Pastor Phil McCutchen

A Tribute To Jason McCutchen

This Saturday, at Bethany Community Church, my son Jason will take his second covenant walk down a sanctuary aisle. The first walk was as a boy when he made his decision to follow Jesus Christ, this will be a walk to commit to love, honor and cherish Marilyn Mogollon. Cheri and I are excited about this next step for Jason and Marilyn and welcome Marilyn into our lives. I want to dedicate this week’s blog to paying tribute to a truly remarkable young man.

Jason’s passion for life has been a trademark since the beginning. I’ll never forget a moment when he was about five. We had gone through the gate at Six Flags Over Texas on one of those hot Texas Summer days. There was a bridge that took you into the park. Jason takes off running full speed into that part yelling out this battle cry, “let’s go do some damage.” Cheri will agree that it’s always been like that with Jason.

Fast forward fourteen years later. Jason was in his first year at Masters Commission in Rockford, Illinois and the students at BCC had voted for Jason to come home and be the opening night speaker at Youth Retreat. I drove up to Lake Ossippee that cool Friday night quite nervous about Jason’s speaking debut. I was bracing myself for this to be like most young guys going to the pulpit for the first time, not so great.

What I haven’t mentioned was that my relationship with God had grown pretty stale and cold, but I sure wasn’t expecting Jay to help me with that. Then it came time for Jason to speak. He lit candles, turned down the lights and said, “tonight I want to talk to you about intimacy with God.” He proceeded to walk around in my heart for a half an hour. Sure, he’s our boy and I am biased, but I believe I can objectively say that our boy knocked it out of the park that night. I am just glad I was sitting on the back row where my tears wouldn’t be such a distraction. His sermon wasn’t a performance, it was a public display of passion for God.

Since Jason is my direct report at church, I am responsible for his performance review. I give a detailed performance review that goes into specifics, and then I give a written synopsis that simply lists strengths and growth opportunities. In Jay’s recent performance review under strengths I listed things like, a very robust work ethic; Not a clock-watcher but stays with a task until it is satisfactorily completed; A commitment to excellence in work & ministry; Passion demonstrated in conversation, meetings and problem solving; Creativity in finding solutions, designing projects and thinking through options; A deep commitment to truth and a love for God’s word; A love for BCC and a clear commitment to its success; A willingness to consistently put the church first, ahead of personal needs.

A few years ago, I read a book by Mark Batterson called, “Reverse Mentoring.” That phrase “reverse mentoring” says a lot about my relationship with my son. We don’t always see eye to eye but I respect him, because he pays the price and I know he’s committed to the success of the team.

Marilyn, get ready for an adventure. I can promise, you will not be bored. I could fill pages with anecdotes but, let me just close by saying, Jason McCutchen is a good man, anyone who makes him a part of their lives will be better off. Now let’s have a wedding!