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Minister in the Making

Minister in the Making

By BT Irwin

An adult son asks his dad (a Church of Christ minister) to share stories and wisdom from his 50 years in ministry and 70 years of life.
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Episode Seven: "I need someone to take care of me" (Nashville, Tennessee, 1972 - 1973)

Minister in the MakingMay 08, 2021

00:00
01:19:05
Episode 40: Retrospective

Episode 40: Retrospective

Jul 27, 202255:35
Episode 39: The minister's wife remembers the minister's life
Jul 16, 202201:15:36
Episode 38: The funeral of Travis Irwin

Episode 38: The funeral of Travis Irwin

Travis Dewey Irwin (the "minister" in 'Minister in the Making') died on June 1, 2022, after a 10-month struggle with cancer. 

In this episode, we bring you his funeral--his "celebration of life"--as an audience member recorded it on June 11, 2022, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

You may read Travis's obituary here.

Even though Travis is gone, his ministry goes on through 'We Are God's Masterpiece,' the book he wrote a year before his death. This book draws from Travis's 45-year ministry career to give church leaders and members applications, lessons, and tools they can use to discover their spiritual gifts for building up the body of Christ. Click here to learn more. 

Jul 09, 202201:25:41
Episode 37: When the minister gets cancer (Athens, Tennessee, 2016)
May 11, 202245:17
Episode 36: All Together Now (Athens, Tennessee, 2008 - 2020)
May 04, 202201:11:11
Episode 35: Unicorn hunting (Brushy, Tennessee, 2008)
Apr 06, 202239:26
Episode #34: "Finding a place to learn to walk again" (Brushy, Tennessee, 2005)
Mar 28, 202246:40
Episode 33: "If you want to walk on water, you have to get out of the boat" (Ashland, Ohio, 2004)
Mar 07, 202254:09
Episode 32: "I don't ever want to go through that again" (Ashland, Ohio, October 2003 - January 2004)
Feb 08, 202201:14:37
Episode 31: Resignation (Ashland, Ohio, 2003)

Episode 31: Resignation (Ashland, Ohio, 2003)

By Fall 2003, Dad knew that he could not go on any longer in ministry with the Steele Avenue Church of Christ in Ashland, Ohio. His body, heart, and mind were in total system failure. He could barely function as a human being, let alone as a minister to a growing congregation of 350 people. 

So on October 3, 2003, Dad and Mom walked into the Monday night business meeting of the congregation's elders and read a resignation letter. After 22 years journey together, Dad and the Steele Avenue Church of Christ would go their separate ways.

In this episode, Dad and Mom describe that elder's meeting and the days that came after it. In their description, it becomes clear just how fragile and in danger Dad's condition got. But looking back on the events of that day, Dad shares some of the most important insights to ever come from him in the 31 episodes of this podcast so far. He pinpoints one thing that, if he knew better, he would have done different. And, if he did it different back then, perhaps his dream of retiring from the Steele Avenue Church of Christ would have come true.  

Jan 26, 202201:12:41
Episode 30: Fetal position (Ashland, Ohio, 2003)
Jan 17, 202258:27
Episode 29: "Healer, heal thyself..." (Ashland, Ohio, late 1990s)
Dec 20, 202101:24:37
Episode 28: "The ministry took over our marriage..." (Ashland, Ohio, mid-1990s to early 2000s)
Dec 13, 202101:12:11
Episode 27: "I had a messiah complex..."
Dec 06, 202101:21:03
Episode 26: Building up while being torn down (Ashland, Ohio, mid-1990s to early-2000s)
Nov 29, 202101:26:38
Episode 25: Chest pains (Ashland, Ohio, 1990s)
Nov 16, 202101:14:32
Episode 24: When Dad stopped counting people in pews and dollars in plates (Ashland, Ohio, mid-1990s)

Episode 24: When Dad stopped counting people in pews and dollars in plates (Ashland, Ohio, mid-1990s)

What's in this episode

For generations, you could walk into any Church of Christ building in America and find three common features: The absence of musical instruments, a baptistry, and a billboard hanging on the wall next to the pulpit. On that billboard, you would see numbers. Numbers like how many people attended Bible class and worship the Sunday before and how much money they put in the offering plates. Church leaders looked at these numbers to measure the spiritual health and strength of their congregations.

Dad did, too. When he started full-time ministry at the West Side Church of Christ in Akron, Ohio, he got a diary in which he carefully recorded the latest church numbers every week. He kept that diary every week for the next 20 or more years, taking it with him from Akron, Ohio, to Cadiz, Ohio, to the Steele Avenue Church of Christ in Ashland, Ohio.

At the Steele Avenue Church of Christ, those numbers looked really good. Year after year of Dad’s ministry there, the congregation grew and grew.

But one day in the mid- to late-1990s, Dad decided to stop keeping his numbers diary. He just quit.

Why?

In this episode, Dad talks about how he started having strong doubts about how he and most church leaders measured the spiritual health and strength of their congregations.

Dad has a new book out: 'We Are God's Masterpiece' 

In this book, Dad utilizes his experiences in church leadership to compile several inventories for individuals to complete in order to discover how they are intended to be used in the church. From spiritual gifts to personality types to passions, among others, God has made us each unique parts of the whole. This book will walk any individual through the steps of recognizing just how beautiful and necessary we each are to fulfilling His masterpiece.

Click here to buy your copy

Get the latest news on Dad's cancer treatments and health at https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/travisirwin2

To submit a question for a future episode, email it to bt@btirwin.com. 

Oct 26, 202101:11:47
Episode 23: The beauty and value of being together instead of being right

Episode 23: The beauty and value of being together instead of being right

Oct 11, 202101:20:02
Episode 22: What happens in church leadership meetings anyway? (Ashland, Ohio, late 1980s to mid-1990s)

Episode 22: What happens in church leadership meetings anyway? (Ashland, Ohio, late 1980s to mid-1990s)

This is one of those episodes that could be boring or interesting, depending on what you like to learn about. That’s because in this episode, Dad and I “nerd out” on church leadership. We start by talking about how closely leadership organization and practice in the church of Christ in 21st century America resembles church organization and leadership in the first century. Then we talk about the classic leadership structure of most Church of Christ congregations in America, a structure that revolves around ministers, elders, and deacons. On this point, Dad teaches me an old Church of Christ joke that actually makes a lot of sense. Finally, Dad talks about his experience working with the elders at the Steele Avenue Church of Christ in Ashland, Ohio, in the late 1980s and early 1990s. How did decisions get made and how did things get done? Dad talks about some things he wishes the elders of the Steele Avenue Church of Christ did different and how he wishes he did some things differently, too.

Sep 28, 202101:31:17
Episode 21: "I've never met another Dorothy Abels" (Ashland, Ohio, 1994)
Sep 20, 202101:06:38
Episode 20: "I pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed..." (Ashland, Ohio, 1988 - 1994)
Aug 31, 202101:09:00
Episode 19: "I went down into the basement and wept" (Ashland, Ohio, 1984 - 1988)
Aug 16, 202101:16:34
Episode 18: "People brought their friends to church...we baptized 98 percent of them" (Ashland, Ohio, mid-1980s)

Episode 18: "People brought their friends to church...we baptized 98 percent of them" (Ashland, Ohio, mid-1980s)

In the mid-1980s, Dad was finding his groove as a minister and as part of the Steele Avenue Church of Christ in Ashland, Ohio. While Church of Christ congregations nationwide were starting to shrink, the Steele Avenue Church of Christ was starting what would turn out to be two decades of trend-busting growth. How did this conservative congregation in small town Ohio manage to do what so many other congregations could not do in the 1980s? Dad will tell you what he thinks. We’ll also talk about the time that a woman in the congregation campaigned to get Dad fired and how he handled that situation and recovered from it. We’ll talk about how much education and training Church of Christ ministers need to do their jobs. I’ll also ask Dad if he thinks the things that grew the Steele Avenue Church of Christ in the 1980s will still work today.

Aug 10, 202101:03:42
Episode 17: "You don't go into ministry to make friends" (but friends sure do help) (Ashland, Ohio, 1981)

Episode 17: "You don't go into ministry to make friends" (but friends sure do help) (Ashland, Ohio, 1981)

Study after study, survey after survey, shows that ministers have a hard time forming and keeping friendships in their congregations. On one hand, ministers and their families can never quite escape feeling like they are different from everyone else in the congregation, like they are expected to be a little better than human. On the other hand, church members often only show ministers their best side. The majority of ministers in the United States report that they feel lonely. Perhaps that is why so many ministers burn out, drop out, or flame out because of exhaustion, failing marriages, loss of faith, or personal sin. For their own health and well-being (and the health and well-being of the congregations they serve), ministers need good friends. 

In this episode, both my dad (Travis Irwin) and mom (Debbie Irwin) talk about their experiences forming and keeping good friendships in the congregations they served for over 45 years of ministry. The inspiration for this episode is John Kerr, a member of the Steele Avenue Church of Christ who befriended Dad on the very first day of his ministry to that congregation. Dad and Mom talk about how their friendship with John and his wife, Jan, set the pattern and the tone for their entire 22 1/2 year ministry to the Steele Avenue Church of Christ. 

Dad and Mom will also share their insights on what it is like for ministers and their families to make friends in the congregations they serve and what boundaries need to be in place to keep those friendships "safe." I ask them what they wish that regular church folks would know and understand about their ministers and their families.

This is a good conversation about the importance of friendships to ministers. 

To keep track of Dad's battle with cancer and his latest treatments, please visit https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/travisirwin2.


Aug 05, 202101:18:39
Episode 16: How the Church of Christ in Ashland, Ohio, practiced "the (almost) most important verse in the Bible" (Early 1980s)

Episode 16: How the Church of Christ in Ashland, Ohio, practiced "the (almost) most important verse in the Bible" (Early 1980s)

Dad talks about what it was like to move to Ashland, Ohio, and start his 22 ½-year ministry with the Steele Avenue Church of Christ. How was Dad a different man and different minister starting with his third church at age 31 than when he started ministries at churches at age 24 and age 30? Dad will talk about what made the Steele Avenue Church of Christ really special as a place to do ministry. Finally, he will talk about what congregations and ministers should do for each other to get off to a strong start.

You can submit your own questions for Dad and I will ask them on a future episode. Simply email them to bt@btirwin.com.

For updates on how Dad is living with cancer the second time around, visit caringbridge.org

Jul 24, 202101:13:01
Episode 15: God calls right on time (Summer 1981)

Episode 15: God calls right on time (Summer 1981)

In the 12 months between the summers of 1980 and 1981, Dad resigned from two different churches. The second resignation came after nine months in which "things just didn't work out" and Dad and Mom grew more unhappy in Cadiz, Ohio. But what would they do and where would they go next? Would any church even want to look at Dad after he abruptly left two congregations in less than one year?

Then, out of the blue, a stranger called Dad from Ashland, Ohio, where the Steele Avenue Church of Christ had problems, too. The congregation was dealing with the difficulties that came from firing two ministers in two years and being rejected by the minister it chose to succeed them. 

As if someone, somewhere scripted it, Dad and the Steele Avenue Church of Christ came together at just the right time. 

In this episode, Dad talks about how it all happened and what it all meant. Today's story is a family favorite that my sisters and I heard over and over as we grew into adulthood. Dad and Mom often bring it up as an example of how God is always looking out for us (even when it feels like he's not there) and that his timing is always just right.  

At the end of this episode, Dad will also talk about his recent cancer diagnosis and the low visibility of the days ahead. At the time of recording, the only information we had is that Dad's cancer from five years ago returned and is all over his body. 

Please keep Dad and our family in your prayers. You may keep up with Dad's cancer progress at his CaringBridge webpage

Jul 17, 202101:08:42
Episode 14: It's time to talk about the place where Dad preached 2,200 sermons (Ashland, Ohio, 1981 - 2003)

Episode 14: It's time to talk about the place where Dad preached 2,200 sermons (Ashland, Ohio, 1981 - 2003)

In this episode, we start the difficult task of unpacking Dad’s 22 ½ years as the minister to the Steele Avenue Church of Christ in Ashland, Ohio.

Most Church of Christ ministers work with one congregation for an average of three years. Dad worked with the Steele Avenue Church of Christ seven times longer than that. During his 22 ½ years there, Dad preached and taught more than 5,000 lessons and sermons and the congregation almost doubled in size. By the time Dad left in January 2004, the congregation was bursting at the seams and flying high from a successful campaign to raise funds for a new building. What went so right that Dad's work with the Steele Avenue Church of Christ lasted so long and led to such growth? What went wrong that Dad felt like he had to walk away from the congregation just as things seemed to be peaking?   

In this episode, we'll start the long process of mining the meaning in Dad's long love story with Ashland, Ohio. We'll begin by listening to Dad talk about three of his milestone moments: 1) His last sermon at the Steele Avenue Church of Christ on January 4, 2004, 2) The "high water mark" of his life and work in Ashland, Ohio (around the early 1990s), and 3) His first sermon at the Steele Avenue Church of Christ on August 30, 1981.

Jul 05, 202155:28
Episode 13: 1970s Lightning Round

Episode 13: 1970s Lightning Round

In this episode, we take a break from the usual format to take one last look at Dad’s life and work in the 1970s. I’m calling this our “1970s lightning round.” The questions are quick and cover everything from Dad’s favorite movies and music in the 1970s to how he voted in presidential elections to what church controversies kept him on his toes to what lessons he learned and wants to pass on. I ask him questions like:

  • What Bible verse did you repeat most often in the 1970s?
  • What was the biggest difference between how you prayed and studied the Bible in 1971 and how you prayed and studied the Bible in 1980?
  • What were your best and worst moments of the 1970s?
  • What advice would you give to newlyweds, new dads, college students considering ministry, and churches that hire first-time or very young ministers?

This one is fun and moves fast and ends with some really good advice. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Jun 26, 202101:12:13
Episode 12: "We grow where things are difficult" (Cadiz, Ohio, 1980 - 1981)

Episode 12: "We grow where things are difficult" (Cadiz, Ohio, 1980 - 1981)

The episode picks up in Cadiz, Ohio, in the summer of 1980. Dad was the new minister at the Church of Christ congregation in this one-stoplight coal mining town on the West Virginia border. Almost as soon as Dad started his ministry in Cadiz, he started counting the days until he could move on from there. What happened? Why did Dad want to leave Cadiz before he even unpacked his office at the church? Was it something Dad did (or didn’t do), or was it the church and town itself? This episode is about knowing when it's time to leave. 

Jun 15, 202101:30:37
Episode 11: "They told me I had to be out of the house in three weeks" (Akron, Ohio, 1980)

Episode 11: "They told me I had to be out of the house in three weeks" (Akron, Ohio, 1980)

This episode starts with Dad’s knee-jerk decision to quit his ministry at the West Side Church of Christ in Akron, Ohio, in the summer of 1980. His mishandling of both his resignation and the situation that followed forced him to take whatever job he could get as fast as he could get it. That job turned out to be minister to the Church of Christ in Cadiz, Ohio. At first glance, moving to Cadiz to work with the church looked like it could turn out to be a good situation, but almost as soon as Dad arrived, all signs started pointing to bad times ahead.

Jun 07, 202101:16:23
Episode Ten: "I was just immature" (Akron, Ohio, 1980)

Episode Ten: "I was just immature" (Akron, Ohio, 1980)

This time, Dad talks about one of the biggest mistakes of his life. A choice he lived to regret even 40 years later. After five years at the West Side Church of Christ in Akron, Ohio, Dad was happy and thriving. Then, in what seemed to come out of the blue to everyone--including Dad--he just up and quit one day. In this episode you’ll hear him struggle to answer the question “why?” even after four decades to think about it.

Jun 01, 202101:27:26
Episode Nine: "He took the credit card to the mall and spent $200 on toys" (Akron, Ohio, 1978)

Episode Nine: "He took the credit card to the mall and spent $200 on toys" (Akron, Ohio, 1978)

This is a special episode because my mom, Debbie Irwin, is joining my dad for this conversation. We’re talking about the years 1975 to 1978, when Dad and Mom were serving their first church while starting their family. In the last episode, Dad talked about what it was like to be a 24-year old first time head minister for a church hundreds of miles from where he grew up. This week, Dad and Mom will talk about what it was like to be married and become parents during this time in their lives. How did church work change their relationship? How did their relationship help or hinder church work? How did becoming parents change their lives? Their marriage? Their ministries? Who was a better baby: Me or my sister, Michelle?

May 26, 202101:21:54
Episode Eight: Preaching from a 50 pound Bible (Akron, Ohio, 1975 - 1980)

Episode Eight: Preaching from a 50 pound Bible (Akron, Ohio, 1975 - 1980)

This episode picks up in January 1975, when Dad was 24 years old and the newly-appointed minister for the West Side Church of Christ in Akron, Ohio. That Dad ended up here was a surprise to everyone. Just one month prior, he had no plans to be a preacher and no plans to ever live north of the Mason-Dixon line. In our conversation today, we talk about what it was like for Dad to take on his first full-time ministry as the “face” and “voice” of a local Church of Christ congregation. We talk about the difference between what Dad learned about church work growing up in the Bible Belt and what he found in the Rust Belt. Dad will talk about how he had to prepare and train himself to be a “pulpit man” and how he did it. He’ll tell us about the sermons he preached, why he chose to preach them, and whether he would ever preach them again. Finally, Dad will talk about what he did right as he began his life in ministry and what he could have done better starting out. We’ll even get into some of the strange expectations that churches place on their ministers, including an insistence that Dad preach his sermons from a 50 pound Bible.

May 15, 202101:25:38
Episode Seven: "I need someone to take care of me" (Nashville, Tennessee, 1972 - 1973)

Episode Seven: "I need someone to take care of me" (Nashville, Tennessee, 1972 - 1973)

We pick up soon after the calendar turned to 1972. Dad, a 21-year old college dropout, went on a disastrous blind date with a 17-year old high school senior named Debbie Sadler. Just one year after their awkward meeting, they were married. 

Marriage, a new sense of direction, and a sudden job loss convinced Dad that it was time to go back to college. He was soon back at David Lipscomb College, in Nashville, Tennessee, majoring in church education. 

When Dad graduated in December 1974, he got exactly the kind of job offer he hoped to get, but he passed it up to take a job he swore he would never do in a place he never imagined he would live. 

Why?

Listen to this episode and let's find out together.

May 08, 202101:19:05
Episode Six: The year of wilderness wandering (1971)

Episode Six: The year of wilderness wandering (1971)

In this episode, we pick up in the year 1971, the year Dad got kicked out of Christian college, almost ended up going to Vietnam, and really questioned his Christian faith for the first time in his life. You could call 1971 the year of Dad’s wilderness wandering. But in that wilderness, God sent the people who would help Dad find and form his own faith and point him in the direction that would eventually take him into Christian ministry, a role he never imagined or wanted for himself.

May 01, 202157:20
Episode Five: The 1970s Part One (1968 to 1972)

Episode Five: The 1970s Part One (1968 to 1972)

People who knew my dad, Travis Irwin, as a Christian minister may think that he dropped out of the sky that way. But in this episode, we find out that Dad went through a time in life when he wasn't sure that Christianity was even true. Growing up in a preacher's family himself, Christianity is what Dad and the rest of the Irwins...just did

After spending his first two years at David Lipscomb College having fun, Dad's grades got so bad the dean told him to not come back to school. After a brief scare in which Dad thought he might have to go to Vietnam, he found himself just hanging around and wondering what he was going to do with the rest of his life. He even started wondering if the Christianity he always just assumed was something he could really trust. Some new friends started to show Dad new possibilities for his Christian life. Then, on a blind date in early 1972, he met the woman who would change the course of his life in ways that surprised even him. 

Apr 25, 202101:09:20
Episode Four: The 1960s

Episode Four: The 1960s

In this episode, Dad talks about growing up as a teenager in the 1960s Bible Belt. He shares what he felt about living through history (Civil Rights, Cold War, and Vietnam), watching his dad give up on making a living as a Christian minister, and making the choice to become a Christian himself. 

Apr 09, 202101:12:34
Dad's Decades: The 1950s

Dad's Decades: The 1950s

Episodes with music are only available on Spotify.

In this episode, Dad talks about growing up in a preacher's family in the 1950s (and how it shaped the man and minister he would become later in life). 

Apr 02, 202101:05:33
Dad's Decades Episode Two: The 1940s

Dad's Decades Episode Two: The 1940s

Dad was born on March 9, 1950, but we're not going to start learning his life story in the 1950s. To understand the world in which Dad grew up, we need to go back to the decade before he was born: The 1940s. In this episode, Dad talks about his parents, Walter and Doris Irwin, and what they were doing in the ten years leading up to his birth. How did their own families form them? How did they find their way to faith? How did they meet each other and what kind of relationship did they build? How did the life Walter and Doris made together in the 1940s become the world in which Dad grew up.  

Aug 04, 202001:01:39
Dad's Decades Part One: Looking back at a life well-lived

Dad's Decades Part One: Looking back at a life well-lived

My dad, Travis Irwin (70), is retiring from almost 50 years of Christian ministry. This seemed like a good time to ask him a lot of the questions that I've always wanted to ask about faith, family, and work. 

In this first episode, Dad looks back at his life in one broad brushstroke. We'll get down into the details in later episodes.  

Jun 21, 202055:10