Episode 221: Tender and Tough — The True Meaning of Shepherding God's Flock — David Dick (Part 1)
"Being a dairy farmer is remarkably similar to being a shepherd. I witnessed this through my father's care for our dairy farm and our family. My father and brother knew every cow's personality just by looking at their feet and udders as they entered the parlor. Shepherding isn't the idealized 'Precious Moments' image most people have. I've seen my father tenderly pulling a calf at 3:30 AM, trying to bring it back to life. I've also seen him protect a cow from its own stupidity by being extremely firm. These experiences of both tenderness and toughness as a dairy farmer apply directly to pastoral ministry and church leadership." —Jason Ruis
Summary of This Episode
Welcome back to The Messy Reformation podcast! Jason and Willy are joined this week by Rev. David Dick, pastor of Hancock CRC in western Minnesota. David grew up on a dairy farm near Falmouth, MI—a couple hours north of Grand Rapids, and attended a Christian Reformed church. After returning to the family farm after college, he eventually had an opportunity to teach middle school Catechism, was elected as an elder, and gave exhorting a try. As he notes, his grandma was surprised because he is a quiet guy, but it went well at his home church and as he was called upon by others nearby. With the encouragement of his pastor, he began to consider seminary and a call to ministry.
Jason and David talk a bit about the similarities and lessons that can be taken from dairy farming into pastoral ministry. David mentions there’s knowing the herd—you have the church in a corporate sense; but also knowing individual cows and the tasks of regularly feeding and protecting them from disease and dangers—all of those make sense for how a pastor cares for individual members. Jason captures the intimate knowledge that a dairy farmer has of their cows—they can know them by their hooves or their udder; the pastor is privy to intimate knowledge of their congregants’ lives. To be sure, farming also comes with tender and tough love moments that translate to ministry as well.
David shares that his wife was supportive when he shared about potentially pursuing seminary and being a pastor; she had seen God’s leading gradually. For seminary, they moved to northwest Indiana where David attended Mid-America Reformed Seminary (MARS). He admits it was intimidating at first—with over six years passing since college and a different subject, but he had great professors, teaching, and training. He speaks highly of their Ministerial Apprenticeship Program (MAP), which is Mid-America’s summer internship program.
Willy asked if he always knew or wanted to minister in the CRC. David shares that he apprenticed with Borculo CRC (MI) and Christ Reformed Church, a URC in Sioux Falls, SD. His wife’s background is also URC, and they spent time attending one together. He shares, though, that he saw good, faithful churches left in our denomination that needed good, faithful pastors. As they get into talking about Synod 2024, where David was a delegate and served on the advisory committee that handled gravamina, he was grateful to see where Synod ended up with its decisions. His experience throughout the week was an enjoyable one, getting to hear different voices, getting to meet people from across the U.S. and Canada, and seeing what God is doing across the CRC.
More next week as we pick up on how David sees opportunity for far-flung churches that are disconnected to stay in touch with the denomination.