Back to North Carolina

In January 1997 we moved back to North Carolina. I accepted the call to pastor the Bannertown Wesleyan Church in Mt. Airy, North Carolina (one of the garden spots of the world). Bannertown was a much smaller church than our previous two pastorates and that took some adjustment. We were thrilled to be back in North Carolina. I was 50 years of age now and thought maybe this would be the place where I would spend the rest of my ministry years. During our first 5 years there the ministry went well, the church nearly doubled in attendance and people were finding Christ. About the 5th year trouble began to brew, some long time church members who had fallen out with most every pastor begin to stir trouble. I did everything I could to keep things together but they were seasoned at trouble making and eventually tore the church too pieces. I tried to outlast them so they left the church. Once they left the church they took more liberty to tear things apart. I was now 58 years of age and was not sure where my ministry would go. After the experience at Bannertown prospects did not look bright.

I had resigned the church and had nowhere to go. The kids were nearly grown and they did not want to move away from North Carolina and I did not either. A few days before we were to move out of the parsonage a friend called and said I was being considered for the position of District Office Administrator to work with the newly elected North Carolina East District Wesleyan Church district superintendent. I had always had a knack for administrative stuff; planning, organizing, etc. In a day or two after my friend called the newly elected DS called and said he would like to talk with me about the position. To make a long story short, within two days I had the job.

I went to work with NC East District Wesleyan Church as District Office Administrator first of August 2004. Office is in High Point, NC., we moved there first of September 2004. I have continued to serve in that position to the present. About a year after we moved to High Point we bought a 1.2 acre lot west of town and begin plans to build a home. We moved into our new house first of January 2006. God is good. I miss pastoring very much, however I believe I am serving where God placed me. I enjoy the work and as long as God leads will continue to serve with the district.

The Ups and Downs of Ministry

In October 1988 we moved to Asheboro, North Carolina, to pastor the Neighbors Grove Wesleyan Church. This was a big change in our life. Not only did we move 600 miles from the area where we had lived all our life, (Central and Southern Indiana) we left old friends behind, the legalism we had grown up with, and Naomi’s family. We did not know anyone in North Carolina, except Darrell’s family who lived in Salisbury and a couple ministerial friends who previously had moved to North Carolina. Immediately Darrell fell in love with the area, it took Naomi a while to adjust.

Neighbors Grove Church had been a leading Wesleyan Church in North Carolina but had fallen on some hard times. We plunged into our ministry there and the church began to take on new life. During our 6 years there the Sunday morning attendance increased from 140 to 210. The church built a new Family Life/Day Care Center. We built our first home to live in outside of a parsonage. During our years there we finally freed ourselves from the legalism we had always known. It had been a slow struggle. Always wanting to do what was right and the legalism so ingrained in us as the “only way” it had been painful and difficult to get free. Once free from the legalism we realized what bondage and suppression it had been. In our sixth year at Neighbors Grove we begin to experience difficulties with pastoral staff. During a time of tension and staff interference I made a hasty decision to resign. This was a decision I soon regretted and realized it was a mistake.

The year following us leaving Neighbors Grove was difficult. I was not able to find myself. We continued to live in the home we had built, did some pulpit supply, worked at a couple jobs, continued to look for a new pastorate.

In the summer of 1995 I accepted the call to pastor the Forest Hills Wesleyan Church in Evansville, Indiana, a move back to Southern Indiana. Again I made a bad decision. Forest Hills was a leading church in Southern Indiana and I thought this would be a good move for us. We sold our house and moved. I remember as we pulled out on the highway Naomi asked me, “do you think we will ever return to North Carolina”? Right then and there I should have stopped, and said "let’s don’t go", none of us really wanted to make the move. I had recently had a chance to go to another Wesleyan Church north of Greensboro and should have. We moved on to Evansville.

The Evansville Forest Hills Church was a good church, I tried to put myself into it. After we were there about six months, I looked at Naomi one day and said, I am not happy here, she was not either. Right away I made contact back in North Carolina hoping to find a pastorate there again.