Pastor John Chapman preaches his last Easter sermon

Pastor John Chapman moved to Havre 19 years ago and preached his first sermon here Easter Sunday of 1998.

His last sermon as pastor of First Baptist Church will be this coming Easter Sunday.

The topic will be changes, he said.

"The area minister said it's convenience - a good place of rejoicing and then turning it over to a new start," Chapman said.

After a life of moving around with the military - he is a U.S. Navy veteran - and then as a Baptist minister, Chapman, and his wife, Connie, will make what may be a more permanent change, one back to their California roots in San Diego, where family and winterless times await. The packing has begun, he said. The garage is packed to the hilt with boxes.

Chapman was in Modesto, California, when he got the call from the American Baptist Association Area minister in Great Falls 19 years ago and was asked if he would take an assignment in Havre, Montana.

"She says, 'We've got a church up here in Havre, Montana.' I said, 'Where's Havre?' My wife says, 'Where's Montana?' 'It's one of those snow states,'" he said, laughing.

Chapman's military assignments have been in Virginia Beach, San Francisco and Hawaii. Havre, he said, "is not in my element." There were some adjustments to make.

"The only traffic jam that I ever got in was going out down south of Chinook to go fishing at the rez lake out there - and there was cattle on the road," he said. "I went to the guy on the quad in the back and I said, 'How do I get through this? I'm from the city.' He says, 'Drive slowly right up the middle.' He says, 'Don't honk your horn. You'll start a stampede.'"

The result reminded Chapman of one the Bible's most memorable stories.

"It felt like I was Moses and the water was parting for me. It was great!" he said, laughing.

John and Connie Chapman have since stuck around for almost two decades.

In addition to serving as a pastor in Havre, he and Connie have been part of the Greater Havre Area Ministerial Association; they have served at Northern Montana Hospital Care Center, where they would show slides of their vacations to provide "armchair vacations" for those who couldn't go on their own; they have volunteered at Feed My Sheep Soup Kitchen; and they have held fundraisers for Salvation Army, among other ways of serving.

Pastoring, Chapman said, is not a one-day-a-week job. It can be stressful.

"You're on call 24-7," he said.

"You got the counseling load where you empathize with the people and direct them according to God's word. You also got every Sunday and Wednesday - you're coming up with three pages of Bible sermons. Add that up 52 times and you got a book a year," he said. "There's the visitations, the hospitals, grieving over the people that die and comforting the families, trying to help them find hope that lasts."

Chapman said there is more than the weather that has set Havre apart - something warmer has made his time here enjoyable. He echoed Havre's mantra.

"The people are great - independent," he said. "It's a hardiness - it's 'we can do this, and if we can't, we know where to go to find help.' Independent, you know."

Although he is retiring, Chapman said, he is not finished with ministry work.

"I'm going to stay in the ministry, whether it be with hospital care or helping out in the church," he said.