Draa Mackey had been cutting the grass around Bayshore Baptist Church for years, working for his grandfather, Ted Cunningham and his lawn care business. Growing up in Searsport, his summer job was in Lincolnville where Ted and his crew have mowed most of the lawns around the Beach for many years.

Now Bayshore Baptist is more than wood and stone and glass, more than just another old building. Built in 1835, imagine the lives that have played out within its walls: families mourning a death – undoubtedly the funerals of many buried at Maplewood or French or Sylvester cemeteries, – weddings, baptisms, squirmy children, Christmas pageants, Bible study, visiting Gospel singers, spreads of sandwiches and cookies and coffee in the church basement, Vacation Bible School. Churches hold the life force of a community.

But like many churches Bayshore’s congregation was dwindling, even as its supply of preachers was running out. Traditionally the church has paired with Northport Community Church to share pastors. There was a time when the church in the Center, today’s United Christian – UCC, was Baptist and one pastor served all three. Sundays were incredibly busy with the fellow (or for a few years in the 1930s, a woman named Nellie Wagar) preaching at 9:00 here, then 11:00 there, and then in the evening at the third.

So as Bayshore’s most recent pastor, Russell Bailey, was getting ready to retire, the boy from Searsport who from the age of 12 had been working for his grandfather, was outside cutting grass.

Though Deacon Bob Plausse had an unshakable faith that since God had been providing for the church, He would continue to do so, there was reason for concern. Summer attendance is one thing, when pews fill up with snow birds up north for the warm months. Winter attendance is quite another, and what with the cost of heating the big open sanctuary, plowing the parking lot, keeping paint on the peeling clapboards, and the steeple straight on its belfry – a small country church is a challenge.

“We’d been praying for years for a young preacher,” Bob says.

And here’s where the stars aligned, paths converged, or as both Draa and Bob say, God heard the prayers of the congregation.

Growing up in a family with religious faith as the guiding principal, Draa was homeschooled and attended Bucksport Christian School. His unusual first name (according to a Google search, only about 300 people in the whole world are named Draa!) was in honor of his father’s Christian mentor.

Planning to study criminal justice and perhaps enter the military, he began studies at Pensacola Christian College where life – where God – began to guide him in a different direction. He changed his focus to Pastoral Ministries, and to his surprise, in his sophomore year was voted student body chaplain. He evidently had a gift for preaching.

The summer going into his junior year Bob, who’d heard from Ted about the boy’s change of major, invited Draa to come inside Bayshore and see what it’s like. Then Deacon Bob ventured, “Why not come as a guest preacher some Sunday?”

Draa did, and as Bob says, the congregation fell in love.

The young man preached several times that summer to an enthusiastic and responsive congregation. One Sunday Bob arranged for a formidable audience, the cadre of preachers who’d been filling in after Russell Bailey’s retirement: Bill Stone, Tom Bell, Bob Knight, Bob Bell as well as Russell were all in attendance that day. Bob wanted to see if this would make him nervous. It didn’t, and the invited pastors were impressed.

Bob and fellow Deacon Al Wood, along with the Pulpit Committee, were captivated as well. Before returning to senior year at Pensacola, Bob approached him; would he consider becoming the pastor of Bayshore?

Draa protested that he was too young for the responsibility.

“All we need is for you to preach God’s word and visit us,” Bob replied, “we’re willing to grow with you.” He explained that the everyday business of the church is handled by congregational committees dealing with finances, upkeep of the building, etc.

Meanwhile, Ted was turning his business, Cunningham Lawn Care, over to his grandson. So Draa went back to his senior year with two jobs. Bivocational it’s called in ministerial circles, holding a regular job while serving as pastor to a church, a common practice especially in rural or small churches.

But Draa’s precipitous move into adulthood had one more component ­­– marriage. In June, shortly after graduation he married classmate, Jo Varnum. Jo, with long Maine roots herself, studied Youth Ministry at Pensacola, a perfect adjunct for a preacher husband. She’d also been working alongside him summers in the lawn care business.

Adding to the congregation’s pleasure in the young couple who have settled into a house just up the road from the church is the prospect of their first child, due this March.

Bayshore Baptist under 22 year-old Pastor Mackey holds Sunday School for both adults and children at 9:30 a.m. and worship at 11 every Sunday. Through the winter there’s Bible Study Wednesdays at 7 p.m., with a second study, same material, Thursdays at 10 a.m. The church, for those who might be interested in coming some Sunday to hear the new pastor, is located just north of Lincolnville Beach on Atlantic Highway (Route One). You can’t miss it.

Pastor Draa explains that they’re currently working their way through John, one of the four Gospels, the one with a slightly different take on the story of Jesus told by the other three Gospel writers who were eyewitnesses to the life of Jesus.

“We’ll never run out of material,” he says.

Jo for her part is at Lincolnville Central School every Tuesday at 3:15 p.m. for Good News Club, the ministry in public schools around the country where the children who come play games, sing songs, and hear lessons built around the Bible.

Once the grass starts growing they’ll have to give up the daytime Thursday Bible study for the season. And then there’s that little guy coming soon who ought to occupy them both and make for lively days at Bayshore Baptist.

Special Town Meeting

A Special Town Meeting Monday, January 14 will be held at the school in Walsh Common at 6 p.m. The purpose is to transfer and appropriate funds in two budgetary accounts.

The first asks to transfer $17,390 from the Building Repair Account to hire consultants to assess the condition of the town-owned Lincolnville Improvement Association building, also known as the old Beach School house, home to both the LIA and to the Historical Society.

The second article asks to transfer $10,000 from Unassigned Fund Balance to the Public Works, Athletic Fields Maintenance account.

School

No school Monday, January 21 in honor of Martin Luther King Day.

Congratulations to December’s Students of the Month: Kindergarten, Jackson Magnusson and Cara Fields; First Grade, Kaylie Green and Trey Cohn; Second Grade, Anneka Egeland and Ray Beach; Third Grade, Gabe Lippman and Alice Lindquist; Fourth Grade, Willa Yetman and Will Pendleton; Fifth Grade, Olivia McManus and Liam Day-Lynch; Sixth Grade, Gwen Hustus; Seventh Grade, Freya Hurlburt; Eighth Grade, Althea Dayhoof.

Rising ninth   graders (current eighth graders) will be planning their courses for freshman year on Jan. 29, 5:30-7 p.m. As the Grandma to one of those eighth graders, once again I have to say, “Where did the years go?”

The LCS girls and boys basketball teams have two more games each to play. The first is this Friday, January 18, 3:45 p.m. at Searsport, boys play first.

The last regular season game will be Monday, January 21, 10 a.m. at Islesboro, boys play first.

Library

Librarian Elizabeth Eudy writes: “We invite anyone looking for a nice quiet place to work for a few hours to come to the Lincolnville Community Library this Monday, January 14 between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. 

“We want to offer this time when the library is not usually open so that there will not be any distractions. Our computers will be available to use or you may bring your own and take advantage of our free high-speed internet service. It’s fine to come for part or all of the time.

“Tuesday, January 15 at 6 p.m. the Library Book Group will discuss Isabel Allende’s most recent book, “In the Midst of Winter”.  This wonderful story gives insight into issues at the forefront of current events—immigration and human rights. The story takes place during a crippling winter blizzard in New York City and brings together a young undocumented woman from Guatemala, an intellectual émigré from Brazil, and a quirky Human Rights professor. The reader is given insights to the sometimes impossible and unimaginable lives of these three while anticipating a budding late-in-life romance. 

“Wednesday Watercolor Journaling is from 4-6 p.m.  Come to the library and spend a couple of relaxing hours painting in your journal and enjoying the company and encouragement of other creative participants.  Newcomers are welcome—bring your supplies, take a seat and start painting. 

“Feel free to email with any questions. The library is an especially bright and comfortable place to be on these winter days!”

Good-bye to Nellie
I was sad to see that Nellie Hart passed away last week. She had Lincolnville roots, and was often seen at town events, especially playing in the Lincolnville Band. Read about her long and interesting life here.