Want to meet with Rev. John Weaver?

Pull out your calendar and see if y’all can’t work out a date, likely one a few weeks away—if he is free then.

“But you’re retired!” Weaver says people say.

And so he is.

But since retiring as full-time pastor of Summer Memorial Lutheran Church in 1998, the 75-year-old has kept busy.

There’s been the neighborhood association he’s a part of, and theater as a Ritz Community Player. Plus he has church meetings and his third stint as a stand-in pastor where you’ll hear him preaching these days at Whitmire’s St. Timothy Lutheran Church.

And now he has a theory on the whole retirement thing, too.

“You have heard the expression, ’Gee, I retired and now I’m busier than I ever was.’ Well, I think I’ve figured out the key to this: As we get older, it just takes us longer to do things,” he says laughing. “So we think we’re busier.”

But slower at tasks or not, Weaver’s duties run long and he’s looking for a break.

Stepping down

New to town yet plugged-in in 1984, Weaver was asked by a fellow pastor to be in charge of volunteer pastors visiting the hospital’s sick for the county’s goodwill group Interfaith Community Services.

Twenty-five years later, he is still at it.

“I had an interest in (Interfaith Community Services’) whole mission and this opportunity came up and I was qualified to do it,” he says.

But, he says, “I didn’t intend to be doing this for 25 years. There was a need at the time and I figured, ’Well, OK. I’ll do it.’”

Then another need arose.

Another pastor was having a hard time finding a temporary leader to organize volunteers for Interfaith Community Services’ other ministries: devotions at nursing homes, newspaper sermons, drug and alcohol abuse classes, jail visits and radio devotions.

So Weaver said yes, he’d fill in.

But he could never find a replacement.

“So, ’temporarily’ has been 14 years,” Weaver says.

“It’s time to put this horse out to pasture,” Weaver wrote to ministry volunteers last month. “This is my final year in this job.”

But who will take the reins next year?

Looking for big shoulders

The ICS ministry is a big group with a big goal.

From its start in 1973, Weaver says the group has been fueled by Jesus’ words in the Bible to help “the least,” and in doing so, help Jesus himself.

“If they’re in need, that’s Christ in need,” says Weaver.

And all while he’s scheduling volunteers, Weaver is thinking people’s spiritual lives are at stake. He’s in the wrong ministry if he doesn’t, he says.

So his favorite part of the job is offering people God’s word and more specifically, eternal life.

“God loved the world so much that he sent his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life,” says Weaver. “How shall they hear God’s word if there’s not someone to carry the message?”

It’s a weighty message and big task, but Weaver says the work only requires someone with “certain administrative skills” and a few other qualities:

“I think it needs to be a younger person, definitely someone who is ecumenically minded,” he says, “and somebody who enjoys working in a variety of ministry settings.”

Computer skills help too, he adds, and the work is not something to be dumped on a secretary.

In the meantime…

In his letter, Weaver asks whoever is interested in the work to contact him.

But for now, he’s not exactly sitting around waiting by the phone.

After a walk before breakfast one day last month and then a meeting, he headed back to his house to plow and then plant his garden.

Or, well, since he was in the downtown area, he figured he’d also stop by Summer Memorial Church for an errand.

But then he headed home to garden and eventually, next year, rest more.

“Hey,” he says. “I’m 75 years old and it’s time to give up a few things, not to sit on the rocking chair on the porch, but in order to have some time to do some other things that I really don’t have time now to take on.”

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In his 25 years of Interfaith Community Service work, the Rev. John Weaver says one of the best things about his duties is meeting people.

Here, a few ICS folks Weaver has met along the way speak out on Weaver and his work.

THE Rev. John Weaver

“He is a man of men. He multi-tasks and he’s a great Christian influence.”

— Joan O’Dell

“He’s a wonderful friend and he was a wonderful pastor. He did wonderful work at Summer Memorial Lutheran Church. He’s a dedicated man of God.”

— Tom Bradley

“He is really the one that kept us moving in the right direction. He was, in my opinion, one who really kept the ICS program in a very positive mode. If there were any questions or problems, he would be the one that we go to. He is a very strong organizer of ICS.”

— Alexis Heil

“...(As) a new employee at the hospital, when I asked about how to introduce myself to the faith community, several people told me to call him. He responded quickly and graciously, arranging to introduce me at the next ICS meeting and letting me talk about my program here at the hospital as part of community outreach.”

— Peggy Copulsky

“He is highly energetic. He works tirelessly with ICS, is very organized and his heart is very much in this organization and it shows. It is so evident that he has the heart of a servant.”

— The Rev. Kathy Harris

“He is the most organized and efficient man that I’ve ever worked with.”

— Huger Caughman Jr.

“Rev. Weaver, I think, is the backbone of ICS with his leadership and willingness to be involved. I think losing him is going to be a loss for the organization. To replace him would be almost impossible.”

— John Glasgow

“I think he’s terrific. He’s done more in retirement than most people do in their working days and he’s going to be sorely missed in leadership in ICS.”

— George Burk