Minister in the Making

Minister in the Making started out as a way for a son to give his dad something to do during the isolation of the first pandemic summer of 2020. It turned out to be the last thing they ever did together. Travis Irwin, the "minister" in 'Minister in the Making', shared his entire life story in 37 episodes that ran from August 2020 until May 2022. On June 1, 2022, Travis died at the age of 72 after his final struggle with cancer. He was only 15 months into his retirement from 45 years in Christian ministry. The lessons he learned and the stories he told in his own voice and his own words are now available to anyone in the world who has access to this podcast.

Since the "minister" in 'Minister in the Making' is no longer with us, the podcast no longer has its subject. This is the last episode.

For this final installment, the son, BT Irwin, who interviewed Travis for 37 episodes, does the answering instead of the asking. Bobby Ross, Jr., editor-in-chief of The Christian Chronicle sits in as the guest host to ask BT what it was like to record Travis's entire life story and what that story means.

'Minister in the Making' is not the only way to benefit from everything that Travis Irwin learned from his 45 years in church ministry. A year before he died, he wrote a book, 'We Are God's Masterpiece', to help Christians and Christian congregations discover and use their spiritual gifts for the good of the local church and its neighborhood. Learn more and purchase your copy here. 

Dad (Travis Irwin, the "minister" in 'Minister in the Making') died on June 1, 2022, before we could record the last episode with him. 

In this episode, I took many of the questions that I wanted to ask him in that episode and asked them of the one person who may have known Dad better than he knew himself: Mom (Debbie Irwin). 

Over one hour, Mom shared what she thought Dad learned in life, what it all meant to him, and what he hoped it would mean to those who came into contact with him. Nobody could better describe or summarize Dad's faith, life, and work than his best friend, companion, and partner for 49 years. 

We also had a couple of surprise guests show up for this one!

This episode is the perfect way to look back on Dad's life and work and apply it to yourself.

Even though Dad's life on Earth is over, his work goes on in 'We Are God's Masterpiece', the book he wrote to help church leaders and members discover and use their spiritual gifts to build up the local church. Get your copy here.

Travis Dewey Irwin (the "minister" in 'Minister in the Making') died on June 1, 2022, after a 10-month struggle with cancer. 

In this episode, we bring you his funeral--his "celebration of life"--as an audience member recorded it on June 11, 2022, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

You may read Travis's obituary here.

Even though Travis is gone, his ministry goes on through 'We Are God's Masterpiece,' the book he wrote a year before his death. This book draws from Travis's 45-year ministry career to give church leaders and members applications, lessons, and tools they can use to discover their spiritual gifts for building up the body of Christ. Click here to learn more. 

Over more than 40 years, Dad ministered to countless people who were battling cancer. He ministered to many people who were dying of it. He ministered to their families. He eulogized them at their funerals. Then, in August 2016, Dad heard the words that so many of us dread hearing: “You have cancer.” Almost overnight, Dad went from being the one who ministered to cancer patients to a cancer patient needing ministry himself.

What was it like to be caught in this role reversal? How did cancer change the way Dad thought about the church, ministry, and God?

Check out Dad's book, We Are God's Masterpiece, now. This is a manual and workbook for church leaders and members to use to discover their spiritual gifts and how they work together to build the body of Christ.

Most young ministers start out dreaming of being “The Guy” at the head of a growing congregation. Dad had that experience. It burned him out and eventually almost hollowed out the congregation he served for more than two decades. By the time Dad was ready to go to work with his fifth and final congregation at the age of 58, he was humbler and wiser. He wanted to be just an associate minister, working behind the scenes to increase member involvement at the Athens Church of Christ in Athens, Tennessee. There, Dad put a lifetime of ministry experience to work to help members find and use their spiritual gifts to build up the church.

If you find these conversations with Dad useful and valuable, I recommend you pick up a copy of Dad’s book, We Are God’s Masterpiece, now on sale amazon.com. All of the lessons Dad learned about congregational health and the growth of individual Christians in the church comes together in this book. It’s a guide for church leaders and members to discover their spiritual gifts and put them to work together to grow the body of Christ.

After almost three years as a part-time minister for the small Church of Christ congregation in Brushy, Tennessee, Dad and Mom both knew he was ready to go back to full-time ministry work. They committed to finding a situation that would make it easier for Dad to stick to the healthier lifestyle and ministry habits he learned after his burnout in 2003. He also had a whole new philosophy of ministry and he needed to go to work with a congregation that was open to it. Oh, and he had several more “must-haves” on his list (you’ll hear them in the interview). In short, Dad was looking for a situation that most Church of Christ leaders would have told him doesn’t exist. Dad, however, prayed and persevered and it paid off.

If you find these conversations with Dad useful and valuable, I recommend you pick up a copy of Dad’s book, We Are God’s Masterpiece, now on sale amazon.com. All of the lessons Dad learned about congregational health and the growth of individual Christians in the church comes together in this book. It’s a guide for church leaders and church members to discover their spiritual gifts and put them to work together to grow and strengthen the body of Christ.

In this episode, we pick up around the start of 2005, a little more than one year after Dad crashed and burned after 22 ½ years ministering to the Steele Avenue Church of Christ in Ashland, Ohio. After a year of sabbatical from ministry, Dad and Mom started to feel like he was ready to start easing back into his calling to serve the local church. They both wanted to be very careful to keep Dad from making the same mistakes at his next ministry that he made with the Steele Avenue Church of Christ. So they set some very specific boundaries and criteria and started looking for just the right place. That search led them to a little congregation in a place so small it doesn’t even show up on the map. But it turned out to be the perfect place at the perfect time.

Check out Dad's book, We Are God's Masterpiece, at amazon.com. It's a handy resource and study guide for individual Christians and for whole churches.

Keep up with Dad's ongoing battle against cancer at his CaringBridge page here. 

The story picks up on January 5, 2004, the day Dad finished 22 1/2 years as minister to the Steele Avenue Church of Christ in Ashland, Ohio. When Dad woke up that morning, he was burned out, exhausted, not even able to think about what he would do with his life next. Even as the next mortgage payment bore down on Dad and Mom, they knew that rushing into a new job just to pay the bills would not be the best thing for them to do. Instead, they committed to make space and take time to heal, rest, and seek God all over again. Even though 2004 was a lean year, it turned out to be one of the best years of their lives and just what they needed to go back into church work in 2005. 

During their "sabbatical year", Dad and Mom drew heavy inspiration from their intense study of 'If You Want to Walk on Water, You Have to Get Out of the Boat' by John Ortberg. Click on the book title above to follow a link to buy or learn more about the book.

You can also check out Dad's book, 'We Are God's Masterpiece: Discovering How God Has Designed You for His Purpose' at this link. This book is a guide for congregational leaders and members to study together as they discover their spiritual gifts and how they work together to build up the church.

How do you separate after 22 ½ years together? That is the question that Dad had to answer starting on October 4, 2003, the day after he read his resignation letter to the elders of the Steele Avenue Church of Christ in Ashland, Ohio. His contract with the congregation stated that he had to complete 90 days after the date of his resignation, but Dad also wanted to make sure that he left everything in the best possible shape. Dad kept working hard for the congregation, but as you’ll hear Mom say in this interview, he was so emptied out that he was almost mechanical, robotic about his work. As I also learned in this interview, Dad’s last 90 days with the Steele Avenue Church of Christ turned out to be awkward, lonely, and strange. Listen to find out why.

If you are learning from listening to this podcast, please check out Dad's book 'We Are God's Masterpiece.' In this book, Dad brings together all of what he learned from five decades in church ministry in one resource for church leaders and church members. Dad's book will help church members discover their abilities and talents and ways they can use them to build up the church of Christ.

To keep up with Dad's cancer treatments, please visit his Caringbridge page. 

By Fall 2003, Dad knew that he could not go on any longer in ministry with the Steele Avenue Church of Christ in Ashland, Ohio. His body, heart, and mind were in total system failure. He could barely function as a human being, let alone as a minister to a growing congregation of 350 people. 

So on October 3, 2003, Dad and Mom walked into the Monday night business meeting of the congregation's elders and read a resignation letter. After 22 years journey together, Dad and the Steele Avenue Church of Christ would go their separate ways.

In this episode, Dad and Mom describe that elder's meeting and the days that came after it. In their description, it becomes clear just how fragile and in danger Dad's condition got. But looking back on the events of that day, Dad shares some of the most important insights to ever come from him in the 31 episodes of this podcast so far. He pinpoints one thing that, if he knew better, he would have done different. And, if he did it different back then, perhaps his dream of retiring from the Steele Avenue Church of Christ would have come true.