The Rev. Gene McIntosh tends to his flock at Calvary United Methodist Church with all the attention of a dedicated shepherd. He knows each member of his congregation by name and their personal challenges.
The pastor’s own life of highs and lows must surely contribute to his empathic nature.
McIntosh, 65, entered the ministry after experiencing devasting losses. In his mid-30s, both his parents died as well as his young wife to leukemia.
“It made me wonder what life’s all about,” he said. “It had to be more than just dying.”
The soul searching led McIntosh away from education and into the ministry.
“I’m still teaching and coaching,” McIntosh said. “God just changed the classroom on me.”
WHEN PEOPLE lament about life not being fair, McIntosh nods in agreement.
Perhaps thoughts of him losing his home and church in the 2007 Greensburg tornado come to mind. Just days before his assignment in Iola was to begin, he and his family escaped an F5 tornado on May 4, 2007, with their lives — their home, their church, obliterated.
After four years, he’s emerging from the post-traumatic stress from the catastrophe. The weight of the devastation has slowly been lifted off McIntosh’s shoulders in part through a group of pastors who regularly give counsel to one another.
The sessions have helped McIntosh realize that words of comfort, and the passage of time, go a long ways to healing.
“Sometimes logic doesn’t take you very far down the path of healing,” McIntosh said. “You can’t explain away the pain.”
McIntosh said Iola’s Flood of 2007 left a lot of people similarly affected and noted the important role of the K.A.R.E (Kansas Assisting Recovery Efforts) program.
“Difficult times can be a time for growth,” for a church, McIntosh said, presenting an opportunity for parishioners to heed the call “to look out for the least, the last and the lost,” he said.
Ironically, people tend to lose that sense of mission when times are good, he said.
The Greensburg tornado gave McIntosh proof positive of God’s work, he said. Small acts, especially, made big a impact. Like the time a teacher from Oklahoma delivered tubs of coins collected from her students for relief efforts.
McIntosh said such “acts of mercies had God written all over them.”
Being “plugged in” to God’s spirit is what makes McIntosh recognize it in a multitude of ways.
McIntosh terms the connection a “tangible heartburn,” as he thumps his chest.
MCINTOSH was born in the tiny town of Courtland, population 322, up near Concordia. His father was a barber and his mother a beautician who became a full-time homemaker.
He attended Kansas State University for one year before transferring to Emporia State to major in education.
He taught math and coached basketball and track for 17 years, primarily in the Melvern area.
His wife, Ann, died in 1984, leaving him with two sons, who now live in Emporia and Joplin.
Her loss and that of his parents left McIntosh reeling.
“I wanted some freedom to ask some hard questions,” he said. His church at the time, “was pretty black and white,” he said. A Methodist church in town “let me explore my faith,” he said. “That was helpful.”
Before long, he found the exploration process leading him into the ministry. By 1990, he had resigned from teaching and entered the St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City.
Also during that time he had found a new love. He and his wife, Judy, a counselor for Lincoln and McKinley elementary schools, were married in 1987. They have two children, Katarina, 19, a student at Allen County Community College, and Tyler, 15, a freshman at Iola High.
McIntosh describes himself as a mystic, as opposed to a prophet.
The latter, he said, tend to challenge people’s faiths by their declarations of God’s intentions. “They can’t help it,” he said. “They have to get it off their chests. And sometimes that can make people uncomfortable.”
True to his nature, McIntosh prefers a subtle tack.
“I’m one that wants to help people encounter Christ in a variety of ways and to show them that God’s presence is everywhere and in everybody.”
That said, it’s when he’s alone that McIntosh feels a most intense relationship with God.
“Solitude affords me that space to truly listen to God,” he said. “God gets my attention through reading Scripture, of course, but also when I’m outside enjoying nature.
“The more I can connect to Christ, the more I know truth,” he said.
The heartburn begins. “That’s my passion. I’m here to help people encounter Christ to beome more truly human — as God intended us to be.”
“We’re all on various stages of a spiritual journey,” he said. “When our cages are rattled enough — whether through a crisis or other demands — hopefully we’re ready to make some changes.”
FOR CALVARY, its numbers are a concern. A steady 75-80 attend each Sunday.
“We reflect the rural decline of the area,” McIntosh said. The congregation tends to be on the “older” side, “which puts us in the position of saying we really need to be enveloped in prayer and listening for God’s direction.”
Despite the onset of different ways to communicate, people don’t seem to be tuning into Christ, McIntosh said.
“Perhaps we’re not the community people are seeking nowadays,” he said. “There’s no quick fix with Christianity. It’s a journey of the spirit.”
Today’s cultures react to chaos by “cocooning,” he said, instead of reaching out in community.
“They want community, but also to cocoon. You can’t have both. You can’t escape into community.”
McIntosh credits the Thrive Allen County program and its efforts to bring various factions of the county’s communities together in joint efforts such as weight loss.
From personal experience, McIntosh gives the small-group model of reaching out kudos.
He is one of 32 Methodist ministers from around the state participating in a program that addresses spiritual, financial and physical concerns.
The most obvious changes in McIntosh have been to his waistline.
“I’ve lost 45 pounds since August,” he said with a broad smile. Surely even a minister is allowed some pride.
McIntosh credits the program’s strong support network to help him stay on track to making good lifestyle choices.
“Knowledge is helpful, but not the cure,” he said of the effectiveness of a support network.
God also plays a role in the effort.
McIntosh said he has a “breath prayer,” that he repeats with each inhalation. It goes: “Empower me to let go of my craving for sweets.”
The prayer helps deflect temptation, he said, by making him mindful of what a healthy body needs.
For exercise, McIntosh has become a big fan of the Prairie Spirit Trail and rides his bicycle as much as he can. The combination of a healthier diet and exercise has caused the pounds to fall away and given him new energy.
“I feel born again,” he said of the difference.
MCINTOSH also pastors at Salem United Methodist Church west of Iola.
