by Joy Corey, originally published in the September 1997 issue of The Word magazine
WHY DO MISSIONS start up in one area and not in another? How long does it take before one begins the process until a mission is given birth? How do you go about starting a mission? These are questions I’ve been asked over and over again. The best way I can answer these questions is to share my experience about a mission which I’ve had the privilege of helping to found.
The mission of St. John the Baptist was born in Coeur d’Alene, in the State of Idaho, to the Antiochian Archdiocese on Sunday, November 19, 1995. Like all births, it came into being in travail. Coeur d’Alene is located on the eastern side of the Cascade Mountains, just west of Spokane, 100 miles south of Alberta in Canada with Montana hugging its borders to the east. It is majestically nestled amidst Northern Idaho’s proliferation of pine trees, glacier lakes, and exquisite golf courses. The Panhandle (as this area is called) has not seen the likes of an Orthodox Church in its lifetime, neither has central Idaho. Hence, St. John the Baptist is a mission in the truest sense of the word.
Many, like myself, have come to the Northwest to find sanctuary from the tyranny of city life with its rising crime, drugs and congestion. Before making my decision to move with my husband to this peaceful haven, I inquired about an Orthodox Church. From August of ’92 until November of ’95, I willingly made the two-hour roundtrip to Spokane as a new member of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church where I worshiped for three years, serving on the Parish Council, teaching Sunday School, heading up a Women’s Spiritual Circle and enjoying the benefits of having such a wonderful priest as Fr. Stephen Supica and his devoted Presvytera Irene.
We were fast approaching the climactic point of our third Lenten season; that point where it all culminates; that time when we shift gears from dark colors (black and purple) to light colors (white and gold), from repentance and sorrow to forgiveness and joy, from night to day, from chaos to peace, from despair to hope, and from fasting to feasting—GREAT PASCHA. That time when our Lord through the shedding of his unblemished blood “passed over” from death to life, as the Israelites had done so many thousands of years before when the angel of death “passed over” those doors whose lintels were covered with the blood of an unblemished lamb, also granting them life. By this time, Washington’s border had become a more familiar sight to me than my husband, the odometer was fast rising, and so much of my time was spent behind the wheel travelling back and forth to Spokane. The drive was becoming old, and on that fateful Good Friday in 1994, I half-jokingly, but very exhaustedly after driving a total of four hours back and forth for the day and evening services, said to Fr. Stephen, “I think it’s time to start a mission!” It became apparent to me that Fr. Stephen had meditated upon my words when only a few short weeks later he asked me if I knew Fr. Philip Nixon who was up visiting from Twin Falls, Idaho. I didn’t, so he introduced us. Fr. Philip had moved from California to the southern part of Idaho where he established the Mission of St. Ignatius of Antioch. This was a fruitful encounter. We were merely manifesting God’s Divine Providence, of course. Almost immediately, plans were made for Fr. Philip to come up on a weekend at which time we had a dinner meeting at our home and vespers at a local church. Three such gatherings took place over a period of 3-4 months. I had rounded up as many people in the area as I could. The phone became my constant companion and an extension of my persona with the blessing of Fr. Stephen. I called all the Orthodox I knew in the Panhandle and called the local paper to run a story. The last meeting took place in July of ’94. We met with silence for another year. But that didn’t surprise me.
That silence was broken by the ring of the phone at my home the following July. It was our precious Father in Christ, Fr. Philip Nixon who claimed, “Fr. Peter (Gillquist) hasn’t forgotten about you, Joy. It seems he got a phone call from a priest back east who is interested in taking on a mission. When Fr. Peter went over the list of possible locations for a mission, this priest stopped him when he read “Coeur d’Alene,” and asked, “Where in the world is Coeur d’Alene?” It wouldn’t be long before we would meet this young, dynamic, multi-talented, and spiritually-gifted priest, and it wouldn’t be long before he would know exactly where Coeur d’Alene was in the world … exactly where God was sending him!
Money was raised for an airline ticket and in a matter of a few weeks, my sister and I were excitedly running up the stairs in the Spokane Airport wondering what this priest would be like. As I quizzically perused the crowd, I could see the head of a young, slight figure topped with a cap enthusiastically bobbing up and down and I just knew this was him. Sure enough, I didn’t have to wonder any longer when I heard the words, “Which of you two ladies is Joy Corey?” Fr. Gregory Horton was his name. We talked and talked and talked for hours into the night. The next day (Saturday), Fr. Philip Nixon arrived from Twin Falls. A small crowd gathered that evening at St. George Roman Catholic Church, our borrowed facilities, where we held vespers. Fr. Gregory addressed us later and although the group was small, he sensed there was the dedication needed to get a mission off the ground. This is the key to a mission succeeding. It isn’t in the numbers; it’s in the dedication. We knew we had a priest who was called by God to mission work. Not all priests could do this kind of work. It is a real calling! He wasn’t discouraged by the numbers, and he wasn’t into money. Money was not an important issue, which was good since we couldn’t offer him much. The success of a mission is not only incumbent upon the sacrifice of the priest but also upon the sacrifice of his wife and children if he is married. Fr. Gregory has a wife who was willing to work and make sacrifices. The greatest blessing for a priest is to have such a wife and indeed Fr. Gregory is blessed with a wife who understands the “missionary” calling.
This was the middle of August. Three months later Fr. Gregory arrived in the midst of a wintery storm with his beautiful and most dedicated Khoureya Cindy, their four children, Tatiana, Maximos, Sebastian and Benjamin, two cars ( one driven by him and the other by her) with a borrowed pair of walkie talkies as their sole means of communication as they travelled the treacherous winter roads, their clothing, their cat, and most importantly, an Iconostasis, icons, church music, liturgical supplies, and all the enthusiasm, love, devotion and commitment needed to give birth to a mission. Doctors have their medical supplies; Father had his liturgical supplies. Notice, no material possessions; evidence of the hearts of true missionaries. He brought with him our Choir Director (Khoureya Cindy) and our first two altar boys (Max and Sebastian) with a third altar boy in the making (Benjamin who was then 2 years old) and another choir member in training (Tatiana) now 11.
So, how do you start a mission? With dedication, desire and hard work. How long does it take? As long as it takes to find a priest who is willing to work hard, reach out with vision to the community around him, is willing to sacrifice the material for the eternal, and has an evangelical fervor. You put ads in the paper like we did and get the local newspapers to run stories on as many of your activities as possible. But, you don’t want to start a mission in an area where an Orthodox Church already exists. If there had been an Orthodox Church in Northern Idaho, given its population (50,000), we would not have begun a mission. Jurisdictions are not important. We loved going to the Greek Church in Spokane. It was just that there were other Orthodox who remained unchurched because of the distance and we felt since hardly anyone out here had ever heard of an “Orthodox Church,” we had better take seriously the great commission of our Lord to baptize in His Name, and to preach and teach. He was addressing “The Church.” We are “The Church.” It isn’t the fault of the people around us if they do not know what the Orthodox Church is. It is our fault! Coming from an ethnic background as I do, and being a cradle Orthodox as I am, I’ve been asked by other cradle Orthodox who are members of ethnic parishes, “Why do you want Americans to come into your church?” I respond to this: “Because I do not want to stand before ‘the Dread Judgment Seat of Christ’ at the Final Judgment and give account for what I did with this “Pearl of Great Price.”
Moreover, I’m reminded of the parable of the talents and I think about the steward who hid his talent and I am reminded of his fate. I tremble to think how I might be judged if I, who was made a steward of this Truth, like the steward in the parable, kept it to myself. I hate to think of the judgment that would rightly be passed on me! IT’S OUR FAULT, NOT THEIRS! Why? Because when we Orthodox came to this Continent, we formed our little ghettos and lived within our little communities. The faithful who came, built the first Orthodox churches and sacrificed much to do so. God bless them! This is our heritage. They came to a country that was settled and whose religion was Protestant and Roman Catholic. How strange it must have all seemed! No wonder they sent for priests from the old country. However, we’ve missed one very important point in all of this. It is good that our forefathers worked hard to bring Orthodoxy to America, but God’s purpose, as it was in Antioch, in Constantinople, in Rome, in Jerusalem, and in Alexandria, was to spread “The Church,” was “to go ye into the world and baptize in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” At that time, Canada and the United States, were not part of “the world,” but that does not make them any less a part of it today. Christ gave us this “great commission,” and we must fulfill it! It isn’t easy to evangelize in a Western society where our minds are fed and ultimately saturated with western theology. It would be easier to go into the jungles of some remote country since they are not likely to have been deluged with Western preachers on television and on the radio and in every written medium. It truly is hard work. There is so much to overcome when you have a Protestant Church on practically every corner. THE AMERICAN PROTESTANTS HAVE PROSELYTIZED IN RUSSIA; IT’S TIME WE MISSIONIZED IN AMERICA!
As to who can start a mission, the answer is “anyone can.” Anyone, that is, who is determined to work, who loves his or her faith and believes in evangelizing it, but most important of all, is committed to seeing it through no matter what obstacles may confront them. Fr. Peter Gillquist, head of the Department of Missions for the Antiochian Archdiocese, has a list of potential locations for missions. This is how Fr. Gregory Horton got to us. And what a blessing he and his family have been! Needless to say, however, this cannot happen without the approval of our beloved Metropolitan PHILIP.
I extend an invitation to all our Orthodox brethren to come and visit us in this most beautiful part of the country where the deer roam freely, the pheasant and quail abound, the cows, horses and sheep are respected, where the empty Highways and Byways give new meaning to the term “rush hour,” and where the lakes are almost as numerous as the number of pools in California’s backyards. If you are looking for a great place to vacation, add Coeur d’Alene, Idaho to your list. We’d love to see ya! Or, if you know of any Orthodox moving out this way, have them contact Fr. Gregory Horton at 208-773-2876. It is time we support the work of our Orthodox Missions right here in America. We always think of overseas when we speak in terms of “mission work,” but believe me, the greatest mission fields are right here in America where we find an apostate nation that has turned its back on holiness and can no longer differentiate “between the left and the right hand.”
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