This is the older of our two buildings at church, as pictured in 2001.
When I first began experiencing symptoms of severe depression, back in the summer of 2013... Ryan O'Neal, an elder at our church, was the first one to reach out and call me. I've never forgotten that.
I began attending Calvary in 1998. It took me a while, but eventually (in November of 2000) I got baptized and became an official member of this church here in Woodbridge VA. About two months afterward... I met Ryan for the first time, on the night of the Super Bowl between the Ravens and the Giants.
It was then that I learned that, he too, had very recently joined Calvary and had just begun teaching in our "junior church" program. Similar to Sunday School but the program was held during the 11:00 worship service and was geared towards the 1st-5th graders. Originally, the kids were divided up into age groups and met in separate classrooms on the second floor of the newer building... it was essentially, through the end of the 2000-01 school year, an extension of their 9:30 hour Sunday School.
I volunteered to work in the junior church ministry (my very first ministry at Calvary) about a week or two later. Teachers were rotated by month, meaning I'd be on the schedule for every Sunday during the month I was assigned, and the effort was made to pair two teachers for every room. Ryan and I ended up working together as co-teachers during at least one of the months (and I think, a second one, as well) before the decision was made to re-format the junior church ministry.
By the first Sunday of September 2001, the junior church program had been moved to the original building (the one pictured above) and was set up as more of a traditional worship service for the kids... complete with music followed by the sermon.
Ryan was the one who would give the sermon, as he was much more gifted in that area than I was. My primary responsibility was to open the service with a brief welcome/announcements/opening prayer segment and then let Mr. O'Neal take over from there.
Ryan was a phenomenal speaker and preacher and he had a great passion for the Lord. I knew it had a big impact on the kids. As things would turn out, I served as the opener for only two weeks. On September 16th (the third Sunday of the month)... after much deliberation and prayer and in light of the terrible events that had just taken place in our country earlier in the week, I felt a greater need than ever to be in the worship service that morning. It ended up being a permanent move.
As fas as I know however... Ryan never stepped down from his role as the leader of our junior church ministry. Nearly every Sunday for the next 21 years, he faithfully preached and taught the word of God to an entire generation of our church's elementary aged students... serving as a great role model and impacting hundreds if not thousands of lives.
And I think it bears worth mentioning that he was an encourager and a friend to adults too, as evidenced by what I wrote in the opening of this letter.
Ryan passed away, very unexpectedly, this past Thursday the 18th of August. He will be greatly missed by us all, but at least I hope we can take comfort in knowing he is in the presence of the Lord now... where there is no more mourning, no more crying, nor pain anymore. (Revelation 21:4)
Please be in prayer for Ryan's family during this difficult time, as well as our church congregation. Thank you.
