Pastor Monty Kaufman, special speaker at our Young Pros Retreat, spoke with Pastor Walton this week about family, ministry, and spiritual growth in difficulty.
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Episode Transcript:
Chris Harper: Welcome to Harvest Time. My name is Chris Harper, and our host on this program is pastor Gary Walton, the lead pastor of Harvest Baptist Church. Every week, we spend these 25 minutes together telling you the stories of our church by interviewing our members and other friends of the ministry. We’d like to invite you to join us at Harvest Baptist Church this week. There are 2 services every Sunday, 8:45 AM and 10:45 AM Sunday morning.
We have Japanese and Korean translation during our 10:45 AM service, and that’s also when we livestream on hbcguam.org.hbcguam.org. Let’s begin today’s harvest time by welcoming pastor Gary Walton. Hi, pastor.
Gary Walton: Hey. Hafa adai, Chris. It’s always great for our church family to be together, and we’re looking forward to that this Sunday. If you are new to the island and you’re listening for the first time or if you, don’t have a church home where the bible is being taught, we’d love to invite you to come and join us. We’re gonna be centered around the word.
Our fellowship is very genuine and sweet. You’re gonna find people that love Jesus, care about each other, and I think you’ll find a warm welcome. So, if you could come this Sunday, we’d love to welcome you, and I think God would use this time in your life. So please come and join us on Sunday. I’m really glad to have my friend, Monty Kaufman, with me and with us on harvest time.
So first of all, Monty, thank you for joining us.
Monty Kaufman: You’re welcome. What a privilege.
Gary Walton: Monty is the pastor of church life or church life pastor of Soteria Church in Des Moines, Iowa. And, he’s here to be, speak at our Young Pros retreat that’s happening this weekend. In fact, if you’re hearing this on Friday night, it’s it’s happening immediately and and then Saturday. And so, we pulled him all the way out from Iowa to come and join us for that retreat. Looking forward to what God’s gonna
Monty Kaufman: Yes.
Gary Walton: Do there. But Monty and I have known each other for a long time.
Monty Kaufman: That’s a great way to say it. A long time. Decades.
Gary Walton: It has been decades. He and I both went to the same Bible college. Went to a school called Northland Baptist Bible College in Wisconsin. There’s a lot of connections here at Harvest with that ministry. In fact, your wife, has been friends with my wife and I. We were classmates together. I think you were 1 or 2 years younger than I was.
Monty Kaufman: Correct. That’s right.
Gary Walton: But, yeah. It’s been a lot of years of connection. Monty and I actually played on the same basketball team back then.
Monty Kaufman: We sure did. We sure did. And we actually we didn’t play on the same soccer team. Okay. But I tried out and I lasted 3 days. So no. It’s still I feel like I’m connected to Gary in soccer because I was there for
Gary Walton: Yeah. You were there.
Monty Kaufman: 1 or 2 of those Indian runs. And I tried to slow it down, but Gary always picked it back up. So
Gary Walton: early in the preseason, that’d be about kill you. You know, you My goodness. You get in a stretch of 80.
Monty Kaufman: I’ve never run those before in my life. I thought this is not God’s will for my life. So I sensed that immediately. And
Gary Walton: I think for some of those years, we were doing 10 mile runs.
Monty Kaufman: Oh my goodness.
Gary Walton: And Indian run, which means the back guy runs sprints all the way to the front and the whole line just keeps moving.
Monty Kaufman: Yeah. Like like 20 guys in a line or, you know, or whatever. Yeah. 20 guys in a straight single file line running. The back guy has to sprint to the front and as soon as he gets there, the next guy at the back sprints to the front. Yeah. And so whenever it was my turn to run to the front, I would try to slow the whole line down to a snail’s pace and then here comes Gary flying to the front. Get up here, guys. Let’s go.
Gary Walton: Good memories, Monty.
Monty Kaufman: It is. It is great memories. Absolutely.
Gary Walton: Well, thankful for your, long term ministry
Monty Kaufman: and Yes. Amen. What a blessing it’s been through the years.
Gary Walton: Yeah. A number of different things. Get us introduced. Tell us about your family. Yeah.
Do you have a couple of kids?
Monty Kaufman: Yeah. So my wife, Linda, we’ve been married now 34 years. Wow. Just, amazing how God brought us together there at Northland and has kept us together and provided us just a great marriage through the years. I’m so blessed.
I’m so blessed to have a wife like Linda, how godly she is and faithful and just the fun that we have together too, just enjoying life. And as they say on the social media, doing life together. You know, I love doing life together with her through the years. And then God blessed us with 2 boys, Cameron and Clayton. Cameron will turn 31 in about a week here and Clayton is 27.
So super blessed in those ways. Just treasures from God. And, again, the source of much joy in our life through the years as kids are.
Gary Walton: Yeah. It’s fantastic. Your background, tell us, where did you grow up?
Monty Kaufman: Yeah. So I grew up I tell people I kind of grew up everywhere. So I was born in Kansas. I spent 10 years in Arkansas, Ozark, Arkansas. My dad was a professor at a small Bible college, Citadel Bible College in Ozark, Arkansas, 10 years there. Then we moved back to Kansas for 2 years. He was the administrator of a Christian school in Newton, Kansas. Then we moved to Branson, Missouri area and my dad helped start a Christian school at a church in Forsyth, Missouri. And so there that was kind of my junior high and high school years and then I went off to Northland.
So I ended up going to college at Northland Baptist Bible College, 4 years there, and then we then I came on staff, Linda was on staff as well, and I was on staff 6 more years. So a total of 10 years, which is only significant because that means we were there for 10 winters at Northland. And in fact our son, our first son Cameron, was born in 1994, the great year of when the water tower froze. Oh yeah. And, you know, right here at this January time is when it’s the deep freeze. So, yeah, 10 years at Northland and then
Gary Walton: Well, people here can really hardly even understand. Really, they can’t understand how frigidly cold that part of the world is.
Monty Kaufman: That’s exactly right. Yeah. That’s exactly right. So yeah. That was And also
Gary Walton: I mean, also an amazing place of blessing. Both of us look back
Monty Kaufman: Oh, absolutely.
Gary Walton: On the formation that happened in our lives. You know, guys like Marty Heron that were on staff that, you know Do
Monty Kaufman: they know Marty Heron around there?
Gary Walton: I think his name comes up every once in a while.
Monty Kaufman: Yeah. He’s a good guy I’ve heard. Yeah.
Gary Walton: But just a number of people. Doctor O is very familiar to us here. And, of course, Steve Pettit was involved. And so lots of people that were
Monty Kaufman: shaped our lives. To this day, shaped my ministry thinking and ministry life.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Me
Monty Kaufman: too. Absolutely.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Very good. Okay. And then, 10 years there. You kept kind of a
Monty Kaufman: Yeah. Yeah. So 10 years there in Dunbar, Wisconsin at Northland. Then God moved us down to Bolingbrook, Illinois. I was three and a half years at Independent Baptist Church with Dave Shoaf there in Bolingbrook, a southwest suburb of Chicago.
Gary Walton: Youth pastor there.
Monty Kaufman: Youth pastor. And I worked with the college and career class as well there. And, just some great, great leadership there. Great friendships even to this day there.
And, then God moved us on down to Rocky Mount, North Carolina which is in eastern North Carolina and I was a youth pastor there as well at Falls Road Baptist Church. We were there for a total of 11 years and then God moved us on down to Wilmington, North Carolina. Just kept moving us closer and closer to the beach I guess and moved us down to Wilmington, North Carolina, Grace Baptist Church. Pastor
Allen Benson was there and then Jay Knowles, was later on. But, there for 8 years and some great ministry in both those places in North Carolina, loved every minute of it.
And then God moved us up to Ankeny, Iowa to Faith Baptist Bible College. Jim Tillotson, close friend from Northland Days again and taught church ministries, youth ministries, coached the women’s basketball team for a couple 3 years there and then God, graciously granted us to get back into church ministry, at Soteria Church there in West Des Moines. And what a blessing that’s been, fulfillment in ministry and just working with a team of pastors and staff that has been fantastic. So God’s been too good to us. I like to say it that way. Too good to us through the years and I just praise him for it all.
Gary Walton: Monty and I have kept, you know, kind of distance connected over the years. But we’ve we’ve seen each other from time to time. It’s been interesting as we’ve connected again here now just hearing your heart for shepherding and the way that God’s really fulfilling that in your life through the church there in Des Moines. So, I was excited about all that. Let me back up a little bit, Monty, to the early part of your story.
Your oldest son, Cameron, I think was born about the same time as, as our oldest. Mhmm. But born with some pretty significant health problems that have been through his life. Right? Can you tell us about that?
Monty Kaufman: Yeah, He was born in 94.
Gary Walton: Yeah.
Monty Kaufman: And, totally normal pregnancy. No problems. No issues. And then at the at the birth, in fact, he was born in Iron Mountain, Michigan. Both our sons were born in Iron Mountain, Michigan.
So they’re both Yupers. Yeah. But total normal pregnancy, no issues at birth. There was, there was something that happened. We’re not, even to this day, we’re not a 100% sure of what happened, but nevertheless it caused, caused an insult to his brain and it affected, you know, really him in his entirety, but he it affected the part of his brain that tells him to swallow.
And, that’s one of those things we all do. Yeah. Like subconsciously. In fact, every time I talk about it, I have to stop and swallow because I don’t even think about it but it makes me want to swallow. So because of that, there were just a lot of issues with with feedings, with even keeping his airway clear and again so many details that were affected because of that.
He went through all the tests. He ended up over at University of Minnesota, Minneapolis there and again just all kind of tests. He went through a lot of surgeries, just really in some intense stuff, really the first 5 to 7 years. And, like how many surgeries? He’s had about 20 total.
Yeah. And, a lot of them on his intestines and his, you know, esophagus and, his his anatomy is just so unique. I mean I don’t even know if there’s any other kid or person that has had those things done. For instance, they detached his esophagus from his stomach and reattached it farther down on his small intestine because he was having such problems with reflux. Well, you know, that’s amazing that they can do those things but anytime you change something like that, it affects other areas too that you don’t think about till afterwards.
So again, that’s just scratching the surface of what he’s been through but very, very quickly after his birth we just realized this is gonna be this is gonna take a lot of time and care and learning. The learning curve was amazing. And again that’s where it goes back to my wife, Linda, she’s an angel. She just jumped in and just learned things just without even a question. I’ve never heard her say one negative word about caring for Cameron or Cameron’s situation.
That’s amazing. I think she said some negative words about me from time to time. But it’s all it’s all, you know, true, you know, in that regard. But I just praise God for that. She’s always had such a positive attitude and we’ve worked together through the years and just accepted it and embraced it and, you know, and I say that it’s not always perfectly.
There’s been times of doubt and question and discouragement and but God has been so gracious to help us just embrace that situation. Of course he’s your son. He’s your own, you know, flesh and blood. So in that regard it’s easy in that sense but it’s difficult, just the challenges of it affects, it affects our whole life. He is the center of our life, he affects every decision we make, how we spend money, how we, where we go, what we can do and not do.
But yeah, we just, there was a learning curve there and it was just it was, it was all God that helped us at every step because, you know, if you, if we had known even 10% of what that was going to be involved ahead of time that would, you know, we would have ran probably. You know, but God, you know, as we learned what needed to be done God helped us with that next step. And, we have a, Linda’s put up a sign in our home just enough grace for the next day. And I love that. And it’s true whether you have a situation like Cameron or or, you know, really all of us, you know, have something in that regard. So anyway, yeah.
Gary Walton: Cameron has survived through all this, right? Yes. You said 31 years old.
Monty Kaufman: Yes. Which is a miracle. It’s a miracle every day, but initially the doctor said he wouldn’t live to be 6 months old. Then they said a year.
Then they said 2 years. Then they said 3 years. All the way up to 6 years old. Then they basically said, okay, we’re done predicting. We’re just going to we’ve never seen a kid with this with this many, with this much struggles make it past 6.
So they said we’re done predicting and you know, like I said, he’s going to be 31 in about a week, January 17th. So it’s been a miracle every day but then as you look back over and over the years it’s just like one huge miracle that you know God has kept him alive. I say the Lord and Linda have kept him alive and I’ve jokingly said this, you know, through the years, when we all get to heaven, if you could just let my wife know that I made it because I’ll never I’ll never see her. She’ll be up by Jesus. I’ll have one leg hanging out the back door.
Now I know that’s not good theology, okay, but that’s how I feel. That’s how I feel, you know, because of what she has done in Yeah. And I’m taking care of him.
Gary Walton: Yeah. And I’m not I’ve asked you, you know, before this, if we could talk about this a little bit, of course, you’ve very graciously said, yeah. Just to for people to get a sense. I mean, it’s it’s 24 hour care
Monty Kaufman: Yes.
Gary Walton: You know, for Linda and you both. And it’s been for 31 years. Right?
Monty Kaufman: That’s that’s right. Because he doesn’t swallow, he’s got a trach, he’s got a feeding tube, he’s fed into his small intestine. So it has to be it’s basically 3 ounces an hour that he’s fed, drip fed. So he’s connected to get the number of calories he needs. He has to be fed 24/7. So he’s connected to that feeding pump 24/7. He has to be suctioned about every 2 to 3 minutes or so. Unless he’s sick then it’s even more.
He has to be deep suctioned with a catheter down his trach. Many times throughout the day. Just to keep his airway clear and all that stuff and so, yeah, you have to be sitting right next to him when you’re taking care of him. And, you know, my wife, she’s up many times throughout the night. If she gets, you know, 2 or 3 hours of sleep in a row, she counts that as a good thing.
And but God’s gifted her in that way too, where she can wake up, take care of him, go back to, you know, get done, take go back to, you know, it’s it’s God that’s doing it. But, but, yeah. Now you look back over 31 years and you’re like, wow. That is that’s amazing.
Gary Walton: Yeah. So tell me about just the spiritual journey of all that for you. I know in talking with you about this over the years, I mean, God has done some deep work
Monty Kaufman: Oh, my goodness.
Gary Walton: In your lives, through this. Your spirit about it every time I talk to you. I’ve never heard you say that before, though I’m not surprised that Linda’s never said a negative word. I’m not surprised at all about that.
Monty Kaufman: Right.
Gary Walton: But still, this is a deep work that God’s done. Can you tell us about that?
Monty Kaufman: Boy, it’s really true. I I have a long way to go in my life spiritually. I’ve, I’m still growing every day just like anybody else, but I know I wouldn’t be where I’m at today if it weren’t for Cameron’s life and the lessons that I’ve learned through his life. And pretty deep lessons and on, you know, like ongoing lessons, like like I’ll just say like trusting God. Okay, so we’re all, you know, you need to trust God and your difficulties and your challenges and you know sometimes, at least for me, there’s been times where I feel like, you know what, I think I’ve got that figured out.
I think I’ve ‘ And then something else happens and you’re like, ‘Wow, I really wasn’t that strong at trusting God, but God uses that again to strengthen that. And he’s used, that’s one of the things he’s used with Cameron to help us see. You know, the lessons are literally scores of lessons. I think I think another lesson that we learned was even though that was a difficult scenario, Cameron was in a difficult situation, required a lot of care. As we went to hospitals, guess what, we saw situations that were even worse, which what does that do for you?
It makes you thankful for what you have, you know, and so that was one thing, you know, be honest with you, I look forward to heaven a lot more too. You know, sometimes we can get so focused here on this earth, Getting this, getting that, acquiring this, living your life, living the American dream, however you define that. And you kinda forget about that really reality is is not this life. This is just a dot Yeah. On a dot on a dot.
You know, this reality is eternity with with heaven. And so, yeah, Cameron can swallow in heaven. So, they’ll be able to walk and run, you know, in heaven. I look forward to that day and you know, a lot of people through the years have prayed for Cameron and have and know his story And I think sometimes too, like, you know, when we all get to heaven, I may not see him for a while because he’ll be talking to all these all these people will be saying, hey, you know what? I prayed for you, buddy.
Yeah. And, but that’s okay. Yeah. It will be there for eternity. So I’ll give my turn. Yeah. But just that whole thing of looking forward to heaven is a good reminder for us to think about, this isn’t what life is all about at the end. Yeah. There’s more more to it and it’s and it’s gonna be okay. It’s gonna be better.
It’s gonna be perfect that day and, so that’s another great lesson. And so and then just helping others. We know that, you know, God’s words talks about God puts us through trials so that we can help others and comfort others. Mhmm. And there’s, you know, there’s been people that we would have never met.
There’s been doctors we’d have never talked to. There’s been nurses in our home that we’d have never met. Families with similar situations that we’d have never met if it weren’t for Cameron and his life story. And because of that we get to meet them and speak into their life and encourage them even though even as they encourage us, we’ve been able to encourage them scores of people that we never would have met. That that Cameron’s Cameron even though he doesn’t talk, he doesn’t walk, his life still speaks the gospel and has has spoken the gospel to people that Right.
That we never would have touched. So Very, very powerful. That’s just a few few of the lessons. Yeah. That’s why I love it. That’s why I love it. When god does those works in your life, you’re like, wow. This is hard, but I’ll take it. Mhmm. I’ll take it.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Thanks, Monty. Thanks for being willing to share. That that story is gonna touch somebody. Absolutely.
That needed that’s gonna need it right at the moment that they hear that. So thank you for your willingness to transparency. So somebody’s listening. Let me just go one more road down here. Somebody’s listening.
They’re in, they’re in a little bit, in the middle of a long term challenge in their life. Maybe not even health related, but but something they relate to what you said because it’s been a long term challenge. How do you encourage them?
Monty Kaufman: I was challenged early on in life to encourage myself in the attributes of God. And that has been the the the pillar or the pillars of my encouragement through the years. And so I would just say to them, study God and I’ll just, you know, one of his, you know he’s got many attributes, but the one that I keep going back to with Cameron’s life is God’s omniscience. God’s omniscience. God, the fact that God knows everything all the time, has always known it.
It’s connected to his sovereignty too. He’s in total control because he knows everything, you know. And I remember early on with Cameron we had done all the tests. We had seen all the doctors and they kept coming back to us with we we just don’t know, we don’t know what happened, we don’t know why it happened, we can’t diagnose them. Part of you wants to wants to have a problem that they diagnose so that you can start to solution that, a solution.
But with him it was never an answer. And I remember really specifically probably in that 1st year where as we as I was just struggling with wanting to know what it was, it just hit me. You know what? These doctors who are extremely special in their specialty, highest in their fields don’t know what’s wrong with Cameron, but I know someone who does. Amen.
I know someone who does. That’s God. And at that moment, it was like, okay, I’m good with it. I don’t have to know. I don’t have to know.
As long as god knows, I’m cool with it. Yeah. And I’m gonna trust that. I’m gonna trust that because, no matter what happens, he’s gonna use it for good. And oh my goodness, he’s used it for good so many times over.
And there’s gonna be a day I think we find out even more things that God has used it for good that we don’t even know
Gary Walton: right now.
Monty Kaufman: We don’t even have a
Don’t even know.
Gary Walton: Fragment.
Monty Kaufman: Exactly. And so God, thank you. God, thank you. Yeah. And I and I so it’s his omniscience. To rest in that omniscience that he knows and is working all things to his glory for my good, for his glory, and I’m cool with that. I’m good with that. And you just have to rest in that. You have to and there’s other attributes of God too that you just have to as you as you study those, as you deep dive on those, God’s love, God’s care, God’s sovereignty, God’s omniscience, God’s omnipotence, just just I would just say dive into those. Let your soul meditate and marinate on those truths and you’ll you can’t help but be encouraged. You can’t help but be encouraged.
Gary Walton: Well, hey, man. Thank you for bringing us on. I mean, just this little tiny piece of that journey, but you did bring us on it. So thank you, for that and for the lessons, the encouragement that’s gonna be for people that are listening. I hope so.
Maybe come back another time, talk about, you know, your youth ministry role.
Monty Kaufman: Oh, that’s been a great journey too.
Gary Walton: Your disciple making. Your passion about disciple making. I know that’s all on your heart.
Monty Kaufman: Yes. And
Gary Walton: maybe we’ll do a part 2 another time.
Monty Kaufman: Love it. Would love to. Alright.
Gary Walton: Well, I’m glad you’re here, praying for your ministry Thank you. These days.
Monty Kaufman: Thank you. Privilege to be here.
Chris Harper: And thank you for listening to Harvest Time. Of course, at this point in the program, we always want to invite you again to services at Harvest Baptist Church, 2 services on Sunday, 8:45 AM, 10:45 AM. There’s Japanese and Korean translation during the 10:45 AM service. We air that service live here on 88.1 FM and khmg.org. We hope to see you this Sunday.
Thanks again for listening to Harvest Time.