Leaving the pulpit

Young Chang

Reverends Gary Barmore and Conrad Nordquist have gotten to know the

Costa Mesa community in ways few people have.

For more than 20 years, both have touched the lives of their

respective congregations. They have baptized babies and performed their

marriage ceremonies when they got older. They have preached more than

1,000 sermons each and have admired one another as colleagues and

friends.

On Dec. 31, both men will retire from their full-time ministries --

Barmore from 25 years at Fairview Community Church; Nordquist from 23

years at St. John the Divine Episcopal Church. The Newport-Mesa Irvine

Interfaith Council, which both have been involved in, will honor them at

a Board of Directors brunch Dec. 14. But neither reverend plans to stop

serving God.

“I expect to be a minister of the good news all of my life,” said

Barmore, who spent the last quarter century with Fairview Community

Church, an open-minded ministry that combines the traditional biblical

faith with modern thinking.

Barmore can’t bookmark the day he became a Christian. Some remember a

day, month and year, he said. But for this reverend, it happened at the

age of 16 in Compton, where he grew up. That year, he began to understand

the Christian faith was not just “one club of many,” but the foundation

of his life.

This is how Christianity should be, in his opinion: something that

each person enters into personally.

The faith should also be about servanthood.

“That is, being the presence of Christ in the world to help as much as

possible,” Barmore said. “I’m strongly convinced Jesus was seeking to

bring together an inclusive community of people to worship, fellowship

and serve God, as opposed to the religious expressions of his day that

were more involved in exclusivism.”

And Barmore walked the talk.

Last year, he publicly announced his stance on the issue of

gay-straight alliance clubs. A letter Barmore wrote to the Daily Pilot

criticized how some Christians want to prevent the organization of such

organizations.

In July, he gave a seven-week series of sermons on non-violence at

Fairview Community Church.

“Making peace begins at home in the ways we treat one another even in

our families,” Barmore said. “And it goes all the way to the way we treat

other nations.”

He said people have asked him why he’s retiring now, when the 59-year

old still has plenty of energy left.

“I’m gonna run as hard as I can my leg of the race until I pass the

baton,” Barmore said.

Nordquist has a similar reason for retiring.

“I’m 67 and ready to explore new opportunities in the church,” he

said.

He would like to serve small congregations in the Southwest as an

interim clergy. The reverend plans to move from Costa Mesa, but he’s not

yet sure where.

What Nordquist will miss most is how active his church has been.

Members have worked on projects involving low-income housing, the

development of the Orange Coast Interfaith Shelter and justice for the

faculty and staff of the Coast College District.

“All these things have meant a lot to me,” Nordquist said.

He is also the vice president of the Interfaith Council. His efforts

with the group date back to the 1970s.

“I like the idea of people of faith working together, that we share

more in common than we are different from one another,” he said. “It

certainly enriched my spiritual life to learn from getting to know people

of other faith traditions.”

Nordquist said there is nothing he will not miss about his service at

St. John.

“Even doing the plumbing repairs has been gratifying in some way,”

Nordquist said.

Leaders at St. John are searching for a new reverend. Richard Dorsey,

senior warden at the church, said numerous “good candidates” will be

considered, but no one can replace Father Con -- short for Conrad.

“He is loved and respected by his congregation, and I think he’s

somebody whose presence will always be there, in the spiritual sense,”

Dorsey said.

At Fairview, the Rev. Joyce Smith, who is a leader at the church with

Barmore, and interim minister the Rev. John Townsend will head the

congregation starting in January.

“Of course, the church will be going through a time of transition, but

I look forward to that being an exciting time and a creative time for the

church as well,” Smith said. “I think the more the church can move

forward, the more it will honor Dr. Barmore and his ministry of 25

years.”

FYI

WHAT: Barmore and Nordquist to be honored at a Newport-Mesa/Irvine

Interfaith Council Board of Directors brunch.

WHEN: 8:30 a.m. Dec. 14

WHERE: St. John the Divine, 183 E. Bay St., Costa Mesa

COST: Free

CALL: (949) 660-8665