The Rev. Randy Beeman is home.

Or at least that’s how it feels to the 39-year-old minister, who preached his first sermon Sunday as senior pastor of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), 1000 Ky.

“I’ve been here a few weeks, and I feel like I’m part of a family. I love it. That’s what being a pastor means to me,” Beeman says.

The 300-member congregation — and the graciousness of its welcome — reminds him what it was like to grow up in Independence in southeast Kansas.

“If you got in trouble in school, your parents knew about it before you got home. That’s what I wanted (in a church): a place where people have many different kinds of relationships outside of work,” he says.

“It’s like that saying, ‘It takes a village.’ I wanted my children to grow up in a setting where they’re going to have 30 parents, not just me and my wife. That’s what I cherish about this church and Lawrence.”

As comfortable as Beeman feels here, he still has his work cut out for him.

He’s following in the footsteps of the Rev. Ron Goodman, who served First Christian Church for 25 years before leaving his position as senior pastor in December 2001.

Goodman is now pastor of discipleship training at Stutsmansville Chapel in Harbor Springs, Mich.

Prior to Goodman, the Rev. Ben Hanan was the Lawrence congregation’s spiritual leader for 18 years before moving to the East Coast.

Beeman is only the third senior pastor at First Christian Church in the past 43 years, a fairly astonishing track record of continuity in the pulpit.

THE REV. RANDY BEEMAN, LEFT, greets the congregation Sunday after his first services as senior pastor at First Christian Church, 1000 Ky. Beeman is the third senior pastor in the past 43 years at First Christian Church.

Beeman views the career longevity of his predecessors at the church as a blessing. It’s the kind of situation a pastor dreams of inheriting.

“It is the most wonderful thing in the world. Where else would you rather go to work? There’s a sense of security here,” he says.

“I do feel an awesome responsibility, though. I will dedicate babies who I will later do weddings for. That’s the sense of the people here — that we’re in this together for the long haul.”

Difficult decision

Beeman was senior pastor of Hillcrest Christian Church in Overland Park when Larry McElwain first contacted him about nine months ago.

McElwain, chair of First Christian Church’s search committee, tasked with finding a new senior pastor, asked Beeman if he would be interested in talking about the vacant pulpit in Lawrence.

“I said I wasn’t interested in leaving the church (in Overland Park) at that time. I gave him the names of six to eight other pastors,” Beeman says. “He called them. They all declined (to investigate the position), but they said, ‘You should talk to a guy named Randy Beeman.’ Larry and I laugh about that now.”

McElwain and Beeman stayed in touch during 2002, as Beeman mulled over the opportunity to come to Lawrence. It wasn’t a decision he took lightly.

“I told Larry, ‘I’ll take a day to pray and fast. I won’t shut a door on God; I’ll at least listen.’ I asked God, ‘Am I released from Hillcrest? Am I called to explore Lawrence?'” Beeman says.

“My wife and I came back together after a day of praying and fasting. I said, ‘I really think we ought to look at going to Lawrence.’ And she said, ‘I feel exactly the same way.'”

Beeman filled the pulpit and preached one Sunday in November at First Christian Church, a try-out process termed “in view of a call.”

It was a chance for the Beeman family and the church’s members to meet each other, and for the church to evaluate Beeman as a potential pastor.

After the worship service, there was a congregational vote on whether to hire Beeman as the new senior pastor.

It took the members about an hour to decide they liked what they saw. The Beemans bought a house in southwest Lawrence and moved to town in December.

Place of hope

Beeman sees the challenge ahead of him as one of trying to touch people’s spiritual lives, one at a time.

“My first task is to meet with every single member of the church. It’s all about relationships,” he says. “That’s my theology, too. The greatest commandments in the Bible are about relationships: loving God and loving other people.”

What does Beeman hope to accomplish here?

“I would like to see the church be culturally relevant and reach people of many backgrounds and traditions. This church needs to be a lighthouse for the community,” he says.

“Churches aren’t always places of hope. Sometimes they become places of condemnation. And man, the world beats up on me every day of the week. I don’t need to come to church on Sunday and get beat up again.”

Is it fair to say the new pulpit in Lawrence is Beeman’s dream job?

“I’d say yes,” he replies. “This is my last move. If I stay here as long as Ron (Goodman), I’ll be retiring here.”