My Dear Shepherds.
That’s how Lee Eclov began each of his weekly columns. He wrote 291, the final one submitted and published last week.
He suggested in that piece that after Easter we may have “the post Holy Week droops.” Our people and churches “plug along much of the time.” Nothing much spectacular. But he reminded us how “Christ’s resurrection guarantees that our labor here and now, like our bodies, has a resurrection destiny—immortal, honored, and powerful.”
On Wednesday, April 8, Lee went to his resurrection destiny. It was sudden and unexpected. His wife, Susan, and their son and daughter-in-law, Andy and Rikki, survive him.
Lee and I met 45 years ago. We were both young pastors in Pennsylvania. Our churches were separated by 150 miles, but we bonded over preaching. We wrote our sermons out word-for-word, which made detailed discussion possible.
Courtesy of Lee EclovLee was relentless in his quest for precise words, accurate shades of meaning, and any linguistic strategy that might take a listener into Jesus. Because his churches were never large, he was the primary preacher. He had tremendous affection for pastors who create fresh material week after week.
Along the way Lee added readers to his audiences of listeners, marshalling words in a different manner but reaching the same hearts. He wrote over the years for, among other publications, Leadership Journal, Preaching Today, and CT Pastors.
Words were his craft, encouragement his currency. He drew from a deep reservoir to build up others. Sometimes those interactions did not show on the calendar. He always had a new coffee shop encounter story. Over the years those numbered in the hundreds.
Add to that all the pastors who sought a slot on his calendar. They came in a steady stream for his wisdom. The sum of those confidential conversations allowed him to speak with quiet authority regarding the joys and challenges of church life.
Lee also taught part-time at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Denver Seminary. His students remembered what they learned and how much he cared for them.
As a pastor in the trenches that well of encouragement sometimes ran dry for himself. Last week’s column detailed a season of discouragement and two men who prayed over him. He wondered over the years why, with all the care he gave to the communication process, he did not have the opportunity to preach to bigger congregations.
Maybe that’s because he did not aspire to be an organizational man. He once asked me to spell out how leaders conjure an official written vision for their place. His conclusion after my explanation: I don’t get it and I’m not much interested in it.
Instead, he was a shepherd, and a shepherd to shepherds. He constantly highlighted the link between our faithful toil and its eternal impact. Where does plugging along much of the time get us, or our people? “Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort.” (1 Corinthians 15:58 MSG) It counts, all of it. He loved that verse. That was his theme.
Early this year we began working to renovate CT Pastors. Lee was integral to those discussions, never allowing them to meander far from what a shepherd really needs and experiences. We are the beneficiaries of his faithfulness.
I’ll conclude with Lee’s sign-off to me all the years I’ve known him, and to all of us in every column: Be Ye Glad!
—Thomas Addington
COO, Christianity Today
Other Tributes to Lee
CT Pastors Preaching Tools just lost one of its most prolific contributors: 75 sermons, 356 articles and devotionals, 10 entries in The Art and Craft of Biblical Preaching, and more.
And the church just lost a pastor’s pastor, and a preacher’s preacher.
A pastor’s pastor. Lee’s preaching flowed from his pastoring. Lee hailed from South Dakota, was not impressed by glitz, so never became enamored with the seeker model so prevalent in the ‘80s. Instead, he was old school, a reader of Eugene Peterson, and a pastor who focused on one person at a time.
When I began pastoring full-time, in midlife, Lee was my Yoda. We would meet at Weber Grill, joke about who was going to buy lunch, and Lee would talk about what it means to be a pastor and how to go about things. His ability to befriend people—whether a board member in his church or a bagel server at Einstein Bagels—astonished me.
In my church now, I have a family who had once had Lee as their pastor. They tell me, “He was the best pastor we ever had,” without qualifying it in any way. I’m not hurt; we both know it’s true.
A preacher’s preacher. A careful exegete of Scripture, Lee also had an artist’s touch with words. He read novels and had that sense for character, place, and tone. He reminded me of, and became friends with, Mark Buchanan. Like many artists, Lee sometimes felt writer’s block and often worked best at the 11th hour.
Lee attended Evangelical Homiletics Society meetings and studied the craft of preaching, but he never spoke as an orator, only as pastor and friend. He knew times of anxiety and did not always sleep well, so he could speak with empathy to people, as he did in his sermon The Test:
Sometimes when we look into the suffering of other believers, we say, “I don’t know how she does it. I don’t think I could bear up under that.” God does give us more than we can bear sometimes, make no mistake about that, and in those times we may lose touch with God. We may not know what to believe anymore. We may not be able to pray. We may cry out with Psalm 88: “[D]arkness is my closest friend” (v. 18). But unless sin invades and conquers, your faith will not fail.
Well done, good and faithful servant! Enter into the joy of the Lord.
—Kevin Miller
Rector, Church of the Savior, Wheaton, IL
Former Editor and VP at Christianity Today
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“What state is this?” Lee Eclov asked, pointing to the famous South Dakota hat he loved to wear. So began 13 years of a profound relationship with Lee. It started as a work connection but quickly evolved into a friendship and, ultimately, a true father-son dynamic.
No one in my entire time at CT encouraged me or my work for pastors more than Lee Eclov. He had a heart for pastors. He was a true shepherd’s shepherd. He loved talking to them. “What are you preaching on?” and “What are you reading?” were the two questions I heard him ask every preacher. He firmly believed that reading made him a better preacher because novelists are so skilled with words.
I would argue Lee was a novelist in his own right. He agonized over every word he included in his pieces for Preaching Today. Because of all those outlines and rewrites (often done even before sending a piece in for my review), his words sang. He was a true Wordworker, and I mean that in both the spiritual sense of preaching and the secular sense of writing.
One of my greatest joys during my tenure at CT was working with Lee on a weekly devotional. I think he would say it was one of the hardest things he ever did. Because it was a weekly cadence, I interacted with him regularly, reviewing his content and talking over the phone or via email. He would often joke with me, “Don’t touch any of my darlings” (referring to his carefully chosen words for the week). And to be honest, I wouldn’t. This is hard for an editor to admit, but Lee was such a careful writer and knew his audience so deeply that his work needed no edits. His thoughtfulness in every word choice made me a better writer and editor. I am forever grateful for that lesson.
My only regret is that I never saw or heard Lee give a message live. I have read hundreds of his sermons. Some you can read on CT Pastors, and others he shared directly with me simply because he liked an illustration or an interesting textual discovery. Every single one moved me closer in my relationship to my Savior.
As I mentioned at the start, this was far more than a working relationship. Lee became a true father figure in my life. I loved Lee, and I know he loved me, Kathleen, and our daughter Keeley. When he and Susan vacationed on the West Coast last spring, they made it a point to visit us in Vancouver so they could meet our one-month-old daughter. The joy I saw on his face was that of a doting grandfather holding her in his arms. I will cherish that time with Lee and Susan for the rest of my days.
For the record, regarding that very first question: I guessed South Dakota initially but changed my answer to North Dakota after a well-timed “Are you sure?” from Lee. I still remember his response: “You are the closest anyone has guessed without guessing it right.”
Heaven welcomed a mighty man of God. I can only imagine the joy in Lee’s voice as he finally sees his Savior face-to-face.
—Andrew Finch
Web Content Strategist, Church Media Squad
Former Managing Editor of Preaching Today
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I knew Lee through his writing before I knew him personally. One of my roles while I worked at CT was to do a first edit on articles and sermons for Preaching Today, which included work from Lee. He would later joke that my job of editing his writing must have been the easiest thing I ever had to do. Looking back it was definitely one of the most fulfilling. As I read his words, without realizing it, Lee was caring for my soul. Later, when I actually met Lee, I found out that for as great of a writer and communicator as he was, to know the man who held the fountain pen, was to be known and seen and cared for. His shepherding heart which seeps through in his articles and devotionals and sermons came naturally from his soul, it’s who he was all the time, to everyone he met, whether in church, or at his favorite coffee shop. He was present with you in the moment, fully. He didn’t ask questions of people just to be polite, he was genuinely curious and wanted to know you.
And if he found out you were a pastor, for any amount of time, Lee served as both a host and guide into this unique calling that can be hard to describe. He would welcome you into the club, treating you as an equal, while at the same time letting you know you aren’t the first to experience the highs and lows of ministry, and you weren’t alone. Lee had the gift and ability to both encourage and empathize with pastors, it’s one of the things I loved about his weekly column, which he originally wanted to call “For Pastors On Mondays”—his writing was never about “try harder” and it wasn’t an information dump, it was a shepherd who had already traversed both the well-worn and the overgrown paths, giving his fellow Wordworkers the confidence to keep pressing forward. He was always reminding pastors that even though the work can be hard, it’s good, it’s needed, and it’s important.
Lee loved words and he always chose his carefully. He was a storyteller, and his favorite stories to tell were the ones that pointed people to Jesus. He worked hard to be creative, to formulate imagery and scenes that would elicit a variety of emotions, but no matter the story or picture he was creating, they would always end the same way, leading the reader or listener to experience the joy, grace, and strength of knowing and walking with Jesus. I’m thankful that Lee answered the phone when I would call, opened the door when I knocked, and allowed me to sit in a rocking chair and learn firsthand what it looks like and feels like to shepherd another person. The pastor who never stopped pastoring, perpetually “homesick” is now eternally at home, and because of that even though I’m sad, his consistent sign off can ring true, and I can “be ye glad” for my friend.
—Tim Gioia
Pastor, Christian Fellowship Free Church, Chicago, IL
Former Leadership Journal editorial resident
