Where in the World is…?

 

“But what does it say? ‘The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart’; that is, the word of faith you are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth; ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”*

Al and I were delighted to receive a phone call a couple of months ago from our former pastor in Porterville, California, Tom Buratovich. Tom pastored Grand Avenue United Methodist Church for 12 years, including a combined pastorate of that church and First United Methodist Church for over two years and is known to many people in the community for his work with high-risk youth as well.

So where is Pastor Tom currently residing? Tom, his wife Judy and adult son Jason are living in Montpelier, a small town in the countryside of Ohio located near the borders of Indiana and Michigan.

“I’m only a couple of hours away from Detroit,” he had told us previously. “Maybe we can arrange a get-together.”

 Tom’s most recent phone call was about a trip that he would be taking to California in July. He was going to be flying out of the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County airport and wondered if it would be possible to leave his car at our house while he was away. Of course! We were looking forward to spending that time with him.

Tom arrived here on a Monday afternoon and then was dropped off at the DTW  on Tuesday. While at our house, we had great conversations and found out a great deal about him, including the purpose of his trip to California.

He, Judy and Jason are living on four acres of land, in an area where soybeans, corn and wheat are grown and dairy cows raised. “The thing about living in the country,” he shared, “is that you have to drive everywhere.” It is much different than his previous home in Visalia, California.

 However, Tom is familiar with country life having grown up on a farm in Dinuba. His paternal grandfather, for whom Tom was named, immigrated from Croatia at the turn of the century and settled in Dinuba, where he purchased several plots of land. Tom’s dad inherited some of his land and farmed table grapes.

Although Tom belonged to 4H and delved into animal husbandry, raising sheep, and also wood working, neither he nor his older sister, or his twin brother took over the farm after graduation from high school.

 “My dad never went to college,” he said. “Because farming was becoming more consolidated at that time, dad encouraged us to go to college and find different occupations. However, dad believed that if you didn’t produce anything with your hands, you didn’t do anything! When I told him that I was doing some youth counseling, his response was… ‘and they pay you for that?’”

Although he had a Catholic background, he was 23 when he accepted the Lord into his life. Tom asked many questions of friends who were involved with the Intervarsity ministry on his campus, realizing that his former lifestyle was not one which was pleasing to God and wanting to grow in his faith.

An Intervarsity rally at Urbana, Illinois in the 80’s proved to be a turning point in Tom’s life. Reverend Billy Graham was one of the speakers. When Graham invited people forward to accept Christ, Tom heard a different call…”Will you serve me through the church?”…and stood up to accept that calling.

That started him on a new path, one which he still follows faithfully today, as the pastor of a Free Methodist church in West Unity, about eight miles east of his home. He has also been involved in Celebrant Singers, a group started by Jon Stemkoski in 1977. The Celebrant Singers minister to people internationally through music and the sharing of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The purpose of his trip to California is to train a new team of musicians for a trip to Brazil. After that, Tom will be leading the group on an outreach to many different churches in Brazil.

“Each day should present something new,” he shared, referring to Moses’ prayer in Psalm 91, “Teach us to number our days aright that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”  Tom lives by that prayer, desiring to gain wisdom as he follows the Lord day by day. Thank you, Pastor Tom!

* Romans 10:8-9 NIV