Pastor's Corner: Celebrating 'Small Town U.S.A.'

When I saw the theme for this year’s Festival Days, “Small Town U.S.A.,” it started to remind me of my family’s time in Montana and all of the blessings I am thankful for and attribute to several “small towns U.S.A.”

In August of 1992, I came by myself to Montana from Tilton, New Hampshire. I flew into Great Falls, stayed at the Budget Inn there, rented a small car, and drove to Chester, Montana — where I spent the weekend candidating to be the future pastor of Chester Assembly of God Church.

The 32 people there that Sunday morning overwhelmingly voted me in as their new pastor. In September of 1992, we packed a U-Haul truck and drove the five days, moving into the parsonage in Chester, Montana. My wife, Susan, drove our car, with one of our two little girls as her copilot. I drove the truck with our other little girl as my copilot.

We moved in, and spent the next eight years of our lives — 1992-2000 — there in Chester. While there, our two sons were born, at that time heralded events at the hospital there. Babies born — everyone in the hospital had to come and see! We are so thankful for the small town of Chester, Montana, where our children grew up and played out in the yard with no fear of being kidnapped or anything like that. Our neighbors would have immediately alerted us and/or the police if they had seen anything out of the “small town” ordinary.

I had the opportunity to work part-time at the Circle K, the midnight shift. Later on, I worked at Spud’s Café as a cook. They had to teach me everything because I did not know how to cook … After that, I taught piano, drums and voice part-time, enjoying my time with 20-plus students. Chester’s residents welcomed us out-of-staters with open arms and made us feel at home. The Assembly of God Church’s people took a chance on a “green” minister who had never been a lead pastor before.

In 2000, we moved to Choteau, another “small town U.S.A.” in Montana, living and ministering there from 2000-2004. This small town was a little larger than Chester, yet we still enjoyed the safety and the care of the people there, just as we had in Chester. Working as a children/youth pastor there at New Song Church, I had the opportunity to be my oldest daughter’s — Mrs. Danielle Stoll, choir director at Havre High School — youth pastor and my other daughter’s — Kimmi Boyce, of Boyce ’n’ Berry Flower Shop — children’s pastor. Our two sons, Sam Curtis and Matt Curtis, were also in the children’s ministries that I led.

Both Chester’s and Choteau’s proximity to Great Falls allowed for our monthly trips to Sam’s Club, where we would put all four children on a flatbed cart, and eventually displace them as we put a month’s groceries and supplies in their places on that cart. The “small town” school in Choteau ended up being a great place for our children to be educated, and offered me a fantastic part-time job substitute teaching. We lived in walking distance from the school. We were able to host a Christian pizza luncheon for junior high and high school students in our home. The “small town” school encouraged that.

In 2004, we moved to Glendive, yet another “small town U.S.A.” in Montana, living and ministering there from 2004-2009. Again, this small town was larger than both Chester and Choteau, and yet again offered the same safety, care, concern, educational benefits, and healthy place for our children to grow up and flourish. Both of our daughters graduated as Dawson County Red Devils.

The church folks at Glendive Assembly of God Church always called me “Pastor.” It was so noticeable that my children would ask me, “Dad, why do the church people call you ‘Pastor,’ not ‘Pastor Curt’ or ‘Curt’?” I did not know the answer to their question. What I did know was that at that time in my life as a pastor, I was extremely insecure in my ministry position and the people addressing me in that manner and treating me as such brought such incredible healing to my ministerial security. Again, I believe this all had to do with the fact that Glendive was and is “small town U.S.A.”

In 2009, we moved to Havre, the “Small Town U.S.A.” that we are celebrating this weekend at Festival Days. We have been here in Havre ever since.

• I enjoy pastoring Havre Assembly of God Church.

• My wife provides incredible day care for our grandchildren and a couple of other children.

• As mentioned before, our daughter, Danna Stoll is in her fourth year of teaching choir at Havre High School.

• Her husband, Jamie Stoll, is one of my associate pastors at Havre Assembly — what a joy it is to work with him here in Havre.

• Our daughter, Kimmi Boyce, got her teaching degree at Montana State University-Northern and married a local boy, Tyler Boyce, and operates a local flower shop, “Boyce ’n’ Berry.”

• Tyler leads the Christian group Chi Alpha on Northern’s campus.

• We are blessed to have all six of our grandchildren living here in Havre. We get to see them just about every day!

• Havre is our home. We so enjoy this “Small Town U.S.A.”

Now, I know that I haven’t quoted any Scriptures in this article, nor have I waxed eloquent with spiritual devotion and insights. Suffice it to say that I wanted to give thanks to God for directing us to Montana in 1992, and for directing us specifically to Havre in 2009. Havre has been good for our family and we pray that our family can be good for Havre, moving forward. Praise be to God!  Amen!

——

The Rev. Edroy “Curt” Curtis is president of Greater Havre Area Ministerial Asociation and lead pastor of Havre Assembly of God Church.