Surprises don't change couple's loyalty to ministry

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. -- The Rev. Steve Sewell planned to be a youth pastor forever. That's what he'd have told you if you'd asked him in college what his future held.

Now he might tell you things sometimes turn out different than you plan, which is the only way he can explain that rather than working primarily with young people, he works primarily with senior citizens. And rather than remaining where he grew up, he went to college and met his wife and settled in St. Joseph.

But neither he nor his wife, the Rev. Melissa Sewell, are sorry, and their story shows that surprises aren't always a bad thing.

"We had heard about St. Joe, and God placed a burden on me and Melissa for the people here," Steve said. "When he showed us a picture of these people of his love and desire for them we couldn't get here fast enough."

That was a little more than five years ago, and although they'd never started a church, the Sewells responded to what they believed God wanted by moving to St. Joseph from the church they were pastoring in Scottsbluff, Neb. Today, they pastor New Hope Foursquare Church. Its building previously belonged to Hyde Park Foursquare Church, which happened to close just a month after the Sewells moved to St. Joseph.

For them, the building offered more than just a place to plant a church. To save money while they waited for their house in Nebraska to sell, Steve, Melissa and their four children lived in the church for months, using Sunday school classrooms as bedrooms and the church nursery as a living room.

during the church's early days, the Sewells started a basketball league. More than 20 teams competed the first summer, but it wasn't always good, clean fun: Fights made their way onto the court, as did drunken referees. By the start of the first season that fall, the Sewells knew what rules were needed, and the league has been one of the church's most successful ministries.

While the basketball league has seen growth fairly quickly, the growth of the church itself has been slower, totaling not quite 30 members today, more than half of whom are senior citizens. To help with finances, Steve has taken on a second full-time job as a chaplain with Three Rivers Hospice in St. Joseph, but it's not a career he views as completely separate from his primary one as a pastor.

For him, both roles involve more than sermons and speaking to people about God. He tries to care for people in whatever ways they need care, whether it means trimming trees for a hospice patient or taking his congregation to paint a teachers' lounge.

It hasn't always been easy for the Sewells to pastor in St. Joseph. But through Joseph Resource Group, a support system of local pastors, they've had people praying for them and encouraging them. That is one reason they're determined to stay.

The other reason is even bigger.

"There's a little part of me that questions why things have happened the way they have, but at the same time, I'm glad," Sewell said. "People can see we're here for the long haul. We love our city, and we're here to fulfill what God wants us to do in it."