An ordinary hero is a person who quietly (pastors don’t qualify) and faithfully serves. These are people we should honor. Do you know any ordinary heroes? Send them to me at chris [at] theredbrickchurch.org
This week’s ordinary hero comes from Alice Daniels. You can read her blog here.
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I first met Doris Freese in the basement of our church when I was a pre-schooler and she was the children’s Sunday school superintendent. I have a very clear memory of her getting the children’s families together to make Advent wreaths and telling us what they meant and why they were important. She had a passion for children learning about and participating in worship.
I didn’t see her again until many years later when I walked into a Christian Education course in college–she was the professor and she remembered me from pre-school. She now was fighting cancer and wearing a wig because of ongoing chemo treatments, but she was completely invested in passing on the torch: educating a new generation of students how to teach children about the faith. (We women also liked it when she fixed the guys in the class with her steely gaze and said, "You think you want a Proverbs 31 woman? You better make sure you’re an Ephesians 5 man!")
Doris Freese has been in heaven for quite a few years now, but I still feel her influence in the way I teach both children in Sunday School and my own children. We have a family Advent wreath because she taught me how and why as a little girl. She brought children’s worship up out of the basement of the church and into the forefront of people’s consciousness.
Oh, I WISH I could’ve met Doris! When you write about bringing the children’s ministry up out of the church basement and into the forefront of people’s consciousness….so often we are just trying to keep the kids quiet in church. I love that she impacted so many generations; truly a hero, in every sense of the word.
Thanks, Mary! She was a great lady–I am looking forward to meeting up with her again someday!