March 8, 2015, 3:30 PM
Central Baptist Church, Wayne, PA
In 1977, I met Bud for the first time in Seattle when he was supporting regional youth ministry and probably visiting with good friend, Gaylord Hasselblad. I was in Seattle attending one of my first Asian Caucus meetings. Over dinner, Bud interviewed me for the fourth position in the Department of Ministry with Youth in EM when Ron Schlosser accepted a new position in International Ministries. In those days, there was no search committee per se. It was only one person making a hiring decision. And I guess, Bud saw enough in me to offer me the job to join him, Jeff Jones and Marilyn Marston in the Youth Department.
In the 1970s, jet plane travel had already overtaken passenger train travel as the more efficient mode of getting to places. Bud used to tell the stories of how he and his predecessors would pack up the family and belongings to take the train from Philadelphia to Green Lake to stay and lead conferences for the whole summer. While Bud always preferred trains and made a life-long passion for the iron horse to take him back to some past time, he was also ready to embrace the “friendly skies of United.” He showed me how he would logged all the flight miles he took on United in a paper notebook and started me on United’s Mileage Plus program. Now United records my miles automatically.
Each person in God’s plans comes into the world with a purpose. We are to live out our lives by giving praise to God and to do our part in bringing reconciliation in God’s kingdom on earth. To do that, we need to go out from our particular comfortable places and to travel away from home. Reconciling our differences and building bridges require us to take trains that cross state lines or fly over regions of the country 30,000 feet in the air. In the Bible, Jesus and his disciples and apostles “set sail” as many as 10 times. In that time, just walking to the next town was reconciling differences between Jewish and Gentile communities. But now with the Good News of Christ, Paul and Peter and the disciples were convicted to “set sail” to go far away from their comfortable home places to share about Christ to those who have yet to know the Lord.
We are blessed because Bud lived during the in-between times of trains and planes. He inherited the BYF from people like Roger Fredrickson but he knew that those older models wouldn’t work with youth coming of age from the turbulent 60s. Along with David Evans, Bud proposed new models of youth ministry to take place not just on Sundays, but Monday, Tuesday and Everyday. Bud believed that the church must be connected to the lives of youth all the time and not just on Sundays. He noticed that the BYF one model didn’t fit all anymore and started the regional-based YMPGs—Youth Ministry Planning Groups that was only possible because of jet plane travel.
He witnessed the large gathering of young people at events like Woodstock and believed that National Gatherings of American Baptist Youth would give youth the powerful confidence that they have in the Lord and that they can make a difference in the world. Bud loved doing youth conferences at the Abbey at Green Lake. It could be that it can only hold about 150 people since he believed the value in knowing everyone’s name. It could be that the names of the buildings, William Carey and Oberlin were a way to teach the next generation of youth a little bit of American Baptist history. I don’t think it was the fact that the Abbey was right next to Hole # of the golf course where he had to chase after youth violating curfew! Without planes, these gatherings in San Diego, Colorado, Indiana, Providence, Green Lake would never have been possible.
Bud believed in group process and the wisdom of group-think. I learned the four-phases of an event from Bud and still use it today. He sent all of us on staff to the Mid-Atlantic Training Conferences so that we may understand how groups work and to acquire skills to design learning programs to help persons to grow. And when the traditional planning process was not effective anymore, Bud introduced storyboarding like how the Disney people made movies to us and encouraged the rest of the denomination to do so as well.
When Bud retired from Educational Ministries in 1993, he called me into his office and showed me the small row of books on his bookshelves that used to contain many books for his ministry. He told me two things: “These are the few books that define my ministry and if I can have another chance to retire from ministry, I wouldn’t retire from denominational ministry but I would return to the local church.” Bud’s advice haunted me for the longest time and I have taken his advice seriously. Today, I’m at a local church and pretty soon from now I will have my own small row of books to define who I am.
For some time, Bud was concerned about whether his legacy was valued and enduring. I believe all of us think about that and prayerfully hope that our lives were lived faithfully in the Lord and that we would have made a little difference in the world. As one who has been blessed beyond words from Bud’s life and ministry, I know that he has made a difference in my life. And when I travel around this ABC family and recently shared about Bud’s passing with colleagues and friends, many have told me how significant Bud’s ministry has been in their lives and ministries.
Some time ago when Bud learned that my father gave us, his sons an American Flyer model train set, he sent me a few American Flyer train cars that he had to add to my train set. While my father taught me to behave as an obedient son, Bud taught me to become the servant leader that I am today. He taught me that all of us are special and significant in the eyes of God because we are made in the image of God.
When I think about Bud Carroll, the children’s story of “The Little Train That Could” comes to mind. The mission of the Little Train is to bring toys to the children on the other side of the mountain but the toys were too heavy and the Little Train was too small. But only after getting some help and encouragement from the other trains, the Little Train believed in himself and was able to accomplish his mission. “I know I could. I know I could.”
We are in a way, “little trains” in this world of big mountains and big challenges. With the help and encouragement from others, to work together, to be willing to cross state boundaries, fly over regions of the country, to set sail to go across to the other side, we would be doing the work of God and continue being living examples of the rich legacy and worthwhile ministries in which Bud Carroll has blessed us.
For me, I was just a little train and Bud was the one who encouraged and taught me that I could too become the person God made me to be.
Thanks be to God for Bud’s legacy in the world.