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Hundreds hear Good Friday message
By LINDA M. LINONIS
youngstown
The annual Good Friday breakfast and service drew a record crowd of 525 people to the YMCA of Youngstown’s downtown branch.
The Rev. David Thomas, senior pastor at Victory Christian Center in Coitsville, used the last words of Jesus on the cross, “It Is Finished,” as the topic for his message.
“Jesus paid a price that he did not owe,” Pastor Thomas said.
Pastor Thomas described his own journey to embracing Jesus. He said he was unchurched when he met the woman who would become his wife, Kathie Gordon, in high school.
“Believe in God, live a good life, and go to heaven” were ideas he accepted. He was then 19 and had landed a job at GM Lordstown.
But his life took a turn when he attended a Christian rally in Hartford where musician Phil Keaggy sang about Jesus.
“I remembered reading that Jimi Hendrix had called Keaggy the greatest American guitarist,” Pastor Thomas recalled. He said Keaggy didn’t play “church hymns” but through his music “witnessed” Jesus and sang about how Jesus changed lives.
“Something inside me identified with that,” he said.
It was then Pastor Thomas said he realized he was falling short of living a good life. He admitted “slipping into Mom’s purse” for cash, even though his parents gave him money regularly.
“I realized I was a sinner,” he said. “And I saw that God so loved the world that he gave his son.”
Pastor Thomas said that time in October 1970 changed his life because he had a “new understanding” of how much God loved him.
“If I was the only person on the planet, he still would have given his son,” Pastor Thomas said.
“Jesus gave us a relationship with God, not a religion,” Pastor Thomas said. He cited a passage from John 14:6, “Jesus said to him [the apostle Thomas], I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
“It’s up to us to surrender our lives to the finished work of Jesus,” he said in conclusion. Pastor Thomas left GM and went into the ministry. He and his wife are in their 32nd year at Victory.
Michael Shaffer, central YMCA branch director, welcomed the large crowd. “See how God has blessed us ... this gym converts to a church,” he said.
Robert Walker, a long-time member of the spiritual committee, gave the invocation. Timothy Welsh, a Boardman High School senior, sang “Were You There?” and “How Great Thou Art.”
Kenneth L. Rudge said this was his last Good Friday breakfast in his position as YMCA chief executive officer because he is retiring. He said he is proud of the YMCA family and noted various projects including Trinity Chapel that seats 250 people at Camp Fitch and the $5.7 million expansion at the D.D. and Velma Davis Family YMCA in Boardman. He emphasized the commitment of the 126-year downtown flagship to providing programs and scholarships for young people.