Jack Tanner has been a fixture in rural Connecticut and the East Coast for as long as I can remember. As a member of my own fellowship of churches, Jack was faithfully serving Newtown Christian Church in rural Connecticut long before I came to the suburbs of Philadelphia to plant CCV.
For those who don’t live out here, the East Coast is some of the most resistant soil anywhere, and tilling spiritual ground to raise a harvest in Connecticut is like hitting bedrock. Yet Jack has served faithfully, and without fanfare, for an entire generation.
So it came as no surprise to anyone that when the President of the United States flew into Newtown, Connecticut, to speak at the vigil for the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting, Jack was the one who was chosen to read Romans 8 before the President spoke to the nation.
While everyone’s thoughts were drawn to the Presidents words (and rightly so, for I found them incredibly comforting), I couldn’t help but think of the opening words of a sermon written by theologian Francis Schaeffer entitled, “No Little Peoples, No Small Places.”
[A Christian will often say to himself] ‘It is wonderful to be a Christian, but I am such a small person, so limited in talents – or energy or psychological strength or knowledge – that what I do is not really important.’
The Bible, however, has quite a different emphasis: with God there are no little people.
Thank you Jack for your years of faithful service. Our thoughts and prayers are with you as you continue to do what you’ve always done – loving, caring and serving the families in your community.
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