Jerry Rasmus

Only those of you in the CGGC who are geezers will know the name.

Jerry Rasmus was my best friend.

We met in 1977 when we were students in seminary and we traveled a long and winding road, wandering in and out of each other's lives, for more than 40 years.

In the last decade plus, Jerry fought three types of cancer, and ultimately, lost the battle this past Monday.

Jerry helped plant the seeds in me that significantly formed me into the Jesus follower I am today.

He was a profoundly gifted man and a passionate believer in Jesus who tried for a time, but failed, to be a congregational pastor.

Jerry was a good preacher but an absolutely superb teacher. His pastorates were successful, but always short lived.

Ultimately, and long before me, he lost faith in the institutional church but he was never really comfortable separating himself from it.

Jerry and I discovered APEST at about the same time.

We both dabbled briefly, exploring the potentials of the Emerging Church, and embraced what was, then, called missional.

Both of us were changed by Reggie McNeal's The Present Future and by Frost and Hirsch's, The Shaping of Things to Come. 

Jerry was an apostle.

Because I knew him so intimately and for so long, I can say that Jerry possessed the inclinations and passions of an apostle as purely and powerfully as anyone I've ever known.

Jerry was a born paradigm changer and he was restless...so very, very restless. He was intense and focused and effective...but always restless.

I have often wondered how much Jerry might have done to expand the Kingdom if he'd lived in a faith culture that mentored him, embraced his gifts, empowered them and was apostle-dominated, not parish priest focused.

Up to the day of his death, I sent Jerry a link to every post I entered on my blogs.  As I wrote my posts, I always wondered what Jerry would think of them. In a very real sense, I wrote everything to him, wondering, even, how he'd critique my sentence structure and comma placement.

I don't think Jerry ever figured out how to reply on the blog, but he often responded privately and in personal conversations.

In addition to all those truths, and to be honest and truthful, I have to add this:

I've never laughed harder with anyone than I laughed with Jerry.

Beyond everything else, Jerry was a fun and funny guy who had an appreciation of the absurd that bordered on the genius, though few people saw that side of him.

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One gets to the point in life when people start to die on you...and, I've seen enough of that. But, this one hits so very hard.

The other day, I made arrangements to be able to be off of work to attend Jerry's memorial service. I was talking to the manager who does scheduling, behind closed doors. And, I thought I was doing it in private.

When I walked out of the office, a sweet 20 year old young woman who is a college student and who was working at the store during her Thanksgiving break, approached me and told me that she'd just heard what I said about my best friend dying. She told me how sorry she was and, in the moment, I said to her, "Yeah, next to Evie, he's the person I relied on most over the years."

And, as I was saying it, I was thinking, "Wow, that's true."

So, there's an emptiness that will never be filled.

I thank God that, for more than 40 years, it was filled.

But, Jerry's gone. The emptiness is there. It's here.