Victor Lewis was dropped into my lap by the grace of God. He was and is a man of profound thought who never ever trivializes………anything. We had many conversations about classes (Christianity majors) and life whether in the student center or at a restaurant nearby. And Victor ALWAYS paid……
He helped me walk through a very confusing time for me. Let’s just say that 20 and 21 were really hard and confusing years for me. was a conduit of grace for my soul.
As I stated earlier, Victor was the part-time Minister of Education at Long Point Baptist Church. He mentioned to me that they were looking for a part-time youth minister. At the same time, my home church was just letting their present at the time youth minister go. While I had served a summer internship, I knew I wasn’t ready for a full-fledged student ministry in a church of that size and to be honest, that pressure.
Victor inquired about me joining the staff team at Long Point. The salary wasn’t much, but the hours expected were about 20 per week. The church was a haul from Kingwood (37 miles), but only about 12 miles from school. So I left Pappas, and became the youth minister of Long Point Baptist Church in October 1994.
I had my eyes opened to the world of church-work. I’ve heard it said that church would be perfect if it wasn’t for people. Nowhere had I experienced that to such a degree than at Long Point. Politics were huge in this once-large now decling Anglo church in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood. The average attendance was 70 but the Hispanic mission we made meet in the chapel was easily double the size.
While the first few months were great, we quickly countered a great deal of turbulence due to attitude, people in leadership who should have never been there (while I can’t read the human heart, the fruit of some of their lives was not Godly), and a general spirit of not-wanting-to-change.
While I saw Victor get exasperated, he never lost his cool in public. I saw him use the expertise he gained at Lyondell time and time again as he challenged the process and supervised some heavy-duty meetings.
The most vivid way I can express my admiration for Victor is this: He led me straight to Mandy. She was a summer missionary through a Southern Baptist program called “Sojourners.” High School graduates would go somewhere across the country for ministry. Mandy travelled from California to Texas.
There were rules about staff and missionaries not dating. But quickly, Mandy and I had affection for each other, and it was only SLIGHTLY obvious to well……..everyone. So, he found a way around the process….
We were supposed to take missionaries out to tour Houston on “cultural outings.” Well, conveniently, when it came time for Mandy’s outings…it was just her and I. Victor would leave messages on my pager (think the equivalent of a walkman compared to an iPod….that’s the pager compared to the modern cell phone.) from the Little Mermaid sound track, specifically the song “Kiss Da Girl.” He would then sign off with “Well, have you….kissed da girl?”
Even after Mandy went back to California (only after Victor taking her to Houston Baptist University, her falling in love with the school, and her basically stating that she would return to go to school there), and after some many church battles that resulted in me leaving in January 1996, and him leaving later that year, we remained close friends.
Victor began working in insurance, as he and his wife Linda raised their two children, Daniel and Elizabeth. Linda had a great job as a fairly-high up supervisor at a hospital, and the kids were/are both geniuses. And Victor continued to challenge the process both at his job, and his new ministry as a youth Sunday School teacher at a Baptist church closer to their house.
In 1998, when Mandy and I got engaged, there was only one choice for who to perform the wedding ceremony. It was Victor. And he agreed immediately. I was so excited and elated that he would be the one to marry us, since he had introduced us, loved us, befriended us, challenged us, and encouraged us. Money was tight at the time, and Victor did something that to this day I emulate: He didn’t charge a dime.
To this day, I’ve never charged anything to marry folks. Now, I was paid in a few ways (slipped a bill when I wasn’t looking one time, given a check afterwards, etc.) but I never charged.
And I never will.
One last thing: Victor always paid the bill. Guess who tries to do that now when he meets younger guys for lunch? Yep. And every time I ask for the check, I remember the mark Victor Lewise made in my life.
WHAT I LEARNED FROM VICTOR:
-Challenge the process. It may not be “broke” but can always be improved.
-Stand your ground for those things most dear to you.
-Be generous with advice and time and money. Help the downtrodden (like most college students)
-Freely give. Expect nothing in return. Only the joy of helping someone with your stuff.
Jason
