Joe Medley lays tile for a living €“ or part of it.
But his real job is serving as pastor at Fir Lawn Lutheran Church.
Medley, 59, took over in April for The Rev. Mark Gilderhus, who stepped down due to responsibilities as a National Guard chaplain.
His installation was Sunday, Sept. 20.
In taking over the pastorate at Fir Lawn, Medley says he is taking on “an interesting challenge” in that the congregation is aging and has gone through a division nearly 10 years ago that resulted in some 80 percent of the members departing.
“The church slipped into survival mode,” he said. “When a church is in survival mode, it is at death’s door.”
He said that churches are either in “growth mode” or in “survival mode” and that the first challenge at Fir Lawn “is to change that mindset to growth mode instead of survival mode.”
“I’d rather call it ‘evangelism mode,'” Medley said. “The Great Commission is not to go out and survive,” referring to Jesus Christ’s directive to his followers to spread the gospel throughout the world.
He said that fulfilling the Great Commission may require some innovative thinking on the part of the church €“ for instance, deciding how to provide Sunday school for a congregation that is largely of advanced age.
“Many churches assume that the model for a church is the way they’ve always done it,” he said. “Instead of assuming what the church should look like, what do we do with the pieces we have?”
Fir Lawn is a “great congregation” of “very interesting people” who reflect Sweet Home, which Medley, who lives with his wife Deb in Salem, said is “an incredible place.”
“It’s in cultural transition from a logging community,” he said. “There’s a growing arts community here. You’re the gateway to recreation. You’ve got more than your share of good souls.
“This is the Oregon people imagine Oregon to be like.”
This fall, Medley said, his goal is to determine what the church has to work with, “then lay that out in front of the congregation and say ‘How do we use this to fulfill the Great Commission?'”
Medley, who was born in Hayward, Calif., grew up in the Portland area, earning a theater degree from Portland State University.
“It’s really useful,” he said. “You can either go to seminary or law school.”
He said he became a Christian at 21 and decided to enter the ministry, graduating from Northwestern Lutheran Seminary in St. Paul, Minn., in 1980.
He has served three congregations in Oregon and two in Washington, taking a break from the ministry for 12 years beginning in 1990.
“There was no juicy scandal,” he said. “Just burnout.”
His last church was in Woodland, Wash., a congregation very much like Fir Lawn in size, though it was a mission church that, he said, “never really got off the ground.”
Since Fir Lawn is not large enough to support a full-time pastor, Medley lays tile, doing business under the moniker Joe Tile. He said most of his business comes from word of mouth.
“I’m somebody they can trust, whom they can find if he messes up,” he said, half-jokingly, which he often does in conversation with a visitor.
He spends a couple of days during the week and on Sunday in Sweet Home “and I’m always on call.”
His wife works as office manager for a small business in Salem. They have been married for three years and she has two grown sons, one married “and the other we’re hoping will be soon,” Medley said.
He added that they are “big Beaver fans.”
“We’re season ticket holders,” Medley said. “There are no weddings at Fir Lawn on game days.”
Services at Fir Lawn are held Sundays at 10 a.m. For more information, call 367-3642.