In the Spring of 2006, Pastor Sam Todd approached me in my office and shared a burden that he sensed, feeling strongly that he and Pam really needed to move back to Iowa/Nebraska to take care of his parents, Dorothy and Ernie Todd, who were now in their eighties and in failing health. We knew that they had to go, but Sam and Pam’s absence over the last four years has been a huge void, and they have been sorely missed. I always held out hope that one day God would bring Pastor Sam back to his “Florida home” and somehow work it out for him to be able to rejoin our staff here at Seminole Church. Since they’d never sold their house in Lake Mary, I reasoned, it was definitely within the realm of possibility!

Over the years, when the Todds would travel back to the Sunshine State from the frozen tundra of the mid-west, I’ve continued to extend an open invitation for Sam to speak here at Seminole Church. Several times he took the opportunity to update us on what was going on in their lives and teach a lesson from God’s word while visiting. Many of our new attenders over the last few years have gotten the chance to get to know him in this limited way.  I’ve watched him interact with people and noticed their response to him. Everyone loves Sam!

As the health of his parents continued to decline, Sam and Pam moved “Mom & Pop Todd” into their home to take better care of them (around Labor Day of 2008). Dementia eventually overtook Dorothy’s mind completely, and she had to be moved into a full time nursing home for intense care.  Sam’s dad, Ernie, spent his last 6 to 8 months living with Sam while visiting her (his wife) everyday for a few hours. The day after Easter, Ernie Todd passed away and went home to be with Jesus.

I flew up with Sam’s oldest son, Sammy, for the funeral. On a quick tour of the area, I got to see some of the places where Sam grew up as a child and teenager…the church where he was saved, the home he lived in that his dad built, his high school. One thing Sam said as we were driving around that struck me, though, was that even though he grew up there, it didn’t seem like home anymore. I told him he could always come back to his Florida home in a couple of years when Phil, his youngest son, graduated from high school. He said maybe God would work that out. I flew home and told Sam that I’d see him on Mother’s Day when they celebrated Sammy’s college graduation party at our church.

While their family was here for that occasion, Sam and I had the opportunity to have a long talk about the future. Since the funeral, Sam had been feeling God moving in his heart about coming back to Florida. We agreed that it would be great to pray for God to open the doors for their return the summer of 2012. When Sam returned home, he and Pam had a long talk about that possibility as well. Sam even called me that week and said wouldn’t it be great if somehow God could work it out for the Todds to move back THIS summer before Phil started his junior year of high school. We agreed that that would take an outright miracle, because we couldn’t afford to take on any additional staff expenses with the economy being in its current state, but I was more than willing to pray for that miracle. I even asked our elders to begin praying for God to miraculously provide a financial way for Sam to return. We all started praying for the financial miracle and provision that would be needed for this dream to become a reality.

That same week, Sam’s boss, Pastor Jeff, called me and explained their church would be interested in helping Sam and Pam relocate back here to Florida. I shared that we had already begun praying about how God would provide for that. After a series of phone calls and prayerful conversations, Sunnybrook Community Church miraculously offered to pay Sam’s salary until the end of the year. Are you kidding me?! Another church is paying for Sam to be on our staff for four months! God was definitely at work in this. I’ve never heard of this happening.

It was on a mission trip with Pastor Doug to Haiti this summer when God confirmed to Sam through a verse in Genesis 12 that He was indeed calling him to “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” On September 8th, Sam returned full time to Seminole Church as Associate Pastor. He will be initially focusing on programming for Sunday mornings and our Men’s Ministry. His son, Phil, actually arrived here in Florida a few weeks earlier than his dad and is already seeing some playing time on Seminole High School’s varsity football defense. And Sammy is already helping to lead our new college/singles ministry. Pam is wrapping up things in Iowa. She’s finishing up training someone to replace her at her job and is also in charge of packing up everything and getting their house sold. They just had a colossal yard sale, always a huge undertaking! The Todds hope to load up all their stuff at the end of the month and have the entire family and all their belongings finally here the first week of November. Please pray, too, for Sam and Pam’s house in Iowa to sell quickly.

I can hardly believe all God has done to pave the way so far. We are trusting Him to provide all the resources and logistics to complete their relocation and assimilation back into the Seminole Church Family. We are amazed and grateful for all that God has already been doing and are anticipating more great things in the future. To steal a line from Extreme Makover’s Ty Pennington, “Welcome home, Todd Family. Welcome home!"

God Bless,

Pastor Jerry