Just Kamping

“For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me.”

The late evening of December 7th, an hour before my 30th birthday, I received gut-wrenching news. My father through the gospel, David “Dave” Nickerson, had finished his race at 69 years old. He died that evening as the result of Pneumonia brought on by COVID-19.

It seems fitting that Chris Chamberlain, one of the men who introduced me to Dave, shared the news of Dave’s passing. Chris made such an important introduction, and he also announced the difficult exit. How sweet it is to mourn with those who know the loss. Many are feeling it. After all, Chris and I were just two of many who were blessed to share time with Dave, often over breakfast or lunch…sometimes for years, catching the warmth of Dave’s fire for Jesus. We’d catch the desire and the vision, to know Jesus and share what we learned with others, to raise disciples in the manner which Dave was discipling us- to walk as he walked, in the footsteps of Jesus. We were terribly messy, the whole group of us, yet we were never more loved. All of us know it and that’s what makes this so hard.

A quick trip down Dave’s Facebook today displays not only the honor he deserves, but also the countless lives he invested in. The posts display pictures of Dave surrounded by people in the 1980s, ’90s, ’00s, 2010s…and 2020. They display Dave surrounded by the people he loved. He’s surrounded by guys and girls just like me who needed more than a spiritual guide, who needed a spiritual father. Some of us have great biological parents, some not so much. But all parents could see the difference Dave made in their children…after they got over the scare that their kids had joined a cult of course. I wish I were joking about that. It was a common scare as parents learned their kids were “going to Bible study”, and “memorizing scripture”. Many parents quickly googled “The Navigators” (Dave’s organization) to see what this was all about, only to be relieved when they saw that Billy Graham was somehow connected at one time. “If Billy was involved it must be legit!”

Maybe those parents knew us well. After all, there was no reason for us to have experienced such dramatic change. It could only have been brought about by a new infectious cult…or the power of God working through Dave’s ministry and into our hearts. There was no cult. It was and still is the power of God. And Dave was willing to be a tool in the hand of The Master Builder. 

Dave would often tell me that success in life, for him, was to see those he discipled investing in others… who would then go on to invest in others. He judged his work multi-generationally, something we’re severely lacking today (both in the church and the home). Dave was steadfast to this end, no one he invested in could avoid his call: “make disciples”. And he only echoed the voice of Jesus.

Now I know Dave wasn’t perfect. He wasn’t Jesus; I saw his errors on display. I gave him forgiveness whenever he asked or didn’t. We’ve disagreed. I’ve listened in those lucid moments as he described very vulnerable stories of how sin had wrecked his life before he met Jesus. I know Dave knew what it was like to be broken at the feet of Christ. Dave was a man who KNEW grace because he received it. And therefore, no matter how big the sin, no matter how long the absence, no matter how far we ran, Dave was always willing to show grace and bring us back to Jesus.

I could write thousands of words describing the lessons Dave taught me or the things he did. I could tell his simple, yet profound one-liners. I could share the myriad of spiritual illustrations he would draw for me on restaurant napkins, always equipping me with tools to share with others. I could spout off the corny jokes that I still don’t understand. I could tell you of what would’ve been had I not met him.

 I am a blessed that Dave was my spiritual dad. And I’m missing him terribly right now. He was the wisest man I’ve ever known, and a treasure.

I want to thank Sarah who has walked with me through many tears and much reflection. It’s been a hard birthday. I messaged Dave a few weeks ago, we were to talk soon. There was no sign on the horizon of what was to come. Yet I know death doesn’t need a sign. It comes for us all, ready or not. Yet for Christ’s own, death never has the final say- only an introduction to glory. 

I’m comforted in these lyrics, verses, and quotes:

“To you who boast tomorrow’s gain, tell me, what is your life? A mist that vanishes at dawn, all glory be to Christ!” (All glory be to Christ)

“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me will live, even though he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’” (John 11:25-26)

It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart. (Eccl 7:2)

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” (Psalm 116:15)

“Now, at last, they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.” (The Last Battle, C.S. Lewis)

And finally from Tolkein:

“There is a place called ‘heaven’ where the good here unfinished is completed; and where the stories unwritten, and the hopes unfulfilled, are continued. We shall laugh together yet.”

I’ll always remember that deep, bold, laugh. I laughed along, not because I always understood, but often because I thought he was laughing for the sake of laughing. And that made me laugh. So long Dave. Enjoy glory. Enjoy Jesus, your eternal reward.

We live laugh together yet.

P.S.

Bev (Dave’s wife) was equally instrumental as a partner with Dave in life and ministry. She’s suffered a terrible loss. Please keep her in your prayers.