Herb Owens died in October.
Most folks reading this have no idea who Herb Owens is. The ones who do, likely, don't read blogs or even own a computer for that matter.
But, if not for Herb Owens, I doubt very much you would be reading this.
Herb Owens was the founding pastor of South Lansing Christian Church.
More than sixty years ago, Herb and Doris Owens came to Lansing to visit some friends. While they were here, church planter Virgil Felton took them for a drive in southeast Lansing. He suggested that Lansing needed a church and that Brother Herb needed to plant that church. Several months later, in September 1952, that is exactly what happened. South Lansing Christian Church was born.
Yesterday Ruth Doty, one of our church's matriarchs, mentioned that Herb's Christmas card was returned to sender. She asked me to Google him and see what I could learn. Here is his obituary:
Herbert Arthur Owens, age 93, died Sunday September 28, 2014. A native of Indiana, Mr. Owens was the son of the late Earl and Minnie Jones Owens. Mr. Owens was a retired Minister and was a member of Galilee Christian Church. Funeral services will be held Friday October 3, 2014 at 4:00pm in the Smith Memory Chapel. Rev. Bruce Quiggle will officiate. Burial will follow in Indiana at a later date. Survivors include Nieces; Elizabeth (Bruce) Quiggle and Janet (Bob) Jewell; great nephews; Robert Bruce Quiggle and John Arthur Quiggle; sister-in-law; Nola Faye Isley; and other nieces and nephews.
No obituary can tell the full tale of someone's life. No doubt this was read at Brother Herb's funeral; his friends and family told stories of his faithfulness and leadership in the Church of Christ.
I wonder if his nieces and nephews knew that he planted a church in Lansing, Michigan? I wonder if they know that thousands of people have come to Christ in the last sixty-four years because of the church he planted? I wonder if they know that there are hundreds (thousands?) of other believers in India, Haiti, Chile, and the Dominican Republic because he planted South Lansing Christian Church?
By now Herb has had plenty of time to hang with Jesus. He's checked in with the patriarchs of the faith and the apostles who propagated it. He has caught up with Doc Doty, Bob Palmer and the rest of his SLCC friends who have gone before him. Hopefully, by the time I arrive at that same destination, Herb will have a few minutes for me. I'd like to say "Thank you!" And, if you've been blessed by the ministry of the church he founded, I'm guessing you would too.