Q: Good afternoon, and thank you for slowing down so that our readers might get to know who you are and, how you came to be Pastor T, of Glory Worship Center.
A: Whew, I could use a slow-down today. (Smile) I am married to Police Officer Bill Franchuk, and am the mother of twelve children. I birthed ten of them.
Q: Bless you, what are the age ranges?
A: They range from five to twenty-five. And let me say this… interestingly enough, I find that it is God’s blessing for our church to have a very young congregation. I say this because, with all of my children, I am not just being their shepherd, clearly, by having so many sheep of my own, there are other young people coming in, joining in and they most times are in need of a loving family.
Q: So your twelve keep them coming and you have many extended family members?
A: Oh Yes They Do! And we love them all.
Q: You have just shared the Mother in you, now please more on Pastor T.
A: Okay, this has been a journey. I’ve come through many years of being a worship leader, singer, song writer, and I guess in some respects a psalmist. Through that ministering, I found that I had a love for the word and somehow, someway I seemed to be continually positioned where, even when I tried not to pastor, shepherd, or lead people it just became unavoidable. My husband used to jokingly call me a phone pastor.
Q: So you were sort of the “On-Call” pastor, before you actually had a church?
A: Well, yes. I’ve actually only been a pastor, by occupation, for two years.
Q: You mentioned, previous years of leading worship, singing and song writing, are you still active in this area as well?
A: Oh Yes! on every given Sunday morning I’m leading worship and preaching. (Chuckle)
But you know, that comes with a huge responsibility, a lot of work and that is the reason why I’m currently working on developing more of our worship team members into worship leaders.
Q: That’s wonderful. Pastor T., Some have said, that in order to be a pastor you must have a certain amount of arrogance about you. Can you speak to that?
A: Arrogance is a funny word. I would like to say that I think that we do have to command presence, and it’s a tricky thing because I think in order for you to be a minister of any sort, then to shift that over to being a pastor differently than just being a preacher who might, you know, waltz into a church, preach a message and walk out. Or where leading worship or singing in a church and leaving the responsibility is different. And, yes, so being a pastor means there has to be a certain portion of “I know who I am.”
But of course, you know that comes with time; that comes with a lot of soul searching, self-evaluation and time in God’s presence. So when you get to a place where you really know who you are, sure some can perceive that as arrogance because that comes with a confidence and a boldness that has to say…
that I believe that I know what I’m saying and what I’m standing for. That conviction rises up in you.
Q: Thank you. You put that out there quite well. And while you are on a roll, let me ask.
Are you a risk-taker? I read also that some believe that God takes pleasure when we’re at risk. You know, when we’re struggling, when we’re in trouble.
A: I’m a risk-taker now…backing in, my personality and my nature was one that liked things to be in a neat package. My instinct, was not comfortable with the chance that comes with risk. I wanted the sure things. However, being in the ministry and knowing that there is a portion of it that is faith because you know that it is something that God said. Then the other portion is that very natural business side where you have to go, “This Is a risk”, and I’m pouring myself into a dream, something that you firmly believe in. There are definitely moments that you are painfully aware of the fact that you are taking a risk. Those are also the times, when you just lean into the Lord.
Q: So here is where you are literally stepping out on faith. So can it be said, that you are living a stressed life?
A: A stressed and stretched life? Yes! That is why I-Pray-A-Lot. Stress is in every area of my life because of the dynamics of my husband’s job, things that happen at our house, and activity in the church home. At the moment that I am no longer just a stay-at-home mom, I’m now a working mom, and I am also the pastor. There is the constant pull towards many other people’s concerns and problems. With these young people, I get those “I need you,” calls from both ends.
Q: Describe youth ministry inside your church home, and the strategy behind it.
A: The main thing we have been doing within our youth ministry, which includes the youth in my house, is really pursuing Christ in their language. It would be so easy to that just open up service to the ways of old. But for us, it has been our goal to come together, include them and be able to be the people that can speak a message that is relevant to their generation. We have been taking our young people to a place of understanding that, okay, “You know what? You are able to speak the language of your peers; but know also that It will be necessary for you speak to and engage adults. We are, just a community of people in our congregation, like the Acts 2 church, we’ve been really trying to engage the throne room with our children. These young people come and they serve. They are in our praise and worship. They are ushering. They are doing everything that adults can do, and we have a whole lot of fun with that. We are a very family oriented community.
Q: That’s wonderful. Now let’s talk community, outside of Glory Worship Center. What other churches, agencies or efforts are you ministering with?
A: I am really glad to answer this, I’m sure that you are aware of clergy walks that the Mayor has initiated. We are going to be joining that effort today in fact; because, so much can come from this. The community outreach on the horizon for Glory Worship Center, is to be walking through the neighborhood of Lake Avenue. We’ve heard that there’s a large population of “Ladies of the night” and young single moms, and so our thought process is that, let’s get out there and find out what they need.
I believe, that a lot of times they don’t come into our churches because we don’t ever go to them. Our goal really is to embody the fact that we need to be the gospel, and that means let’s get out there, let’s be a part of programs that want to be with people. Let’s stop sitting in our churches under the premise of what’s called ministry in our nice clothes and our safe environment where we worship and turn around and walk out the church where our claim to Christian faith means nothing to us.
Q: Well, we know that Jesus walked the streets, and that years ago the churches took their revivals to many street corners.
A: That’s right. And that’s what we’re aiming for. We have a large parking lot across the street from where we are. We plan to put a service on the outside. We want to get outside as often as we can and just take those opportunities to say, you know, “What can we do for you?” If it means that we need to come in and serve after school meals to people, we’re going to do that. We have a very beautiful kitchen in our church, and so we do our food ministry. We keep our doors open during our services as long as weather permits. We’ve had several people come in under the influence and completely sobered up in the presence of God. I mean we are seeing people just stop outside and say, “I don’t want to come in but I’ll sit on the doorstep and listen to service.”
Q: Pastor T., You just, took me back to my childhood thoughts at Mt. Olivet Baptist Church, when after Sunday School and hours of afternoon service…the pastor would say “The doors to the church are open” I remember every week anxiously waiting to hear it, because at the time, for me the only meaning it held was being the announcement that we could finally go home. The plans that you intend to set in motion, express that the church doors are truly open at Glory Worship Center. I appreciate you and your passion.
A: I am honored, and I thank you.
