First Person: Honoring a youth pastor turned evangelist

Nov 5, 2009
By BRITTNEY CHANDLER
Special to Florida Baptist Witness

Growing up experiencing ministry my whole life, sometimes I like to think I have all these ministers figured out. You know how they all wear the button-up shirts tucked into their khaki slacks that are probably pulled up a little too high? Most of them could possibly be mistaken for politicians since they always insist on speaking to everyone when they walk into a restaurant, a grocery store, or about anywhere.

As I look back on my life as a preacher’s daughter, I realize now—after 18 years—that, yes, I do have many details figured out about these men ordained by our Redeemer. However, there are some amazing qualities that I still continue to learn and discover.

From the time I entered my church youth group as a proud sixth grader until I graduated high school, I had the utmost honor of having my father, Rev. Shelly Chandler, as my pastor and also his best friend, Rev. Doug Hemanes, as my youth minister. Since birth, I have considered this man my second father.

That is why on Aug. 14 when he sat me down to tell me God was calling him from First Baptist Church of Bonifay, I felt tears sting my eyes. In that instant, a flood of memories filled my mind—memories that I experienced along with my youth group with Doug as our leader. It had been way too long since I allowed those memories to penetrate my mind. As I did, I was overcome with a strong realization of how this man had been so radically used by God to touch and make such a massive difference in my own personal walk with Christ.

Learning from Doug has always been an easy task because he has lived his life for Christ no matter if he was preaching to us on Wednesday night or getting a burger afterward at McDonalds. I watched him as he ministered to the new girl sitting in the back row or the cashier standing behind the counter at the football game. He was always looking for someone in need and also looking for the good in people, which is a quality I tend to lack.

During middle school, as I was beginning to further my athletic career, he never failed to remind me how important it was to be a light for Christ on and off the field. He was always one of the first people to praise me after a game, no matter what the score board said or what the coach’s opinion was about how I played. He continuously reminded me that God was bigger than any home-run or free throw shot. Because of these words, I believe God used Doug to keep my eyes not on the trophies and awards of this world, but on Christ.

“Run the race, Britt,” he would tell me. “In this race, you won’t get the prize until you get to heaven. That’s the only award you need to be confident in sports or anything else you do in this life.”

Challenging his youth was a quality that came naturally to Doug, and he always covered them in love while he did it. I watched him throughout high school loving on the ones that had fallen away as well as the ones I personally had given up on and gotten angry with because of their lifestyle. I finally just gave up all hope of them ever coming back to Jesus. Doug loved them with a love that was unconditional, with no judgment or anger. From this act, he taught me that compared to our Lord and Savior, we are all nothing. It is our continual job to never give up on the ones that struggle, because if we don’t pray for them and show them the hope that we have, who will?

The summer after I graduated from high school was my senior class’ last youth camp with Doug. That week I experienced what Doug had been talking about all along. He was right. There was hope. I saw the joy in his eyes as he watched his prayers being answered while his long-awaited youth had finally let go and come back to Christ. That summer was a summer ordained by my Creator because I had truly experienced what Doug had been trying to teach me for years: that when we let go of our selfish pride, no matter what we have done or what our past says about us, our God is waiting with open arms, just like Doug was waiting for his youth that summer night.

When Doug sat me down to tell me he was leaving, I looked into his eyes, but most of all I saw straight into his heart. Everything in him wanted to stay in Bonifay. He wanted his kids to grow up living here, he didn’t want to leave his staff, and part of him felt he was abandoning hundreds of young people. What he didn’t know was that on Aug. 14 he was ministering to me more than he ever had before. He was showing me by his lifestyle once again that even when the reasons weren’t understandable and the calling was questionable, Doug Hemanes still chose to go and do what his Master expected of him. Doug showed me that day that he truly knows what it means to “[G]o and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, … teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” Matthew 28:19-20.

Doug knew that God was going to be with him, and I have a feeling that’s the only reason he had the strength to walk out of First Baptist Church, Bonifay, for the last time on Sunday, Sept. 27.

Brittney Chandler is the daughter of Shelley Chandler, the pastor of First Baptist Church in Bonifay.

Email this Article Print this page

Login ID:
Password:	Forgot password?