Beeson Podcast, Episode #644 Reverend Connie Happell March 7, 2023 >>Announcer: Welcome to the Beeson podcast, coming to you from Beeson Divinity School on the campus of Samford University. Now your hosts, Doug Sweeney and Kristen Padilla. >>Doug Sweeney: Welcome to the Beeson Podcast. I am your host, Doug Sweeney, here with my co-host, Kristen Padilla. We are joined today by a special Beeson graduate who preached in chapel this morning. We are looking forward to hearing about the ways in which God is using her seminary training and more importantly her ministry to point people to Jesus and build up his church. Before we do so, however, let me invite you to join us for our William E. Conger Junior Lectures on Biblical Preaching, March 21-23. Dr. Scott Gibson, the David E. Garland Chair of Preaching, and Director of the PhD in Preaching at Truett Seminary, Baylor University, will deliver these lectures. They’ll focus our attention on the preacher’s character. They’re free and open to the public. Find out more at www.BeesonDivinity.com/lectures. All right, Kristen. Who do we have on the show with us today? >>Kristen Padilla: We have on the show the Reverend Connie Happell. She is Pastor of Edgewood Presbyterian Church in Columbus, Georgia. And is a Beeson alumna, as Doug has already said, and who just preached in chapel not very long ago. So, we’re very grateful to have you on the show today, Connie. >>Connie: Thank you. >>Kristen Padilla: We always like to begin by allowing our guests to tell us more of their story. I gave a very brief bio, but I wonder if you can invite us into your story? Where are you from and your faith journey? >>Connie: Okay. I was born and raised in Columbus, Georgia in the First Presbyterian Church there. I came to faith ... faith has always been a part of my life. I really have to say ... but was nurtured by the church in all of my growing up years. I think the interesting thing about my story is that like many young adults do I went away to college and left my faith behind. And that went on for some years. I met and married my husband, Eric, and we moved to Chicago to pursue ambitious career goals. And we both knew that we both had to get back to church. And so we did. The thing that is beautiful to me about my story is the way I really always knew about God and Jesus. I dropped out of the church but the coming back to the church and how that happened ... We actually moved from one church to another for some various reasons related to our children. But it was in this church, First Presbyterian of Evanston, Illinois where one of the pastors there told us the gospel message in a new member class in a way that finally made sense to me as an adult returning to faith. I was all ready but it so stunned me that it really kind of changed my life. Because I found myself in that beautiful wonderful big congregation working on ministries of outreach and evangelism, which is really funny for somebody who came back to faith. So, anyway ... I love that part. >>Doug Sweeney: And you were a businesswoman for a while, is that right? >>Connie: Yes. >>Doug Sweeney: Then you had an interesting kind of call into pastoral ministry from the corporate world. >>Connie: Right. So, I worked for a big food manufacturer in the Chicago area. And this particular friend of mine, the one who told me the gospel so well and taught me, he was leaving to take a church out in California. He was leaving Evanston and his parting shot to me on the way out the door, it was a phone call, and he said, “Connie, I think you have preaching and teaching gifts, and I want you to pray for a year about how God would have you use those gifts.” Well, what happened in my own life is that a year later my husband Eric and I returned to the South. We had young children, wanted to be closer to family, and so ... the funny part about the preaching and teaching comment, though ... I hung up the phone on him. He literally had movers at his house and I just ... I did not talk to him for months. It upset me. I mean, that was awful. And so anyway, long story short, we moved to Huntsville, Alabama. My world fell apart when we moved to Huntsville. Soon after both my father-in-law and my brother developed cancer. Both very deadly forms of cancer. And within 18 months, both of them were gone. So, I was glad to be closer to home in Huntsville; that was closer to my family. But the funny thing was, while this is going on all of a sudden God is just knocking on my door about needing to go to seminary. And I kept ... it was strange. We were new in a church, new in Huntsville. I did have a church. I wrote this letter to the pastor of the church; I had really just joined. I mean, I was pretty new. And I said I’ve got this problem. This is going on in my life and I don’t know what to do. And I wish I still had the letter. It must have been something for him to receive. But he is a friend to this day and a very wise pastor. He called me as soon as he got the letter. He said, “I’d like to see you tomorrow and talk about this.” I get in his office and he doesn’t say much. He just says, “Tell me. Talk.” And he said at the end of all that blathering, you know, which was probably filled with emotion and there were several key scriptures, and it was just this thing, and it was just a big gnarly ball. And he said, “Well, I think you’ve got a call. And I’m going to challenge you to do something about it.” This meeting with him ... it was probably in May ... he said, “There are two seminaries within driving distance of Huntsville. You can go north to Vanderbilt or south to Beeson. I want you to take one class in one of those seminaries this fall.” Well, that was kind of ... and by the way, I looked at him and I said my father-in-law are dying right now. And he said, “I want you to take one class at one of those seminaries this fall.” And this guy is pretty laidback. It’s pretty funny to think that he actually said that to me. And that’s not like him. It was pretty directive and I mean I know him very well. So, I did. I visited Vanderbilt, I visited Beeson. And decided on Beeson for some very good reasons. And my father-in-law died two weeks before I started class. They let me in ... I was very unusual. Danny interviewed me and said, “Well, we don’t usually let people in to do one class.” And I said, “Well, I’ll pay for it. Can you please let me in to do one class? I’ve got to do this.” And Beeson allowed me to come take one class. So, my father-in-law died right before. My brother died after my first Beeson class, and I had to call my professor and say, “I’m so sorry, I can’t come to my second class because my brother just died.” And of course this is a compassionate community. And people fell apart over that. But I took that one Old Testament class. And then that was just the beginning. And I made it! That’s the beginning. >>Kristen Padilla: What was your seminary experience like? We have some people who listen who have been to Beeson. We have some who listen who may be thinking about seminary for themselves. Perhaps they’re struggling with imposter syndrome or they don’t know if seminary is right for them. I just wonder if you can speak about your time at Beeson and how even today your preparation is still adding value to your ministry? >>Connie: My time at Beeson was amazing. And it has to do with the faculty and the high commitment, the high standards really, too. But the faculty love you like their own family. That doesn’t mean they’re soft. It really can be very challenging academically. But this community embraced me and my classmates and formed us into a community. And we learned from each other, and we learned from our professors, and I think it’s just an amazing community. It’s so exciting to be back here today. >>Doug Sweeney: Well, it’s great to have you back. People graduate from seminary and they’re much better equipped to serve congregations than they were before. But still it’s kind of scary to leave seminary and kind of take your first church assignment. Can you tell us a little bit about life after seminary? Kind of how you got from Beeson to where you are today just in terms of your ministry story? >>Connie: This is a little crazy. I graduated in May of 2006; within a couple of months we came to understand that my husband’s job would move from Alabama to Kansas City. And in January of 2007 we moved to Kansas City. I had a middleschooler and a freshman in high school. So, all the plans I had, actually I had ministry plans in Huntsville, had to go on the shelf. And I had to settle two young men into their new environments and homes and schools and figure all that out. I’m fortunate to be Presbyterian for this reason, we are a very connectional church. And so when I arrived in Kansas City there were people who wanted to know that I was there. I was technically read to receive a call to my first church. That took some time. I really wasn’t ready for a call when I got there with those two boys. So, I preached a lot. The presbyteries are all full of smaller churches and there’s a need for pulpit supply all over. So, I traveled all over parts of Missouri and Kansas and got to preach a lot. This went on for a couple of years. Finally, I realized, okay, now we can go for it. It’s time. Actually, my first call was to a church in Kansas City that I used to drive by when I had these kids. It was on a popular parkway sort of place. And I used to say, “Oh Lord, that church is so beautiful. I would love to be at that church.” And I knew that they were seeking a pastor, but they wanted somebody with a lot more experience than I had. So, I ended up there. And it really is because they went two years without being able to find anybody. Maybe they had some things that happened to them along the way. And when one of my colleagues ... I had preached in his church, he sent me a DVD. He was in a high tech church and sent me a DVD. And I said, “Lord, I’m going to put this DVD in an envelope and I’m sending it to them.” Because I have applied for this job like a year and a half earlier. I got a call the night they received it and they said, “We’d love to talk to you.” And that was the beginning of my first call to my first church. The heartbreaker is that I loved that church so much in Kansas City and yet as I was telling the women earlier my husband and I have these mothers – one in Columbus, Georgia and one in Virginia – and both of them now widows. We are virtually only children. We needed to get closer to home. And so I had a lot of beautiful wise counsel from some amazing Presbyterian colleagues who said, “You know? It’s okay.” Basically, “You’re not the Savior, Jesus is. Your church will be okay if you leave them.” And that was heartbreaking, but we did it. And we moved to Columbus, Georgia. And I thought, well, that’s the end for me. I’m getting on up there. I mean, there’s not a church ... there are six Presbyterian churches in PCUSA, which is what I am, in Columbus and none of them need a pastor. So, anyway, the door opened for me to do campus ministry at Columbus State University and for two and a half years I was up all night long with students doing stuff and bible studies and eating lasagna or whatever we did together. And then finally I told my board, I love this level of this. I loved, loved my students. But this is wearing me down. It was fun but it was wearing me out. And I sort of sensed the Lord wanted me back in the church-church. So, it just so happened that I left one ministry and the next one came along and it was at First Presbyterian where I was baptized. And I did associate kind of pastoral care work there for over a year. It was during the pandemic. Until this church where I am now came open and called me. So, it was just involving a lot of stuff. >>Kristen Padilla: Well, tell us about that church, your church that you’re at now. What does ministry look like for you today? >>Connie: The church I serve now, Edgewood Presbyterian, I have loved as long as I’ve been in Columbus. They were the best volunteers and helpers at the campus ministry where we fed 100 something students lunch every Tuesday. So, I already knew people from the congregation. And their pastor was actually going to the mission field. And so it was a healthy church with a healthy relationship with their pastor. And so now though ... what I was telling the women – the interesting thing about my congregation now is that they are smaller than they used to be (much) and as they called me they were also coming to grips with the reality of having a 5.5 acre campus and three big buildings to maintain for a congregation that has now whittled down to about 75 when they were really honest. And so they told this to the congregation a month or so before I started work there and didn’t tell me about it until I was just about to start. So, I didn’t know. I thought I was going into a situation of just getting to preach and do pastoral care and help with outreach and mission, etc, do the church thing. And they are in a major discernment process right now about what the Lord would have them do to faithfully serve in this season in their life together. So, that’s where we are. We are discerning. And I’ve learned so much about discernment alongside this congregation. >>Doug Sweeney: An important thing to learn. Pastor Happell, we have a good number of female students at Beeson. You know Beeson is a pretty traditional school theologically. We live in a part of the country that’s a pretty conservative part of the country in lots of different ways. A lot of our female students and I bet some prospective students that are even listening to us right now are just wondering about ... they love the Lord, they love to go to seminary, they’re thinking about how God might use their gifts down the road, and if they’re either from this part of the country or they think if I go to that seminary that’s probably where I’ll look for jobs when I’m done – they probably just have questions about what’s for the, what are the opportunities out there? You’ve been a female pastor for a while now. What kind of advice to younger women in particular do you have? >>Connie: We follow Jesus one day at a time. The world is a changing place. There are opportunities to serve Jesus everywhere. I serve in the liberal mainline and I’m allowed to be ordained and to be a senior pastor. But that doesn’t make what I do any more or less important than other opportunities. I think the church is in enough of a state of flux now that we just remember we follow Jesus one day at a time. My call wasn’t to ordained ministry, it was to seminary. That’s how I saw it. And it was only later on, through a process, that I figured out that I was to be a church pastor. So, my encouraging word is if God is calling you to this you can step out in faith and do it. And be flexible and be open and watch what God is doing around you. Because I think it’s a pretty exciting time to be in ministry. Things are shifting. I just don’t know where they’re going to go. I have a dear young friend who is a graduate of Central in Nashville. And she is Southern Baptist. And she has preaching gifts. And she doesn’t have opportunity to use them very often. And yet God has placed her in a teaching position in a local university there. And she does classes on Jesus in Film and Culture. And she is reaching people with the gospel that I may never have the opportunity to reach. And her mama wishes that her preaching gifts were being used, but I think she’s on the forefront of ministry right now. She’s my hero. >>Kristen Padilla: This morning I had the privilege of introducing you in chapel in which we heard a beautiful sermon. I mentioned to those who were in attendance that you were our James Earl Massey Student Preaching Award Winner in April 2006, and preached on the life of Jesus then. And came back today to preach again in chapel. So, I have kind of a two-part question. The first part is can you tell our listeners just a little bit, a preview of what you preached in chapel? I encourage all of you who are listening to go to our YouTube Channel and you can find Connie’s full sermon there. So, you can listen to it in full after this episode. But can you first give them a preview and then maybe secondly answer the question of what have you learned about preaching? Or how have you developed as a preacher since you won that award from that time till today? >>Connie: So, my text today was Matthew 4, the temptation of Jesus. And I’ve spent some time with that text. I think that what struck me is that there are always forces, some of them internal to us, some of them external – telling us about what we can and can’t do, how we are and are not supposed to be. And it reminded me so much of my ... I talked about remember who you are. That you are God’s beloved. And in the face of whatever battle you’re fighting, whether you think it’s with the devil or you think it’s with yourself, or even your family. It’s being deeply sat in your identity as God’s beloved child. Beloved of your Savior and filled with the Spirit is so core to your identity. People will tell you, you are other things but it’s really important that you believe that you are loved and called by God. Because there are voices, including your own sometimes, who will tell you, “I’m no good at this.” You know? What have I learned about preaching? It’s such a privilege to get to preach. It’s such a privilege to stand under God’s Word and it’s so humbling. And sometimes scary. But always amazing because I think when they teach you about preaching they say first the Word has got to be preached to you before you can preach it to anyone else. And so it’s such a gift to be able to preach every Sunday. I have to stand under God’s Word every week and trust God with whatever I say. I’ve learned to be okay with what I just said and leave it and not perseverate over what I could have done differently or better. The beauty of preaching every week is that you just got to move on. And if you didn’t say something one week, you get to say it the next week. So, it is not a onetime event. It’s always going on. But I’ve learned to let go and let God and when I go into my church on Sunday morning, I’m one of the happiest people around. And it really doesn’t matter what’s happened because God shows up for me. And I’ve learned to just let it go to God. And whatever happens, even if I tell a joke and it falls flat, which I have done and people are like, “Oh Lord, that didn’t go well.” Just be okay with it. Don’t examine it too much. Because you’ve done your work and trust God with the rest. That’s what I’ve really learned about preaching. But it’s such a privilege. >>Doug Sweeney: It is. Connie, Kristen and I always end interviews with guests on the podcast by asking them a very practical contemporary question: What is it that God has been teaching you recently? So, we turn to you in conclusion, hoping that we’ll edify our listeners with a word of encouragement based on what the Lord has been doing in your life these days. What are you learning from him? >>Connie: The Lord is teaching me to look carefully, to listen deeply, and well, and prayerfully; to just be mindful of God’s presence – not just with me but with those I’m with at each and every moment. Because I said we’re doing some heavy lifting discernment in my congregation. And I’m learning more about community discernment. And that takes a lot of patience and a lot of heart tending and a lot of changes coming. And it’s hard. So, I’ve learned to slow down and look and listen and not speak, and embrace the Spirit’s calm almost in a really new way. Because I have to. It’s essential for them that I not, that I don’t let my anxiety rule my heart, and it could. >>Doug Sweeney: A good word and a great way to conclude. You have been listening to the Reverend Connie Happell. She is Pastor of Edgewood Presbyterian Church in Columbus, Georgia, the very town in which she was born. She is an alumna of Beeson Divinity School, we’re proud to say. We’re grateful to you for being with us today, Connie. Thanks for your gift of time. And to listeners, we thank you for tuning in. We remind you that we love you and we’re praying for you. Please pray for us. We say goodbye for now. >>Kristen Padilla: You’ve been listening to the Beeson podcast. Our theme music is written and performed by Advent Birmingham of the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama. Our engineer is Rob Willis. Our announcer is Mike Pasquarello. Our co-hosts are Doug Sweeney and, myself, Kristen Padilla. Please subscribe to the Beeson podcast at www.BeesonDivinity.com/podcast or on iTunes.