On Saturday, in the snowy West Virginia soil, we laid Rev. M. Jack Bohman to rest. He died suddenly Sunday evening at 77. His last day was a good day, and like so many Sundays before that: he preached twice, enjoyed lunch with his wife Cindy, made a visit to someone in need, and then died playing basketball with a group of men he’d been sharing Jesus with. As we journey through life, there are people who move in and out of our orbit, there are people who noticeably touch our lives, and then there are people who shape the very world in which we live. Pastor was one of those people who shaped my world. Upon reflection, I can see that he did so in at least three ways:
1. He shaped the family I was raised in. My parents grew up under his ministry from the time they were 19 and 20 years old. The Christian atmosphere of my childhood home was in no small part due to his faithful ministry of preaching, teaching, shepherding, and leading by example. When a man pastors a large church or in a populous area, or when he bounces around to different churches every few years, he can fool a lot of people about what he’s really like. But to be the kind of pastor that people still look up to after decades of watching him in a smaller church, in a small town, requires that a man be the real deal. Pastor was the real deal. My parents particularly had the opportunity to watch Pastor and Cindy’s lives and doctrine closely for decades, and as best I can tell, their esteem of the Bohmans has grown with each passing year. The fact that my parents didn’t think twice about being at the funeral Saturday, even though they live within hours of Timbuktu (literally), says everything about how much Pastor and Cindy have meant to our family.
2. He shaped my view of the church. As a pastor, I meet many people today who grew up with a jaded view of the church. They experienced endless conflict, they witnessed gross hypocrisy or moral failure, or in some cases, even suffered abused at the hands of church leadership. It is very hard for such people to ever connect to a local church or to trust a pastor. I thank God that has not been my experience. Even though my own passion for Jesus didn’t develop until later, I only had good memories of the church I grew up in and its leadership. The people of the Buckhannon Alliance Church were like additional parents and grandparents to me, brothers and sisters. My best friends were in the church. Church was not just something we did Sundays and Wednesdays, but the church was the people we did life with every day of the week. As a pastor now myself, I know that creating an atmosphere where the church is truly a family does not just happen. It was something that Pastor and Cindy valued and worked hard to create, opening their hearts and home to bring people in and model for others what it looked like to be a church family. I’m thankful for the steady leadership Pastor gave it and for helping to shape a community that made it easy for me to love the church, even before I came to truly love Jesus.
3. He shaped my view of pastoral ministry. On a practical level, I did my first wedding with him. He gave me advice on how to handle the wedding rehearsal that I still abide by today: take charge, answer every question before you get there, and don’t ask for any opinions except from the bride and groom. His advice has saved me innumerable hours and headaches! But at a more philosophical level, Pastor showed me the importance of ministry to kids. I remember hearing Pastor preach countless times. I remember him teaching my Sunday School class for a year around 5th grade. But I’m sad to say I don’t remember any particular lessons he taught. What I do remember is loving him even as a kid, and I remember feeling as though he loved me.
For the first 17 years of my life, he was the only picture I had of a pastor. I can remember being shocked to learn that his name was actually Jack. For us, it was simply “Pastor.” Like many who grew up under his ministry, I hunted him down anytime I was at church to get one of the tic-tacs he carried in his pocket. He always seemed so genuinely excited to see me and give me a tic-tac, that I was convinced I was doing him the favor! And in hindsight, I see how he would take those tic-tac opportunities to say a kind word, to give me a high-five, or to ask me about my most recent wrestling tournament. What a gift to grow up with a pastor who knew me, cared about me, and took an interest in my life. Again, as a pastor now myself I realize that those tic-tacs were a strategic way to engage with the kids in his flock. We kids were not a distraction from the real work of ministry; he wanted us to come to him. I pray that the kids in my own church grow up with the same sense of being loved, and if they do, it will be in no small part because of Pastor.
He also showed me the priority of the pastor’s study. I can remember being puzzled as a kid by the fact that his office was always referred to as a study. I realize now that this was no accident. Even though he was not seminary-trained, he valued the study and took his preparation seriously. I know how hard it is to carve out time to prepare well for one message a week, but pastor was always preparing multiple messages while also wearing many other hats as well including secretary, janitor, and maintenance man. He did not have a lazy bone in his body. Pastor worked, whether it was helping to build the actual church building or preparing a message for the people. He was one who watched his life and doctrine closely and made sure that when he stood up to feed the sheep, he had food that had been well-prepared. He loved Jesus, and because of that, he took care to feed his sheep well. I remember having breakfast with him one time early in my ministry and he gave me this counsel: “Take care to feed the sheep. Make that your priority. If you feed the sheep well, they will bring other sheep and the growth will take care of itself.” He was right.
Finally, he showed me the beauty of steady ministry in one place for a long time. I was dedicated to the Lord under his ministry in 1982, as were my siblings. I was married by Pastor in 2004, as were my siblings. And in 2017, he joined with others in laying hands on me as I was installed as senior pastor in my present church. The text of that prayer is printed in the cover of my preaching Bible, and the video of it is at the bottom of this post. I have been re-watching it ever since I heard of his passing. What a tremendous blessing and encouragement to know that the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working (James 5:16). God heard his prayer and I trust he will continue to answer it.
I would love to talk to him again to tell him about some projects I’ve been working on and to ask his advice on a few things. But such is the nature of life and death, and that time has passed. I will miss his annual call to me on my birthday, something he continued to do even though I hadn’t been under his official shepherding care for 22 years. On my last birthday phone call, we talked about my current sermon series on Deuteronomy. He offered some thoughts on the book’s central themes and resources I may want to consult along the way. Though we didn’t share all the same theological convictions, I trust this series is one he would have enjoyed.
To have a minister in your life, for your whole life, is an incredible gift. His bodily absence leaves a gaping hole in my family’s life, and that of so many others. But Pastor spent his life faithfully pointing us to the Good Shepherd, of whom even the best shepherds on earth are but a dim shadow. I’m thankful that Pastor’s impact will continue in Buckhannon as long as there is a church on the hill off Phillips Dairy Road. His memory will live on in the world so long as those of us who remember him remain. But far more importantly, he built his life and ministry on the eternal Word of God, and for that reason we know that his legacy will endure forever.
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