Bishop Gibert | Enamel Pin

Prior to moving to Austin, my wife and I had the privilege of serving at a church that sat in a very unique spot in Detroit.

The intention of the church was to bridge a gap between the white community that primarily lived in the suburbs and the black community mostly living in the inner city. Geographically, the church was placed on a Mason-Dixon line (if you will) between divided communities. For almost nine years, my wife and I served that mixed community on the worship team and how ever else we could.

Personally, I was fortunate enough to get a lot of one on one time with the leadership of the church including the pastor. Intentions were set on mentorship, the idea of creating an environment that would reflect the diverse audience in heaven, and sharing the good news with everyone; despite skin color or social background. It was a powerful environment to be apart of.

Leaving Detroit and moving to Austin, of course this would be missed. I realized through the intermittent text messages I received from the pastor of the church, that our relationship transcended distance and at times, time. A few weeks ago while in Florida revisiting the island our pastor flew down to marry us on, we exchanged a few notes back and forth (along with a cheese photo of the me and my spouse) still thanking him for his service, guidance and personal investments in us.

Just the other day, I woke up early in my routine of heading to the gym, I sent my pastor a quick text message letting him know I was thinking about him and that I was praying for him as he continued to focus on addressing the difficulty of race in a community like Detroit.

A few hours later, I was told that my pastor, mentor, and friend passed away some time during the night. It's a hard thing to respond to and I'm full of questions while feeling a gamut of emotions all at the same time.

Unable to attend his funeral, I've just been swapping stories with friends, posting songs from my living room on their Facebook pages and just spending time being thankful for his involvement in my life. As a bit of a release, way for me to process, and a constant reminder, I designed something that could be made into an enamel pin that I could share with some of my friends from that community.

Thank you Bishop Ben Gibert, for everything.