As the sun began to rise on Sunday morning, February 19, 2023, David B. Young, was sleeping. When he finally opened his eyes, he was face to face with Jesus and was, finally and ultimately, declared “cancer free.”
David’s only pastorate in the NWBC was when he served as pastor of Trinity Baptist Church of Lakewood, WA from September 1983 through November 2011. However, his impact reached far beyond his beloved congregation. While coming to the Northwest greatly benefited David by helping him develop a real sense of humor, his contributions to us were many. But those who knew him well seem to always bring up one strength that he passed on to so many of us, including me as we served together at Trinity for 22 1/2 years.
There is one statement pastors make that can discourage those who serve with them. Those people know from past experience that it does not really mean what it literally says. The statement is often made after a person voices a suggestion or concern to the pastor. The state given in response is, “Let’s pray about that.” It is church speak for “I don’t want to come off rude but I’m not going to deal with this, at least not at this time.” I will never forget what happened when David Young came to Trinity Baptist Church and I expressed a concern to him. He stopped, he listened, and he said, “Let’s pray about that.”
“Oh great,” I thought, “I’m being put off again.” Then, before I even had time to finish that thought, David’s arm was around my shoulders and he was praying… out loud… sincerely and passionately… for a long time. This scenario would repeat itself over and over again with me and everyone else who ever expressed a concern, an idea, or just needed advice. It did not even matter if it was in the middle of a worship service or a worship song that I was leading. Too bad. It had just turned into a prayer time.
When David came to Trinity, he was besieged by members who shared serious needs and concerns, for themselves and for the congregation as a whole. There were debts that had been unpaid. There were problems with the building. There were personal problems. Everything was dumped on David’s shoulders. A year or so later, most of those problems were gone. The members were amazed and grateful. One day, when David he was out of town, I was leading prayer meeting and folks were praising God for all the problems that had been solved. They were thanking God for sending a pastor who had such insight and problem-solving skills. I asked if they wanted to know how David had managed to fix everything in such a short time. They enthusiastically said, “Yes!” So, I told them.
“We have a staff meeting every week in his office or mine and nothing interferes with it. We each have a legal pad and begin to name and write down everything and everyone that is messed up. It is common for us to fill up at least two full legal-size sheets of paper. When we can’t think of anything else, we get up, turn around, kneel, and begin systematically praying through our lists, adding anything else that comes to mind as we pray. An hour or so later—we never keep track of time—when we are done, we get up, smile, give each other a hug, find out what the other guy is working on, and get back to whatever we were doing before staff meeting. That’s all we’ve ever done. David has never tried to solve a single problem. God has done it all as we have prayed.”
Those staff meetings went the same way for 22 1/2 years. We never solved anything. We just prayed.
I thank God for the extreme privilege of serving with David all those years. My heart rejoices that he is in the presence of Jesus forever and my heart hurts for his dear wife and partner, Marsha, as well as their kids and grandkids. It is a lonely life for them without this great man of God. May God carry them and give them great joy as they continue.
You can read a post about David’s passing, written primarily by their daughter, Christy, here: https://www.facebook.com/christalyn.sotelo/posts/pfbid02zGjEpFpKx5JeugYjt3CfAqrWe2yvBHx5CnMFNaDCxzRD2zHAYytCVrtakaTpuyR2l?comment_id=757231495954186¬if_id=1676930686106523¬if_t=mentions_comment&ref=notif
