Transcription:
(Note: This transcription is auto-generated and may not be 100% accurate.)
[Aaron]
Welcome to the Trinity Life podcast. I'm your host, Aaron, and we are Trinity Fellowship, and that is one church, two locations. And we are gonna be digging into the lives of the ministry leaders and the people that are part of this family that we call Trinity Fellowship in West Central Michigan and see what makes them tick, see what God's doing in the lives of those individuals that we worship with on a regular basis.
And so this morning we are with Pastor Patrick, who is currently the Newaygo campus pastor and is up for vote here in a couple weeks to take over the senior pastor position being vacated by Gary. And so we're gonna talk about a little bit of that, but really we just wanna take some time and get to know Patrick and his story and kind of hear what makes him tick and what God's been doing in his life. And so we are excited for you to join us on this journey.
Patrick, so thanks for making this happen and thanks for being here, and we're excited to dig in. You ready for this?
[Patrick Shea]
Yeah, I'm ready. This is great, Aaron.
[Aaron]
You're excited, you're excited about this. So Patrick, why don't you start off by telling us, just kind of give us the brief synopsis. And I know on multiple occasions through your preaching, et cetera, that people have heard your story, but if you could kind of give us the light overview of Patrick BC, right, before Christ, and then kind of tell us what that transformation looked like briefly and where that's brought you to, say, up until maybe six to eight months ago.
Okay, give us kind of an overview of Patrick.
[Patrick Shea]
Yeah, so I grew up in Big Rapids. I'm a Big Rapids boy, I guess. My dad's a chiropractor, and so he started his practice in Big Rapids when I was about six months old.
And so, grew up in Big Rapids and in a Lutheran church and school. My dad has Irish Catholic in his background, my mom was Protestant, and so when they got married and got together, had a family, and we're looking at churches and where they should go, especially when I was born, because I'm the oldest, I have two younger brothers, you know, they wanted church to be a big part of the home as they had kids, and so they settled on Lutheran, which was kind of like coming together.
[Aaron]
Irish Catholic plus Protestant equals Lutheran, is that how the math works?
[Patrick Shea]
Yeah, Lutheran Missouri Synod, specifically.
[Aaron]
Okay, got you, okay.
[Patrick Shea]
Yeah, grew up in the Lutheran church and school, and so I had religion class and would get these stars on my, you know, chart if I went to church and Sunday school, and they would ask me about that at school on Monday morning, and things like that. So, a lot of knowing about God. It was probably second, third grade, the summer between second and third grade that I remember going to Spring Hill Camp, that's in Everett, Michigan, and it was there that I remember going beyond religion class, going beyond knowing about God and experiencing relationship with the Lord, and so the counselors and all that went into camp throughout the week and hearing the gospel, and it just kind of opened my eyes to who God was, who Jesus was, and having a relationship with him. So, I remember at the end of the week at camp at Spring Hill saying, Jesus, my life is yours, you know, I just, I want all in on this, and it's been a growth journey ever since. So, that's the time I remember really coming to know Jesus as Lord and Savior.
[Aaron]
How soon did the call to vocational ministry come? Was that like pretty soon after? Like, did you feel as a young child, like, hey, this is what I'm gonna do, or was that later on after you?
[Patrick Shea]
As a young child, those were the Michael Jordan years, I was gonna be an NBA player. My mom's like, when you get to be an NBA player, Patrick, I want a pink Jeep. And a scooter.
Said, okay, Mom. So, I was really into basketball actually growing up. I love basketball.
I played for St. Pete's, and we had a rivalry with St. Mary's Catholic School in Big Rapids. So, the Catholic school, yeah, those guys were a lot better than us. But we had a lot of fun playing.
It was probably in high school I started thinking about vocational ministry.
[Aaron]
Was there a person that, like, was, you were connected with exploring that call, or was that like a woke up in the middle of the night, or tell me about when you first, like, huh, when, what was that?
[Patrick Shea]
Yeah, you know, around the eighth grade, ninth grade, my family made a change, a move from St. Peter's Lutheran to Trinity Fellowship. And actually in between there, we were at a Pentecostal church for about a year. So, which was completely different than my experience of being an acolyte boy, lighting the candles and extinguishing the candles and robes and all that, to Pentecostal, two, two and a half hours of service, and people are falling down next to me, and weird languages are being spoken, and like, what is going on here?
But it was great, like, you know, actually that time, like, wow, who is the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit being part of the Trinity and getting to know who the Holy Spirit was. So, we were there for about a year and then came over to Trinity, actually settled there, which was like a good in-between.
Okay, gotcha. Trinity, in Big Rapids, Pastor Gary's the pastor at that time, and, you know, recently retiring now, so over 40 years in ministry.
[Aaron]
And that's one of the things we've really appreciated about Trinity Fellowship, is just kind of that middle of the road concept, not compromising on anything, but recognizing that, you know, there's a big area in the middle of, you know, all of these different spaces to be in and maintaining that tension between, well, no, there's order here and not chaos, and versus, no, but the Spirit does move. And so, you know, all of that, we've just appreciated that.
[Patrick Shea]
And Trinity has always been one that holds things in tension, holds things in bounds, and goes to the core. What is the majors that we need to major on and what are the minors that is, you know, we can have grace on for each other?
[Aaron]
And so, having come from that background and moved way to the other extreme, that was probably refreshing to find that middle ground.
[Patrick Shea]
Yes, refreshing for my parents, probably a lot, and for me. And Trinity drew people from the Lutheran church, from Pentecostal backgrounds. I mean, everybody came.
And I think what brought us together was Christ and the gospel, but also the word, the emphasis on the word. Like, we don't want just what a denomination will say or where they landed, but where does God's word, you know, land us? And where's that?
And that's the ultimate authority. And so, always a huge emphasis on that. And that was very impactful for me, even, you know, in high school.
And so, going to Trinity, those were formative years for me and my faith and my walk. And probably the youth pastor at that time was a big influence. And a lot of the men at Trinity that were part of the youth ministry and youth group that really partnered with my parents in, you know, raising me up, which was fantastic.
They didn't see it as their job to disciple, but the parents, you know, are the disciple makers of their kids. But, you know, they want to do a quip and partner with. And that was amazing, you know, in those high school years, doing things like adventure trips, which my son gets to go on this summer.
They're bringing back adventure trips. And going to places where I went as a youth and was really impacted by those trips and time with the Lord. So, yeah, I, you know, coming out of high school, I said, Lord, I love you, but I also have this, like, love, I mean, basketball was like, that's not gonna happen.
So it wasn't, that's not gonna happen. But I did have this kind of interest in liking of airplanes, you know? So I was like, boy, how can that come together?
And so some men in the church and some people were, you know, have you considered missionary bush piloting, you know, where you can fly in these missionaries, where they're gonna bring the gospel in these places and they need pilots to go to these remote places. And so I came out of high school going, wow, you know, maybe that's it. And so that's when I was looking at schools for aviation and looking kind of all over the place and landed at Western Michigan University.
[Aaron]
Landed.
[Patrick Shea]
I see what you did there.
[Aaron]
I see what you did there.
[Patrick Shea]
Yeah, so landed there. And that's where I started, you know, going after aviation and going after the Lord more too, because that was a different context. Western Michigan University had a nickname, Western, you know, for all the parties and things going on there.
[Aaron]
So you felt kind of that, you felt that you definitely needed to be pursuing vocational ministry. And at what point did Jenny enter the picture?
[Patrick Shea]
Yeah, so Jenny was there my sophomore year at Western. Okay. And that's when we met and she was going for teaching.
So elementary education, early childhood development, that's what she was going after. And so we met at a campus ministry Bible study. So I knew going to Western, I wanted to plug in right away with some solid groups, some Christian brothers and sisters, you know, that could encourage and support me in my walk and I could support them.
And so there was a campus ministry called The Gathering and that would happen on Sunday nights. And so there was a Bible study, a lot of different Bible studies, and we were going to the same Bible study. And so that's how we met.
And she liked ping pong, I liked ping pong too. And so we would have Bible study and then meet up for ping pong and then just talk about life and things. And so that's how we got connected there.
[Aaron]
Yeah. Okay, so then you graduate Western with a degree in? Aviation maintenance technology.
Aviation maintenance technology. And did anybody at any point have any talk with you? Like I know conversations you and I have had, you have kind of a passion toward equipping and gifting and that kind of thing of, you know, that the body all works together.
Did anybody have any of those types of conversations with you to say, Patrick, where, what gifts has the Holy Spirit given you that could be, did that ever happen?
[Patrick Shea]
Yeah, you know, a little bit, actually going back to high school, as I was graduating high school, I was pretty good at math and science and was good in those subjects. And so people, some, not particularly from the church, but just in general, other teachers had said, you know, you should just be an engineer. Why don't you go and be a, you know, an aviation engineer?
Then you can make money and then you can buy your own airplane and fly missionaries into the jungle. Why don't you do that pathway? Why do maintenance?
And that never resonated with me. That just seemed like, you know, I don't know. That's putting off what the Lord is laying on my heart and doing it for the sake of security, for money, for what would seem reasonable to the world.
And that just didn't resonate with me and where I was. So I said, yes, thank you, but you know, I'm going to keep going after this.
[Aaron]
So you graduate with that degree, you go back home because that's, there's home, right?
[Patrick Shea]
And yeah, after aviation. So with Western, Jenny graduated with teaching and we were at a point where we were engaged and we're going to be married. And she knew what I was going after.
And we had talked about that, prayed about that. And we're together on saying, yeah, what does God have for our life? Maybe in missionary aviation.
So we talked to missions organizations, MAF, JARS, there's new tribes, things like that. And you know, they said, you got to read this book called Jungle Pilot, which was about Nate Saint and Jim Elliott and those that had used missionary aviation in Ecuador. But in the end, they had also lost their lives in that.
So they said, this isn't just some Indiana Jones adventure flying into the jungle. And you know, this is serious, it's real. And you may be going to places that may be dangerous and aviation is dangerous just in general.
It's safe, but you're flying in remote places with all kinds of weather. So we were doing that, my parents were reading it, Jenny's parents were reading it. And as we graduated and we were going to be married right out of graduation, you know, we also wanted to get a taste of missions in general before we just went full in full time.
And so that's where we joined up with YWAM, Youth With A Mission. And they had a short term missions opportunity, discipleship training school. And so after graduation, we signed up for that.
We were married and within two months, we were off to DTS, Discipleship Training School. And that was in Lebanon, Pennsylvania for three months and then two months down in South America, Chile, Brazil, and Argentina. And so we were partnering with local churches down there to reach out with the gospel.
And that was to give us a taste of missions overseas, you know, in another country, in another setting and go, is this really, you know, for us to be doing that together and all, so.
[Aaron]
And so you come back from that and hey, might as well land at home, you know, go back home where we got our support, our church, our family. Yeah. Well, your church, your family.
[Patrick Shea]
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and actually it was on down in South America that we had opportunities to preach. When you're down there and you're considered missionary, like it's automatic that you would be considered a preacher.
So they would just throw you up in front of churches. And after one of those times, somebody came up afterwards. I didn't understand her that much.
She was speaking Spanish and there was a translator, but she said, you are a pastor. You are a pastor. And it just really struck me because I never considered myself a pastor before.
I was not pursuing pastoral ministry, but I go back to that being the first time that God ever planted a seed or a thought in my mind or heart that I was to be a pastor. And so that was a huge thing.
[Aaron]
So you get home and you start to explore. Was that like a passing thing or did that like kind of cause you to start exploring that? Or was it like, yeah, I came back a couple of years later and said, you know, that lady, how did that, how big was that when she said that?
[Patrick Shea]
When we came back, both Jenny and I didn't feel settled with long-term missions overseas. For one, I just was all about relational ministry. All that hands-on ministry I got to do in the churches, in the street, town squares, and with people just really resonated with me.
As I read more and heard more from missionary bush pilots, they spent a lot of time with the airplane. They were working on the airplane. They were flying the airplane.
They were flying other people to do the ministry. And airplanes are more or less a hobby for me. They were an interest.
And if I'm honest, I really did like the Indiana Jones kind of adventure. That's my kind of flight. That would be amazing, that'd be so fun.
But that's just a hobby. The calling was more to that relational ministry. And so you started exploring that.
And so I started exploring that when we got back. So you go back to Trinity. No, not back to Trinity, actually.
We went back to my Young Life regional director, which hasn't even been brought up in this story, but I did Young Life almost like a second, oh, I don't know, I had aviation maintenance technology, but then I majored in Young Life as well, unofficially.
[Aaron]
Right, sure, sure.
[Patrick Shea]
Student staff, and that's all about relational ministry, outreach to the high school students and things like that. So when I came back and I was like, well, if I'm not doing aviation maintenance, or I'm not doing missionary bush piloting, but I wanna do ministry, how's that gonna be? What's the pathway for that?
Who's gonna hire a pastor with an aviation maintenance degree?
[Aaron]
I love that word that you use, pathway. And I really clung to that the past few weeks. I just really love that concept.
And really, kind of as I look at, we're up for membership here at Trinity at the same time you're up for pastor, so vote on you.
[Patrick Shea]
I'm glad you're still going through with it. Stick around with us.
[Aaron]
But that word pathway just really goes to speak of, I think, what Trinity has put together in terms of their concept of preparing people for ministry. And frankly, you personally, in the conversations that we've had, that pathway of, because that's where you were. It's like, okay, this is where I wanna go.
How do I get there? First, where do I wanna go? And then second, how do I get to where I wanna go?
And a lot of times, it's just like, well, do this Bible study and then go be a pastor. Well, wait a minute. So I appreciate that pathway concept.
So what's the pathway to whatever's next? So I really appreciate that. So you kind of pursued that through Young Life.
[Patrick Shea]
You pursued that through- Yeah, and the Young Life had a thing called the Young Life Church Partnership. And so I get hired on by a local church as a youth director, but then I'm donated time back to serve with Young Life, a local Young Life club, camp. And so it was a partnership between church and para-church, which was fantastic because Young Life didn't see themselves as the church, but they're reaching out in partnership with the church into the communities, being where kids are, and introducing them to Jesus Christ.
And so then, as they're introduced to Jesus, well, then get plugged into a local church as well and grow in Christ. Beautiful. So I did that for three years, and that was my into local church ministry was through Young Life.
[Aaron]
And who was the partner? What church was the partner church at that time?
[Patrick Shea]
Yeah, so that was Emmanuel Reform Church in Grand Rapids, just across the Beltline from Calvin College. And so, yeah, Lutheran, Irish Catholic background, Pentecostal, Trinity, Evangelical Free.
[Aaron]
Where's the Baptist at? Where's your Baptist time? You haven't been a Baptist yet.
You might have to take another sabbatical and go be Baptist for a little while so you get the full gamut.
[Patrick Shea]
So Emmanuel Reform Church, and a lot of Reform churches in Grand Rapids, Holland area, West Michigan. And so served there as youth director, a smaller church family, but that was fantastic. So as a youth director, that was my main focus, but I really was almost like an associate pastor.
I got to be a pastor to all ages and generations and families. And it was fantastic. I grew in love with the local church.
[Aaron]
Was that extra on top of youth ministry? Was that a result of a pastor kind of pouring into you more and kind of that equipping? Or was that kind of like just naturally happened?
[Patrick Shea]
Yeah, and you know, the focus was youth, but as the senior pastor there was seeing kind of my gifting and just where I could fit and use my gifts, he gave me opportunities. And that was the thing, just opportunities to preach, to teach, to pastor beyond just the youth. And I was really thankful for that.
And he did pour into me, helping equip me and teaching and preaching, especially because I had aviation maintenance training. That's what I had. And I had like real life experience with young life, but I didn't have any formal training in the Bible or anything like that.
[Aaron]
So how influential was his process for walking alongside you in your current, how you handle that mentorship? How influential was that? And we'll come back to that later if he wasn't specifically, but how influential was he in that process?
[Patrick Shea]
Yeah, I loved how he took me under his wing and we would meet weekly and certainly talk about youth, what's going on there, but then also talk about how he's preparing sermons and let's dive into that. He had a couple books that we went through and that was fantastic. And so, yeah, that's definitely influential in how I am and that I wanna bring people beside me, you know, and that happened at Trinity in high school and with the youth director or youth pastor at the time and with just how Trinity does things as well.
And so that was very helpful for me to where then I was like, I believe God's calling me to, you know, the local church. This is such a fit all around. And so that's when I pursued seminary, was at Emmanuel Reformed and got seminary training.
So you went to seminary at Calvin? No, not Calvin. I went to GRTS, Grand Rapids Theological Seminary and Cornerstone University.
I think it's Cornerstone Seminary right now. And that was fantastic too, because at that time it was no longer just a Baptist. There's actually the Baptist.
[Aaron]
There it is.
[Patrick Shea]
Okay, so you- Has Baptist roots, that seminary has Baptist roots, but it was becoming more of a non-denominational seminary where people could come from all different backgrounds. So the classroom was amazing as, you know, students are coming from all these different church backgrounds and we're bringing it, you know, to the forefront of our studies. And we wouldn't argue aggressively against each other, but it would get pretty passionate, you know, as we're sharing.
[Aaron]
And stretch each other, really. So- You go through seminary, you're still at Emmanuel.
[Patrick Shea]
Yeah, at Emmanuel Reformed. And then you find out you're not Reformed. And so that brought up great conversations with the senior pastor there, because, you know, the Reformed tradition, you baptized infants, Pedo-Baptism, Covenant Baptism, and that's not my background, although it was when I was Lutheran.
I was baptized as a baby, but I had landed where now, you know, Believer's Baptism, you baptize after you believe. And so those were some intense talks, you know, with my senior pastor. Not like bad in any way, but we would get in, you know, just, okay, let's see where the Bible lands on these things.
And, you know, and totally understand and like, okay, I can appreciate where you land, but I'm not landing here, too.
[Aaron]
I think there's, I think in discussion like that, and I think that's important to bring up, because, you know, as we talk about Trinity kind of being in the middle, I think it's important. There's a difference between coming at someone, coming to someone who has a different, who lands in a different spot, who arrives at it in a non-biblical way, and without humility, and someone who arrives at it in a biblical way, in humility, we just land in a different spot. And I think there's a big difference there, because, you know, people will say, well, I disagree with you, and you're approaching it in a wrong way.
Maybe it's like, well, I know the Bible says this, but I feel, right? Versus a, well, I see this in scripture, and what it says is this, and this is how I'm interpreting that. And I think those are two very different arguments, and so I think it's so important, and again, appreciated at Trinity, how that central, like, hey, yeah, we'll disagree with you, we'll agree to disagree, but sometimes we won't agree to disagree.
Sometimes we're gonna disagree, like, outright. And so I just appreciate that, and I just appreciate how you kind of espouse that when I've heard you talking to other people who differ, and it's like, well, yep, that's, I see how you arrive there. I don't arrive at the same place, but I love you, and we can worship together.
[Patrick Shea]
I think that's where I use the word fit a lot, you know? Is it a matter of fit, rather than a matter of right, wrong, sin, that kind of thing? Or it's just, this isn't the fit, whether it be gifting, whether it be your theological convictions, whether it be your calling, you're looking for that right fit.
And the church goes beyond just any one local church, and so it's not like you're leaving the church, you're just finding your fit within the greater body of Christ, and making sure that's a great fit, you know? And so this pastor started to recognize that this might not be a good fit. Yeah, well, and for me, I was sensing that it wouldn't be a great fit, and before we landed on there, and I appreciate this, he said, well, let's really study, you know, let's really dive into it, and rather than just making a quick decision.
And I really appreciated that, because I think that's important, to get wise counsel, to really study, really pray over it, don't make any sudden decisions just based on emotions or anything like that.
[Aaron]
Because he loved Jesus, and he believed the Bible was the word of God.
[Patrick Shea]
Absolutely.
[Aaron]
So it's not like you have to run from him. No, no. And so, praise God for that he was, that you guys were able to enter that space.
So you ended up, you know.
[Patrick Shea]
In the end, just going, hey, I'll study with you, let's dive in, but in the end, you know, still landing on, this isn't gonna be a long-term fit, I don't see myself being ordained in the Reformed Church, and because of that, I need to get on a different pathway. Still partnering with local churches like Emmanuel Reformed, and they're sharing the gospel, but I need to get on a pathway towards where God is calling me long-term. And that was where I sensed the free church, you know, the evangelical free church, which holds all these things in balance, where some denominations make hard lines on minor points of doctrine, all important, it's important, but then that's not a fit then, if they're gonna make a decision on that, it won't be a fit.
So the evangelical free church, again, majoring on the majors, minoring on the minors, and so that's when I reached out to Pastor Gary, hey, would you take me on, consider taking me on as a pastoral resident, and that would be my pathway forward. And he said yes, and the elders said yes at Trinity. So that's when we made a move, after being five years in Emmanuel, to move back to Big Rapids, and I became the pastoral resident at Trinity.
[Aaron]
What were you guys doing for income at that point? Did Jenny end up teaching, did she, what?
[Patrick Shea]
Yeah, no, she didn't teach, we were having kids along the way, you know, so Declan was born while we were at Emmanuel, Kirsten was born while we were at Emmanuel, and then we were coming to Big Rapids, and I, in the residency, it was like a part-time job, and so Trinity paid part of my salary, but then also I raised money,
[Aaron]
and invited people to, you know,
[Patrick Shea]
support me as I'm doing this residency, and that was great, people supported and helped us as we did that.
And yeah, just the Lord provided, you know, the Lord provided.
[Aaron]
You might not have eaten steak, shrimp, and lobster, but the Lord provided, because what was on your heart was answering the call of God in a way that was, because I think sometimes we can go like, well, you know, I think you can go the other extreme and say, well, God's gonna take care of us, and you know, you hear these, the horror stories of these poor wives at home with the rats, and the mice, and the cockroaches, and you know, it's like, it doesn't have to be that way, and again, thankful that Trinity, you know, didn't put you in a position as a, you know,
[Patrick Shea]
to be a struggling pastor, right?
[Aaron]
You get these guys comes out, these guys come out of, you know, come out of seminary with, you know, thousands of dollars in student loan debt, and then they get an offer across the table that doesn't even put groceries on the table to be a pastor. But that they supported you outside of the salary from the church, and provided you opportunity, and walked with you in.
[Patrick Shea]
And there was housing that was available through the family, my family, and so that was a great thing, and also a scholarship that I was able to get in seminary that covered three quarters of my tuition, which was huge. So then I graduated without debt, and was able to, yeah, to enter into ministry, just ready to go wherever the Lord might call, whether that be a Trinity, or it could be somewhere else.
[Aaron]
Without some chain of whatever hanging behind you, because, yes, okay.
[Patrick Shea]
So it wasn't money being a factor of a decision of where I could go.
[Aaron]
Right, so you're in this residency, and obviously, you know, some of that pathway you talked about in the video Sunday morning, and things like that, and you're probably gonna be talking more about that as time goes. But so you're moved into this call to pastoral ministry, and you've got now this mentor in Gary who's pouring into you, and probably some other mentors that you've picked up along the way. Are you probably still in touch with some of these men that poured into you in the past?
[Patrick Shea]
Yep, yep.
[Aaron]
Okay, so now I think really there's a lot of talk goes around, and you know, well, so can you now pick up this process of just kind of, and again, brief overview, because I think a lot of this is gonna be coming through, but I wanna just a quick brief overview for anybody that missed or whatever, you know, just a couple of minutes of, you know, Gary announces he's gonna retire. And you didn't say, well, shoot, I'll do it, right?