Church Family, Adopted Dad

Shortly after I came back from a year at I.U. School of Music I became disenchanted with the church I had attended since grade school.

A friend of mine, Sue Nichols, had changed churches too and suggested that I try East 49th Street Christian Church. The Sunday after President Kennedy was shot was my first Sunday. That first Sunday I felt for the first time that God was present in church. I had never felt that at the other church. I came back the next Sunday and Russ remembered my name. That shocked me. I had only met him the once going through his famous greeting line outside.

I wanted to start choir right away but I didn't have transportation. Members of the choir would pick me up for rehearsals and church and take me home. This was miles out of their way. I had trouble getting a four block ride at the other church.

Russ was always interested in what I was doing and how I was getting along. I used to wonder what it was like to have two parents who really loved each other like Russ and Marian. I envied Phil and Paul but I looked on them like my "adopted little brothers." (They were little then and I could swing them around on my shoulders.)

Later, I got married, had two boys, Patrick and Michael and eventually my marriage failed. My mother's marriage fell apart when I was seven, and my grandfather left a week before my tenth birthday. I didn't want to be the third one to fail and swore I'd never get a divorce.

Russ and Marian were always there encouraging me and making me feel I wasn't a failure after all. They encouraged me, counseled me, and talked to the boys when I needed extra help. Russ helped me see a lot of things differently and I looked up to him like an adopted dad. He did more for me than my own dad ever did. I also looked at God differently. I always believed in Him from the time I could remember, but he was always like one dumb song says "From a Distance" (pretty tune, but lame on the reality of God). I thought: if Russ as a human could seem so good and as perfect as a human could be, then how much more compassionate, forgiving, kind and loving were God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit?

Thank you Russ for being you. I'm sure God had a hand in bringing me to East 49th in my teen years. I and my boys will greatly miss you.

Love,
Sharon-Glee Gerth / December 20, 2007

Courage - Wasem

While a student at Emmanuel in the mid 1970’s, I attended my first North American Christian Convention at Cobo Hall in Detroit. I was a fairly new Christian and very new to the world of vocational ministry. I observed with keen interest the President of that convention. I was awed by his humility, hospitable attitude, relational ease, and authentic faith. To me, he was the consummate gentleman and ambassador for Christ. From my vantage point, he made all people in that auditorium feel as though they were meeting one-on-one with him over coffee in a corner booth as he spoke from the main platform. I leaned over to my wife during the final session and said, “I’d give anything to serve Christ with that man and learn from him.” A few years later, I was given that opportunity and had the privilege to serve as an associate of Russ Blowers during the 80’s. Thousands of people have described RFB as an encourager. I commented to a fellow pall bearer at the November 15 memorial service in Indianapolis that for me, Russ was the one person who didn’t just encourage me … he gave me courage. The courage to attempt things for God well beyond my comfort zone. The courage to “let my yes be yes and my no be no.” The courage to love, forgive, and give extravagantly when my human logic would hold me back. I learned more about being a minister of the gospel, a pastor of souls, and a human being from Russ Blowers than any other person I have known. God bless you Russell Fredrick Blowers and the global Church of the Lord Jesus Christ you loved and led so well.
John E. Wasem / November 30, 2007