In Loving Memory of Richard Maybery

Richard Maybery by Kay Lorentz
What a tremendous privilege and honour to be able to share about Richard today.  I have worked for him for almost 10 years and directly with him since 2008.  I had the privelage of watching his whole journey in this church and seeing the tremendous growth in his life.
You can imagine I have many stories about this man… but for the sake of time and holding myself together…I will keep it short.
I tried at first to come up with a word or phrase to describe my relationship with him.  I set off on my task and landed up becoming so “discombogulated”… you see how do you describe a relationship with a person like Richard Maybery…
… in the early days of our relationship I had to learn how to talk to this man.  He liked the “bottom” line and a had a policy of “keep it simple”  I started getting really good at it.  AND soon our relationship became one where I could often share more than the bottom line… because in the bottom line conversations we learned more about each other and that we shared a passion for the world to know Jesus and not religion… a passion to see all men holistically healed, a heart for the equipping and empowering of people... that included  a school of ministry, Bible Schools and healing churches EVERYWHERE.  We shared a passion to see the poor lifted up and valued and living as sons and daughters of God.
We often discussed hard issues and debated some ideas of theology as we engaged with really difficult things at times… we talked a lot about where God is in suffering and who God is in Suffering and does God plan suffering… oh how I would like to be talking about that with him right now.
He taught me about kingdom life and the already not yet, and the amazing way to follow God with not only your head but your heart,  while being naturally supernatural...and boy did he get that concept into my being!
I loved that Richard had a church idea that was out of the box.  An Acts 2 church on the move… and engaged in the world, outside of its walls.  I loved that he not only dreamed and preached about apostolically resourcing other churches BUT got out there and did it. He travelled to many nations…
He loved talking about restoration of the individual and whole nations. He believed in it so much that he released and mentored many as we worked out what a practical church that moved out of its walls with holistic HEALING looked like....
He for years has helped me refine a holistic approach to community healing that is centered around Christ and the cross and yet is so practical and not just doing-good.  He modelled a growth  in  love for the least of these with tangible, touchable, practical Grace...HE SHOWED Grace in ACTION.
Richard had an incredible heart for children as we see that displayed by the amount of children’s ministries birthed in this church and adopted by this church…in his lifetime.
Richard did not just talk about going and he did not just talk about God's heart for the poor...he went to the POOR and he went to restore and equip them to do greater things. He went anywhere and always was excited about another invitation to go. Scaring most of us on his staff in that process… He let me go...He had supported many others in their going...
Richard was a man who carried in heart a passion for revival... he loved the Holy Spirit and Pentecost was undoubtedly his favourite Christian holiday in the year... he wrote a book on revival and a book about loss. I started calling him Dr. HOPE as he taught us out of his PHD as a staff...while he was writing his next book...
This unexpectedness of Richards’s death took me by such surprise because He dreamed out loud often about being a grandfather and spoke about how he would interact with his grandchildren. He described imagined trips on his Harley with his blonde babe Jacqui on the back. He adored his wife and his two beautiful children, his sister Pam and her family… he had a long term plan that included growing very old...
But in saying that, I find it VERY SPECIAL that the man who loved many things BUT particularly children and the HOLY SPIRITS WORK... is having his life celebrated...on the world weekend of prayer for the child at risk and Pentecost Weekend...
 He was particularly excited about Pentecost this year...
The bible says no greater love has a man than to lay down his life for his friends.  He layed down his life... for the sake of the gospel and his unwavering belief in its power.
His last message he preached in this church was a powerful one about forgiveness... he often said over the years if people would only just forgive...
I know it will take us time to restore as a church and as we work out the consequence of the suddenness of his death... we commit to practically work out what to do about India and Kenya AND the other mission fields... too.
 I believe he has trail blazed a path for others to go....
 I believe Richard died a very very VERY wealthy man...
He treasured what God treasures...he treasured people, all people...
He often spoke of a church of 3000 people, he never saw that in this church in these walls, I however believe that his life touched way more than 3000 souls in his lifetime.
I will miss him greatly...  my boss and coach... BUT above all of that my pastor and friend... who helped me take the journey from “orphanship” to “daughtership”