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From donuts to
history, Payne takes great memories with him
By Bob Robinson
GREENVILLE – “I will always have great memories of this area,” said Joe
Payne, pastor of the First United Methodist Church.
He is being transferred to Hilliard, on the west side of Columbus.
“It’s a rapidly growing area,” Payne said. “A different setting.”
Payne’s last day will be June 16. He will be replaced by Angela Meeks
on June 24, who is being transferred from Brookville.
“We are ‘connectual,’ as opposed to congregational,” Payne said. “We
have a Bishop, District Superintendents…”
He added he knew he would get the call someday, he had just hoped he’d
be here another year or two.
“I’m going to miss a lot of things here, including much of the food and
especially the people.
“They will always be in my heart.”
Payne said when he arrived the fountain at the circle had just been
completed; the Annie Oakley statue was at the other end of Broadway.
“Then there are all the shops between them… I loved it!” he added.
Payne added he appreciates the history of the area, noting Tecumseh,
the history at Garst and the Darke County Park District.
“The City Park… and I’ll miss Eikenberry’s donuts and Maid Rite
sandwiches,” he said, adding however that he didn’t “get” the gum.
The people at State of the Heart Hospice, Darke County Center for the
Arts, Kiwanis… Payne kept thinking of and adding to his good memories.
“If I haven’t mentioned something, don’t take it as something I didn’t
like,” he said. “And I liked being able to go out and get fresh meat.”
The Greenville School District...
“I certainly had my challenges during these great seven years,” he
said. “One was the disappointment in not getting the school.” He added,
however, he was confident he will be able to read at some point there
will be one.
“It is definitely needed,” he said.
“I don’t know that I was any help when I was on the School Board,” he
said. “It did help me to see school from that perspective. It gave me a
greater respect to members of the Board and the administration…
“Especially the superintendent. I have a great deal of respect for
anyone in that job. They earn every penny they make.”
Payne said he enjoyed his relationship with the other pastors in town
and the way the churches came together for the Grace Community
Resurrection Center.
Payne kept thinking of what he loved about the area, what he’s going to
miss… Memorial Hall, the Greenville Library.
“We have so many jewels here,” he said. “I will miss them.”
Payne’s faith is centered around the things that could be done… the
church, the community, the world.
“A challenge to a lot of folks is thinking our focus should be to take
care of our own,” he said. “Jesus asks us… who are our own?”
He added that when pastors come to a church, they are also there to
serve the community.
“Service starts here,” he said, “but there also has to be a balance. We
have to reach outside our walls. Then the surrounding area, ever wider.”
Payne said this was why the term “Good Samaritan” was so powerful. The
Jews hated the Samaritans, and vice versa. Jesus said they will be his
witnesses… Jerusalem, all of Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the
earth.
“That’s like the Buckeyes of Columbus, Ohio, reaching out to Michigan
and then everywhere,” he said, grinning.
He drew a kite, with its three corners and tail. The corners
represented tradition, reason and experience.
“The tail is Scripture, the anchor,” he said. “It provides the balance.
Without it a kite goes all over the place; won’t stay up…
“We don’t look at Scripture from a vacuum,” he said. “It is the anchor.
The balance.”
Published courtesy
of the Early Bird
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