My acquaintance with Pastor McGriffin (AKA Pastor Mac) is the most recent. January 2013 found us moving "temporarily" to Hawaii. What we thought would be a six month stay has turned in to almost five years of part time Hawaiian living. As I mentioned on Sunday, with Pastor White's assistance we found New Life Pentecostal and Pastor and Sis. Mac.
I realized never shared about how Les first "met" Pastor Mac via telephone. Pastor White had called and talked to Pastor Mac, then told Les to give him a call. It was the Monday night before we would go to Hawaii on Friday in January 2013. Les called Pastor Mac and after a brief greeting, Pastor Mac said he would need to call Les back. Les could hear a lot of noise in the background and thought he must have been in a restaurant. A few minutes later Les' phone rang. On the other end a voice said, "Is this Les McElhaney? Do you know who this is?" To make a long story short, it was Pastor Ron Becton from Nashville, Tennessee. Bro. and Sis. Becton (Les' former youth leader) were in Hawaii for a marriage retreat and were having dinner with the McGriffins that night! Bro. Becton's confidence in, and friendship with, Pastor Mac was that final piece of peace we needed.
Pastor Mac faces some unique challenges in pastoring in Hawaii. Many people are only there for vacation, they aren't interested in putting down roots and investing in a church. Many people who live there are in the military, which means they move after just a few years. We've seen a lot of people come and go in these past five years. It can't be easy pastoring sheep who don't stay in the same pasture for long, but Pastor Mac loves everyone who comes to NLP, no matter how long or how short their stay. He teaches and preaches with the same passion no matter how many are missing.
We don't go hungry spiritually when we are in Hawaii. I am so thankful that this couple is in our lives. We're blessed to know them!
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