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Spanish River Church’s pastor retires after 42 years of service
by Karen Granger | The Good News | June 5th 2009
Tags:
church planting, David Nicholas, retirement, Spanish River Church
David Nicholas made a career out of teaching people the Word of God and planting churches around the world.
“It’s the right thing to do and it’s also a very difficult thing to do,” he says. “My life, for more than 42 years has been my ministry at Spanish River.”
David says he could have retired years ago, but saw that the Lord was accomplishing so much through the ministry that it would have been pointless.
“But now it’s the right thing to do for the church,” he says. “Pastors move, retire or suddenly become ill making transitions challenging for the whole church body.”
David says it’s very unusual for a church to have a smooth transition from one leader to the next, yet for Spanish River things are going remarkably well.
The church has appointed Tommy Kiedis, formerly with Palm Beach Atlantic College and Palm Beach Community Church, as the new senior pastor.
“Tommy has been on our staff for two years. He’s had a speaking and leadership role so our people have built relationships with him and feel like they know him,” explains David.
Tremendous growth
David and his wife, Nori, began Spanish River Church in a storefront near the railroad tracks in Boca Raton with just eight adults and five kids. Today, the church sits on the corner of Yamato Road and St. Andrews Boulevard and boasts a state-of-the-art worship center that seats 1,500 and a large chapel.
The Nicholas’s have counseled and shared the Gospel message with business moguls, sports celebrities, the homeless and orphans over four decades. They’re also the force behind the formation of Spanish River Christian School with 600 students as well as the bustling Spanish River Counseling Center.
Despite the success of these ministries, David is most in awe of what the Lord has done through Spanish River’s church planting ministry. In fact, David is known for having planted more than 200 churches worldwide.
“We first planted churches in West Boca, Naperville, Ill., Plano, Texas and San Ramon, Calif.,” David says.
In 1989 David began to do the math and calculated that the average U.S. missionary requires approximately $150,000 per year for their programs out in the field.
“They also have the challenge of raising funds year after year to keep their ministries in motion,” he says.
Although David acknowledges that missionaries do extraordinary work, he has found that investing in church planting movements has a greater return when it comes to sharing the Gospel.
“In Haiti, we’ve built eight churches, and they’re bringing in more than 5,000 people for a one-time investment that totaled less than $300,000,” he says.
“Years ago, we helped to plant the renown Redeemer Church in Manhattan for $100,000, and, today, that church has grown so much they are planting churches in Haiti, Brazil, Mexico and India.”
“I understand Redeemer’s church planting ministry has grown to the point they are able to invest approximately $1 million a year [in] advancing the Gospel through church planting,” David says in awe. In Chad, Spanish River has planted a church which now has a bakery that provides the community with sustainable income, a fresh water system and an orphanage catering to 100 children.
Years ago, a man from India approached David, asking him for financial support to start a ministry.
“We invested $3,000 to start a small church. More than 250 people attended and they quickly ran out of room,” he says. “So we gave that same man, $5,800 to start another church, which is drawing more than 700 people. Today, that same man has planted 50 churches in India, including many in very hostile areas.”
Church staff looks back
Donna Ferguson, a Spanish River Church staff member, says there are so many things that a senior pastor does that most congregants never get to see.
Donna, who is bilingual, often gets called upon when Spanish speaking visitors arrive at the church office.
“One day, the pastors pulled me into David’s office. A Spanish speaking man was trying to tell David that he worked with some missionaries in a far away place where they didn’t have transportation. All he was asking for was 20 bikes,” she recalls.
“David immediately took the man to a local store to get him what he needed, including a digital camera. He taught him how to use it to post pictures of the ministry on the internet in order to share their mission with others and raise additional funds.”
Looking ahead
The vivacious Nicholas, in his 70s, is not really retiring. Today, David is starting The Church Planting Network. He will be working with Trinity Grace Church in Manhattan to help them build a church in Brooklyn, as well as assisting other churches around the world. David has also become passionate about orphanages and ministries in India that care for unwanted babies.
He will also continue to study and write about attachment disorder. “I experienced something similar to an extent,” he says. “My parents were married 55 years. Then, one died.
“We moved so much. My mom was critical and not loving, and my father was away with the Navy. I didn’t have an incubator of love and support to build confidence,” he reflects.
David says Christians need a love relationship with Christ, and, if he had it to do over again, he would focus on that more in the pulpit.
“The trust and obey part of our faith comes out of the love relationship just like in a marriage,” he says.
Nicholas is concerned that many children today may not physically be orphans, yet they’re growing up with two busy working parents lacking the relationship they need. He worries today’s excessively overworked parents are developing a generation lacking the ability to build and maintain meaningful relationships.
The best part
Nicholas says the most rewarding part of being a pastor is seeing people come to Christ.
“Last Tuesday, a woman came up to me and said she came to our church 38 years ago and heard ‘the bad news and the good news’ and gave her life to Christ,” he says with joy. “I love to see people taken from death to life.”
His advice to Christians is: “Stay close to Jesus,” he says firmly. “Stay in the Word, have it sink into you so He is your life.
“When you have a love relationship with Christ, it builds confidence and self-esteem. You’ll find you are useful to Him and that ripples out to others around you.”