Wife, husband team beloved by congregation
JODI KERR
Special to the Statesman Journal
December 26, 2007
Joyce and Gary Frame are retiring after 24 years and 16 years, respectively, at Keizer Christian Church. Joyce is the pastor and Gary is the choir director.
Joyce Frame, who has the distinction of being the first female senior pastor to lead an Oregon Church of Christ congregation, will deliver her final sermon Sunday. Her husband, Gary Frame, will lead his last worship service. The beloved pair are retiring as leaders of Keizer Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and readying for their next phase in life.
Joyce, who took the church helm 24 years ago, and Gary, who has spent the past 16 years as director of music, will be mightily missed.
"Gary will be missed because of his incredible talent in music," said Vicki Zielinski, a deacon at the church for the past 10 years. "He can take people and their music abilities and put it together. What he can do is incredible to me."
Similarly, Pastor Joyce, Zielinski said, will be missed for her ability to "handle any situation that anyone in her congregation brings to her."
That may be true, but Joyce didn't start out life with a drive to be a minister. The former stay-at-home mom of the Frames' two daughters, Erin and Holly, answered the call to be a senior pastor in 1983 at Keizer Christian Church (she was ordained 1990). Before that she served as director of Christian education at The First Christian Church in Salem. That is where her desire to be a minister started, and she earned her master's degree in 1989 at the School of Theology in Claremont, Calif.
Joyce didn't struggle with being the first female pastor so much, but giving sermons took some getting used to. "Going from mom to pastor in some ways was a natural fit," she said. "A lot of the work is nurturing, guiding and encouraging. The most difficult part was preaching every Sunday."
Over the years, the experience of preaching every week has become easier. The congregation was very accepting of Joyce's new role. "There is a different speaking style and a different voice quality and a different style of leadership that a woman has," Joyce said. "But my experience at Keizer has been wonderful. People are working on relationships and working to accept each other and doing the ministry of the church. I have been blessed that way."
Joyce took the pulpit about the same time the church moved to Wheatland Road from the current Keizer Albertsons.
"One week before I began my ministry, an offer from Albertsons food chain came in (to buy the property), so I helped move and expand a church in my first year. I had preached less than four sermons when I was hired," she said. Then the church had about 30 members. Now about 100 attend regularly.
For Joyce, working with Gary, her husband of 44 years, has been music to her ears. "We like working together," said Gary. "But it means less church meetings and more time in the community."
Gary joined Joyce in leadership 16 years ago. He has been involved in the Salem-Keizer Public Schools music program for several years teaching music at South Salem High School for 12 years and at Sprague High for 19 years. "I have always been involved in music, either at high school or at church," Gary said.
For Gary, being able to count on volunteer musicians to be a key part of the service is what he will miss. "The musicians are so committed to the congregation and the program, they always want it to be the best program possible," he said. More than a quarter of the congregation is involved in the music ministry.
After retirement, Gary will continue to teach music part-time at George Fox University.
The Frames are looking forward to being able to be spectators and taking a look around at events and church services they have missed while at the reins.
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) does not permit retired pastors to come back to the congregation and be involved for two years. This gives the new leadership and congregation a way to settle in and get used to change. "It's a way to make sure the new pastor gets established and feels well supported," Joyce said.
The Frames won't sit idle for long. "We are not going to be bored," Gary said. "We hope to be able to get out into the community and go to events that have always conflicted with our church schedule." More time with their three grandchildren who live in Portland and New Jersey will be a plus. Less time with their church congregation is the one thing they will miss the most.
The Frames feel like they are leaving the church at an appropriate time. "The church is strong. This is a good time to leave on so many different levels," Joyce said.
Pastor Jim Bradford of Forest Grove will be the interim pastor until the position is filled permanently. The church still is searching for an interim music director.
"We are going to need a leader with intuitiveness and strong leadership skills," said Zielinski, "because the Frames have been here so long. But with good leadership, we will move forward."
For Joyce and Gary, it hasn't been a job, but a calling.
"It has been a pleasure and a real honor to be a member of this church," Joyce said. "We have worked with such dedicated and talented people. But we look forward to new experiences and new ministry opportunities ahead of us."
Jodi Kerr is a freelance writer and can be reached at Jodikerr@meritel.net
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