David
Anderson, City Editor for the Oroville Mercury-Register put it
most poignantly in his article: Pastor's Motorcycle Death Stuns
Community : saying, The Thursday afternoon (August 26, 2004) traffic
death of a well known, widely loved and highly respected local
pastor has plunged the Oroville community into shock and grief.
This
page is dedicated to our Paje de Armas, Pastor Don North.
He was our Pastor in Oroville,
where we live. We are blessed to have two church homes, Trinity
Bible Church when we are able to be home and Adobe Christian Center
when we are in Petaluma. Ron knew Pastor Don four and a half years,
but we only came to develop a relationship with him over a year
a half period of time beginning February 2003. It is amazing how
God can blend hearts in such an astoundingly short period of time.
We were truly blessed and very honored to know Pastor Don. We
could never find words to express all he meant to us, let alone
attempt to describe how he impacted the lives of those he knew
for many, many years. We are grieved beyond description at the
deep loss but immeasurably better for having known him. By his
life and occasionally with words, Pastor Don intensified our desire
to know the Lord in a deeper and more intimate way, and to seek
to understand what the Kingdom of God here on earth "looks like."
One of his favorite quotes was "God
is building His Kingdom on gifts of friendship"
(from John Dawson)
and it certainly is a legacy that he leaves us.
Scripture
Verse: But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have
counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count
all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing
Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all
things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,
and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own
derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ,
the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.
Philippians 3:7-9
Our
sincere desire is to bring honor and glory to our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ by honoring one of His precious servants. The intent
of the following synopsis is to give a small reflection of the
great ways that God used a man who was "recklessly abandoned"
to Him through his humility, single-mindedness, and ability to
live his values. Donna, Ben & Bernadette, Keli, Tim &
Annie, Nathan, Eric and Andrew we love you and thank you for the
many hours you sacrificed with your husband and dad so he could
impact us and his world the way he did.
Following
are highlights of the service held in Pastor Don's memory on Saturday,
September 4, 2004.
So
fittingly, the memorial service opened with Worship to our Lord
and King. Ted and Laurie Leinhart led us to the throne room of
God: the only place we could come with our heavy hearts to receive
the shalom and encouragement only our Father can provide.
After
worship, Reverend Ed Redfern, the Senior Pastor of Oroville Church
of the Nazarene, expressed briefly his deep sense of grief over
the loss of his long time friend and fellow Pastor. Rev. Ed has
been a personal friend and co-laborer with Pastor Don for more
than 25 years. He also read certificates from the Oroville Council
and Assembly expressing appreciation and gratitude for Pastor
Don's contribution to the community.
Reverend
Leonard Lee, Pastor Don's brother-in-law, began by sharing that
Pastor Don was the jar of clay, and the only thing of importance
with the jar of clay was how well it holds the Treasure of Jesus
Christ. Pastor Don held the Treasure well. He explained that the
service to follow would weave a story, with each speaker sharing
a piece of the picture that would paint a portrait of this "simple
but enormously complex man" whose life glorified God and incalculably
impacted his world for the Kingdom.
Pastor
Don was born Peter Donald North on February 6, 1949. Rich
North, Pastor Don's brother, reflected on the early years revealing
that he was intense, driven and full of mischief even back then
when his raw warrior spirit was being developed. It was during
his high school years that he met the love of his life - - Donna
Lambert. They were married on
|
May
10, 1971 and later came to Oroville California, where Pastor
Don's father and mother (Pete and Leona) were serving as
Associate Pastors to Pastor Carl Minnick of Trinity Bible
Church. Pastor Don began serving as Youth Pastor at Trinity,
but was busy making plans to leave Oroville and serve the
Lord in much more grandiose ways than he could in this small
community. |
However, God had different plans. During a service Pastor Don
made a commitment to serve with a ministry that would lead him
to the greater world reach that he so desired, but God quietly
told him no. Long after the service ended and everyone went home,
Pastor Don sat alone wrestling with God. After several hours of
struggling, he submitted to the Lord's plan and stayed in Oroville.
Much to his chagrin he later learned that he was not only to stay
in Oroville, but he was to become the Senior Pastor when Pastor
Carl Minnick retired. This decision also came at the end of much
arguing and grappling with God. One of his arguments was: I don't
love these people and I don't even want to. But, again he submitted
to Almighty God. God did such a precious and heart-changing work
in this young man, that anyone you would speak with today would
say; "I didn't just know him, he was my friend." His favorite
quote, God is building His Kingdom on gifts of friendship, was
not something he just thought sounded good - - he lived it. You
also didn't have to know Pastor Don very long to know that he
loved Oroville. This did not happen overnight, but somewhere between
the late 70's (when he schemed at least once every 3-4 years with
his good friend, peer and then Youth Pastor, Ed Redfern, to leave
Oroville) and now, he developed a deep love and commitment to
the city of Oroville.
Reverend
Carl Minnick also shed light on Pastor Don's years as Youth Pastor
and the struggle to accept the call to Senior Pastor. But, more
notably he challenged the more than 700 in attendance with the
story of Elisha from II Kings 2; pronouncing, "someone needs to
pick up the mantle." Reverend Phil Hillier (cousin in-law) shared
a tough challenge as well. God says: "I looked for a man to stand
in the gap and found none. (Ezekiel 28:30) Would you be that man?
Both these challenges give a good indication of the man that Pastor
Don was, a man who lived his life in such a way that it demanded
a commitment from others.
Pastor
Don was committed to seeing the Kingdom of God advanced in his
church, his city, the region and beyond. Reverend Larry Lane and
Reverend Gaylord Enns, close friends and fellow servants with
Pastor Don on various regional teams, added their experiences
over many years along with insightful observations to the portrait
of Pastor Don. Reverend Larry Lane reflected that Pastor Don built
the kingdom by his presence. He was revered by many as the "Bishop
of Oroville" due to his commitment and endless service to the
church and community at large. He served on the Regional Leadership
Team, on the Board of Directors for the School of Transformation
and was part of the Pray California Facilitation Team. Rev. Larry
encouraged us with the words of Christ: " Verily, verily, I say
unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die,
it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."
(John 12:24 KJV) Reverend Gaylord Enns
Pastor
Don had a burning desire to break down barriers in the Kindgom
of God wherever he found them. This was especially evident in
his close friendships with and love for the Native American peoples.
Ray Shelton, former Pastor and Native American, shared that Pastor
Don was a father to the Body of Christ. He followed protocol,
which is giving love, honor and respect to others. Pastor Don
valued the gifts that God placed in others; he lived out his protocol
and beliefs. His last message was in the park and was indicative
of his life. He challenged those listening to let love reach it's
mark, to learn the art of the loving interview, to look beyond
the obvious and let God choose our relationships. Ken Gilbert,
a Tribal Leader, shared that Pastor Don recognized that God had
placed Mr. Gilbert as a spiritual leader to his people. He related
that many times he has felt like an alien in his native land,
but Pastor Don never made him feel that way. Mr. Gilbert commented
that he appreciated a man living out what God was speaking to
him. He closed by claiming a promise from God's Word: Because
Pastor Don has kept "His statues and His commandments..it will
go well with him and his children." (Deuteronomy 4:40)
Reverend
Adrian Hills, Pastor of Wynn Memorial Church, with tears running
down his face told how Pastor Don saw a "skinny, young black Pastor"
and became a spiritual father and mentor to him. Rev. Adrian went
on to say, "in his presence there was no race, no denominational
lines. I always felt like he was my biggest cheerleader." He related
a story that is just one of a million examples of the way Pastor
Don lived His faith. This past March, Pastor Don called Adrian
with one of his ideas. On Palm Sunday Reverend Adrian's church
marched down a main street in the City of Oroville from one direction
and Pastor Don's church marched toward them coming in the opposite
direction on the opposite side of the street. Members from both
churches waved palm branches and shouted hosanna & praises
to the King. When they met across from each other at an intersection
they began shouting blessings to each other. Then as Reverend
Adrian put it "Pastor Don and I made a big mistake by walking
into the intersection and embracing each other. Our church members
followed suit and we held up traffic for at least five minutes."
Reverend Adrian closed with a favorite statement from Pastor Don,
which all of us heard many times: "God is up to something and
it's bigger than you or I could ever imagine."
Reverend
Ed Redfern, the final speaker, reflected on Pastor Don's life
in light of I John 2. As a young man, Pastor Don was strong and
determined (14b), but somewhere along the line he moved to the
stage of a father demonstrated by the fact that he knew Him that
is from the beginning (13a). Pastor Don saw the Kingdom of God
and was focused on unity. He reminded all in attendance that Pastor
Don wanted the Church of Oroville to meet with the Church of Chico
for a regional prayer walk on September 11 th . He closed with:
Jesus is up to something and we are not going to let the dream
die.
Reverend
Lee painted the final strokes on the canvas by sharing the reflections
of Pastor Don's children. Following are some of their thoughts
regarding their dad:
Our
dad taught us that:
. Life
is an adventure.
. The
world is a giant playground God created for him to play in.
. What
lasts in life is people.
