From Riki Schoppert, Director of Worship Arts …
It is so hard to say goodbye! You’ve likely heard by now that our friend Luis is retiring from St. Andrew and headed up to Boston to be close to family. While I am happy for him, I am already mourning the loss. Tons of memories have been knocking around my head. My favorites are when we partnered on a project -usually one of my bright ideas which turned out to be a tad more complicated than I thought. Like when I wanted a “church door” to post notes on for Reformation. I have to tell you, it seemed a lot easier in my head. But Luis made it work.
Early on in his tenure at St Andrew, I dragooned him into going on home repair mission trips with me and the teens. One year, we found ourselves trying to repair a fence and the supply crew had sent the wrong size nails, so the pointy ends were hanging out a full inch behind the fence. (Not like that’s a hazard or anything…) We sat down with the teens to talk solutions and he got what I like to call his “MacGyver look.” Without saying anything, he grabbed a nail, a brick and a hammer and whacked the nail hard enough on the end of the brick to break it in half. What do you know, it was suddenly the right size! The teens who were watching whooped with joy and started feeding him nails as he broke every single one in half. Luis made it work.
Before he came to St Andrew, Luis spent his entire career making things work in international development where supplies were rarely easy to find. I know that God will provide for St. Andrew- we’ll make it work, somehow. It’s an opportunity for us to find and work with those whom God puts before us. But it’s still hard to say goodbye. So I won’t. Godspeed, my friend, and blessings on your journey.