In December the Denver Park Hill Church celebrated the life and legacy of their senior pastor and first lady, Eddie and Donna Polite, as Pastor Polite retired from full-time gospel ministry after 41 years of service. At the time of his retirement, Polite was serving not only as the senior pastor of Park Hill but also assistant to the president for the Rocky Mountain Adventist Ministries area of the Central States Conference.
The Sabbath divine worship was planned and coordinated by Pastor Kimberly Bulgin, who serves as associate pastor for the church. She invited many people who had been impacted by the Polite’s ministry to give testimonials. One of the highlights from Pastor Polite’s ministry was in the St. Louis Adventist Ministries Area, commonly known as SLAM, which was founded due to his unselfish leadership.
One of the things Polite recognized was that many times in a city Adventist churches do not work cohesively together. But if the pastors of these churches are willing to become friends, put aside any egos, and be united in mission about reaching that city, church members will begin to see each other as one church in different locations, united for a finished work.
This passion of working with other pastors and churches within a city or metro area became the bedrock and example for the ministry of many pastors today. Pastors like Roger Bernard, Joseph Ikner, Mark Paris, Kelby McCottry, Duane Thomas (RIP), Emmit Slocumb, Sr, and Cryston Josiah who were a part of the original SLAM, were able to use this model of leadership to lead members, churches, and ultimately our conference to value unity in ministry.
Elder Polite shared that one of the members of his church said they had never seen a group of pastors and first ladies who seemed so close and who seemed to genuinely care about each other without pretense, politics or regard for position. Polite’s thoughts on that were: “We allowed ministry to bring our families together rather than tear us apart, as is so often the case in the competitive culture of pastoral ministry.”
There has probably not been a pastor’s wife who has been more loving, gracious and God-fearing than Donna Polite. As Karen Josiah and Nordia Ikner shared during the service about who Donna was and what she meant to them, it was clear that if any pastor’s spouse wanted to study the art of loving your church family, and being completely supportive of the pastor—while at the same time ministering to the other spouses and families in the area—Donna was the model. Her kindness and compassion toward all cannot be matched.
During Pastor Polite’s ministry of 41 years, he was also blessed to serve as ministerial director for the Southwest Regional Conference. His impact on the pastors there was powerful and rich. He had a way of pouring into younger pastors without feeling intimidated by their gifts or their popularity. He wanted pastors to be all that God had called them to be.
Personally, I will never forget what he told me in my first district. As I was trying to figure out full-time ministry and outreach, Pastor Polite told me to “brighten the corner where you are.” Of course I had known that song since childhood, but it became real to me and became the foundation of my ministry calling.
One of the pastors who attended the celebration and shared how Pastor Polite impacted his ministry was Pastor Furman “Puck” Fordham. Puck shared how fired up he and I (admittedly) were about speaking truth to power on various committees at the church and conference levels, that we might have become unbearable. And one of the things Pastor Polite asked was, “Do you just want to speak or do you want to be heard?”
Those were the kind of deep, riveting and consequential nuggets that he would share with those who were willing to receive them. Subsequently Pastor Fordham and Pastor Polite, based on their friendship and passion for unselfish and intentional ministry, went on to co-author a powerful book titled Mission Driven Ministry that is still available at AdventSource. Every minister would do well to have this book in their library. I was blessed to use it in my own ministry to help keep me and my churches focused on “keeping the main thing the main thing.”
Elder and Donna Polite will be sorely missed by our Central States Conference family as they ride into the sunset of retirement. But their love for God and God’s people will remain with us for a lifetime. We wish them well as they enter this new season of life. And we are certain they will continue to be a rich blessing wherever they may find themselves.
Cryston Josiah is vice-president of administration for the Central States Conference.
