD HAS ALREADY PROVIDED EVERYTHING NECESSARY TO DO HIS WILL AND MEET OUR NEEDS.
All people, time, money, gifts, and other resources are ALREADY available. Stewardship, consequently, has nothing to do with raising money; it has all to do with taking care of what we have been given TO TAKE CARE OF: people, time, money, gifts, and all other resources.

SPEND MORE TIME POLISHING THE PRINCIPLES INSTEAD OF POLICING THE POLICIES.
If the right intention, the right principle is grasped, there will be an abundance of resources available to pursue the principle. From solid principles, continuously before us, come plenty of policies that can be useful and sometimes changed or adapted.