There was celebrating in heaven this past Sunday.  Grace, "Momsie," Hanson went home to be with the Lord.  Her heart gave out at age 87.  I can't imagine her heart ever wearing out.  Every beat released love to those fortunate enough to be in her orbit of concern.

It would be impossible for me to honor Grace and Bud Hanson enough for the debt I owe them; and the debt that Wellspring owes them.  Most who now worship at Wellspring each week have never heard of them or seen them.  Yet their influence is felt every time we gather to worship or pray.

Some back story is in order.  Bud and Grace grew up in Hartford and were raised in the fervor and passion of the Pentecostal stream of the church.  They came to Kensington Baptist Church about a year before Debbie and I moved our family here from Minnesota.  There had been some upheaval in their home church and they came to KBC to worship with their daughter, Jan and her husband Ron; and with son Paul and his wife, Jill.  At KBC they found a healthy and sound church family.  They were welcomed and loved.  They adopted their new church home and family.  They were faithful in attendance and in many service opportunities.

Yet they missed the fire of the Holy Spirit they had known in the churches of Pentecost.

About the time they came to KBC, their son-in-law, Ron, served on the search committee that called me to serve as senior pastor.  Bud and Grace began to pray for the new pastor who would be coming.

I learned years later that Grace also began to pray for the fire of the Holy Spirit to fall upon her new church family.  She loved her new church, but she longed for more of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in the corporate gatherings and church life.  She didn't complain.  She didn't accuse.  She didn't try to make waves.  She and Bud would pray.  And Momsie would come to the sanctuary and pray for the outpouring she so yearned to see at Kensington Baptist.

When our family moved into the parsonage and took up life as pastor and family, Momsie adopted us into that great heart of hers.  I knew that all of my children were on her prayer list.  I knew that I was regularly being brought before the throne of grace in her prayers to the Father.  I knew this to be true because of the passion that came into her voice and the tears that welled up in her eyes whenever she spoke to me about our children and the work of the ministry at KBC.

Pentecost has come to KBC/Wellspring.  Momsie's prayers--and those of many other faithful folk over the years--have been answered.  In recent years health issues led Bud and Grace to move to Covenant Village in Cromwell.  It has been a long time since they have worshiped with us.  But they have never left my heart.

A couple months ago I was at a conference with Rick Joyner.  He shared that the Lord had given him a promise that if he and the ministry he leads would honor the fathers and mothers of the faith who had touched their stream and lives, that God would release revival upon their ministry.  He set out to do just that.  When I heard that story, I grabbed onto that promise for myself and for our church.  I immediately made plans to visit Bud and Grace at Covenant Village.  I was fortunate enough to get there and visit Grace before her home-going.  Dementia had robbed her of much of her awareness.  It was sad, as that condition always is sad.  But I was able to be present with her and honor her faithfulness and her prayers that were now touching so many who had never even heard of her.

Good bye Momsie!  I am forever indebted to you for your great love and your great faith that touched me and my family and our church so deeply.  We will seek to live in a way that honors your memory and life.