A Review of Almost There, by Elwood McQuaid

A friend gave me a copy of Elwood McQuaid's recently published little, 164 pages, book, Almost There. Before I share my thoughts about Rev. McQuaid's reminiscences about his first pastorate, I think I should share my perspective--some might call it my prejudice.

I hadn't gotten very far into the book, when I realized that Pastor McQuaid was sharing experiences that were very similar to what my wife and I experienced in my first pastorate, twenty years after those of the Mcquaids. I found a kindred spirit in the book's twenty-one chapters. The McQuaids and the Merrells both came from the North to Virginia. Like them, Kathy and I fell in love with the Old Dominion. Elwood tells a tale about possum hunting. My yarn is about blowing my eardrum out on my first deer hunt. You get the idea. I'll stop there.

Pastor McQuaid writes about the rural 1950s Virginia community of Goodveiw and the Goodview Baptist Church with great fondness and sincere respect. In the epilogue, he sums up something that America is missing but seldom misses. 

[A] quality of life and stability of values [that] have all but disappeared. Today we confront a daunting, downward plunge into neopaganism. Is it irreversible? Only God knows. From my perspective, we need to return to the qualities that made us what we once were. Oddly enough, those virtues are best revisited not in America's teeming metropolises, but in the small towns where ordinary folks set the standard." (161)

Through much of the book, Pastor McQuaid tells his story by introducing us to the people of Goodview. People like Jimmy Jones, the leading layman at Goodview Baptist when Elwood and Maxine arrived. Jimmy went on to a highly successful pastorate of his own. A lady in the church where I pastored came to know the Lord under "Pastor Jimmy's" ministry. There was Buck Daniels, who always managed to make himself scarce when Pastor McQuaid came calling. The prayers of Buck's two sisters were finally answered when Buck turned to the Lord years later. The book shines a light on these people whom some would call "unsophisticated." The ability of the church's women to produce feasts on wood stoves, using homegrown and raised ingredients, and the mastery of timber cutting, by the communities men are held up as skills to be valued and respected

When I was in Bible College, we "preacher boys" took a class that was called "Practical Theology." It was about the nuts and bolts of pastoring a church. In many ways, Almost There is a book of case studies in practical theology. In my humble opinion, the book is full of examples of real pastoral care. While these examples are not couched in formal Theological terminology, the sound Theological underpinnings are there. I'll share one example. 

One of the central realities of sound Biblical Theology is the dignity of all human beings. We do not have value because of our wealth, power, beauty, intelligence, or achievements. We are valuable and worthy of respect because we bear the image of our creator. In the chapter, "Who is that masked man?" Pastor McQuaid makes that known with great sensitivity and tenderness. He also points out that people who should know better, too often don't. In this case, it was a "highly recommended" evangelist who failed the test on how one should treat a fellow child of God--even a child of God who carried a childhood fascination with the Lone Ranger into adulthood.

A man who should have known better had entertained himself at the expense of someone who didn't know he was being mocked. And he did it in front of the man's wife and children, who knew exactly what was happening. Cletus Norman was a hard-working husband, father, and good citizen. Sure, he held fast to a harmless fantasy that others had long since abandoned. But exploiting Cletus's weakness and humiliating him for a few moments of personal amusement seemed to me to be a heartless thing to do. (96)

From God moving in mysterious ways to provide a new parsonage, to the amazing examples of grace that led folk to become women and men of God, this little book is filled with examples of the power of a Gospel-based ministry. We need that.

I recommend that any pastor who leads a small congregation get a copy of Almost There. Even those who don't share the commonalities that I share with Pastor McQuaid will be encouraged and challenged to be faithful. If I were teaching that "Practical Theology" class, I'd make this book required reading. Most young pastors, even in today's world, will find their first flock in places more like McQuaid's Goodview than Keller's Manhattan. And while I can't say for sure, I suspect that those who do land in one of the urban centers will find folks there who, below the surface, look a lot like the tomato-growing, chicken-frying, front porch-sitting, possum-hunting residents of the Goodview of seventy years ago.

Almost There is published by Westbow Press, a division of Thomas Nelson and Zondervan.
The Book is authored by Elwood McQuaid with Lorna Simcox.

Howard Merrell, the writer of this review, began a forty-two-year ministry at a little church about a hundred miles from Goodview in a mill town in the Alleghany Highlands of Virginia. Like Elwood and Maxine McQuaid, Howard and Kathy Merrell were educated by their first church. Unlike the McQuaids, the Merrells stayed put. I think Pastor Mcquade would agree that God leads His servants in different ways for His own purposes.

In one chapter, Pastor Macquaid mentions a good friend of his, Morrie Brodsky, founder of Scripture Truth Book Company. Morrie's son, Phil, is my friend. He gave me the book. Phil and his staff at Scripture Truth are distributing the book. Perhaps you can obtain it elsewhere, but I encourage you to contact the folks at S.T. https://scripturetruth.com/