With the exception of the year that Mary and I lived in Florida, I was known for thirty-five years as Earl Hanna’s son. That was how I was identified. The children of prominent parents will know what I’m talking about. But for some strange reason Dad’s reputation had not traveled to Arizona with a couple of notable exceptions (Don Sapp was a district superintendent in the Phoenix area whose daughter attended the Arvada church), and nary a soul in Flagstaff had any idea who Earl Hanna was. This was a truly unique experience for yours truly.
Nate Holt (the pastor who was appointed to Trinity Heights to follow Hal Cowart) and I could not have been at more opposite ends of the theological spectrum, but his ignorance of who my father was led him to judge me on my own character. In the Wesleyan tradition we agreed to disagree about theology, but Nate was impressed by my intellect and organizational skills. He allowed for the fact that these may have been inherited characteristics but, for the first time in my life, really, Nate made me feel that I was a person in my own right. Nate’s primary objective was for the two of us to work together as a team to build up the local church.
I had been at Trinity Heights long enough to recognize that working for a church is not synonymous with being in ministry, and Nate understood what I was feeling. He himself had come into the ministry as a second career having previously been a respected Phoenix lawyer. So when I approached Nate about the possibility of obtaining a local pastor’s license and then pursuing the Course of Study I discovered that I had his wholehearted support! To enroll in the local pastor’s licensing process required the approval of the Trinity Heights congregation, the district committee on ordained ministry, and finally the conference board on ordained ministry (whew! ain’t Methodism great?). With Nate’s advocacy I started jumping the hurdles that for years had seemed impassable.
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