Paul and Joanie Walterman: Available for the next assignment!

How do you adequately thank servants like Pastor Paul and Joanie? Because they are servants. And they have been servants ever since 1958, when they taught Sunday School together as teenage sweethearts at Northwest Assembly of God in Chicago.

They’ve been making themselves available to God’s call ever since. Following Paul’s graduation from seminary in 1965, they answered calls to serve churches in Illinois, California, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. Paul also served as an instructor for Change the World School of Prayer, as Ministerial Relations Director and as Vice-President for Every Home for Christ, and as a Regional Manager for Promise Keepers.

Called twice to Evergreen

Paul was serving with Promise Keepers in 1997 when he received an invitation from Mark Morrison, a former colleague from Westgate Chapel. Mark invited Paul to be the associate pastor at a new church plant in Bothell: Evergreen Community Church. Paul accepted and served as associate pastor here for nearly seven years, until they were called to Apple Valley, which is in the high desert of southern California.

In Apple Valley, Paul’s intent was to focus on developing Fresh Heart Ministries, a consulting ministry geared primarily to helping other pastors. Paul thought he would be doing lots of traveling, conducting seminars and working more with pastors. But it was often quiet. “At times, we wondered what we were doing in the desert all that time,” Paul said. He said he spent a lot of time walking and praying, wondering what his next assignment would be.

But now they’ve been able to put the pieces together. “God put us on the back side of the desert to get us ready to come back to Evergreen,” Joanie explained. “Now of course we know,” Paul agreed. “We were being prepared for our next call, our return to Evergreen.”

The next call

The night Pastor Mark announced at a congregational meeting his intention to resign from his pastorate in June 2007, representatives of the board met and discussed the urgent need to find an interim pastor; someone who could provide a transition between Mark’s departure and the arrival of a new senior pastor. One name leaped instantly to mind: Paul Walterman.

Gary James said that every board member agreed that Paul and Joanie would be the perfect answer to Evergreen’s sudden need. “Everybody loved Paul and Joanie,” Gary said. “We all recognized that they would be the ‘glue’ who could help hold everything together during an unexpected transition. We just didn’t know if they’d be available.”

That very night a phone call was placed and the question was asked: “Are you available?” In God’s perfect timing, Paul and Joanie had received a call earlier that morning from a dear friend who was about to die from cancer. She had asked them to come back to the Seattle area for one last visit, and they had agreed to come. They came the following week to spend some precious time with their friend. And they also met with the entire church board that week to pray and discuss the future of Evergreen.

Paul and Joanie officially returned to Evergreen on July 29, 2007, with Paul in the role of interim pastor, which eventually became senior pastor. “It had to be God-ordained,” Gary James said.

It was a step of faith. They left a brand new house, and Paul commuted between Apple Valley and Bothell for weeks.

Paul preaching

BenGay and Polident

“We came back here knowing the church was struggling a little bit, going through some things,” Paul said. “And we came back thinking we were going to be Miracle Gro, but we actually came back as a combination of BenGay and Polident,” he said, laughing. He explained that, looking back, he knew they had helped relieve some of the pain of sudden and unexpected change, and they helped hold things together during a difficult transition.

Filling the gap at Evergreen hasn’t always been easy. “It’s been very difficult seeing old friends leave this church for someplace else,” Paul shared. “But at the same time, half of the people in the church today have arrived since we came back. I guess this is the hardest joy I’ve ever experienced in my life.”

No place like Evergreen

“What a wonderful blessing it was to be surrounded by these people during this time that Joanie has had her heart difficulties," Paul said. “It’s been huge. Coming back after her surgery, thinking we’re not going to have any Christmas because all of our stuff is back in California - then to see somebody has put lights up outside, they delivered wood for the fireplace, they put a Christmas tree in, the windows were clean, it was an army of people. It was wonderful.” Joanie agreed, “There are just amazing people here. I’ve never been in any church like this, and we’ve been around the block. There’s nobody like the people here at Evergreen.”

Being in ministry can be difficult, they both agreed, whether you minister on staff or as a volunteer. “When you love and care for people, what people are going through is what you feel,” Joanie said. “You walk down a lot of different paths and you feel a lot of pain and you feel a lot of joy. But you don’t walk down your pathway alone here at Evergreen unless you choose to do so. It’s a remarkable place.”

Paul at Men's Breakfast

Available once again

The Waltermans don’t have a detailed plan for the future. They’ll begin the drive to Apple Valley right after the potluck on February 14th. They’ll move back into their nearly new house, where many of their furnishings are already situated. “We’re available for the next assignment,” Paul said. "It’s difficult to explain to people, because most people want a specific plan. It’s difficult for some people to understand. We’re going back there and we’re not totally certain what we’ll be doing. That makes some people uncomfortable,” he said, laughing. “But they shouldn’t be. None of us really know what the future holds.”

But he did talk about a list of tasks that are on his mind. He’s going to rework his website and start a FreshHeart blog. He has been working on three books, and two of them are very near completion. One is a book of devotions, and just this week he wrote #295. He’s written 11 of 13 planned chapters of a book for pastors that he’s been working on “for a long time.” A third book in the works is a devotional for men. “And, Lord willing, I’d really love to help at the Beirut, Lebanon conference on children’s ministry that Sylvia (Foth) is pulling together.”

Looking back; looking ahead

“It’s taken a while to get to this point, but I know I can be content and happy in the role that I’ve played here,” Paul said. “The excitement we felt when we first came to Evergreen in 1997 is the same excitement we feel today. We couldn’t be more excited about the prospects and possibilities for Evergreen Community Church.”

All of Evergreen Community Church gives a heartfelt “thank you” to Paul and Joanie Walterman.

May God bless you in your next assignment!