A Tribute to Vinny Carlson

Every pastor needs a Vinny in his life and ministry.

I will greatly miss Vinny Carlson. How Marty and I will miss being there in Holdrege to remember his life and celebrate his homegoing with his family and all who will gather at Holcomb, his beloved church. I will miss the stories told by his family and friends as he is remembered, because I also remember his stories. We will miss being there for the laughter and the tears, the joy in the Lord that can only come at times like this to all those who personally know and love the Lord Jesus as their Savior and Lord.

We will miss yet another reminder that for believers in Christ Jesus, a homegoing into Glory precedes a homecoming of the glorious One together with Vinny and Harriet and all believers who have “departed” for a short while. Vinny loved to think about that glorious day in my many conversations with him.

I will never forget the day that Vinny came to me and said, “I think it’s about time for me to be baptized.” Being a church leader at the time, it took courage for him to make that public stand for Jesus, but he was a humble and courageous man of God. When God convicted him, he had to obey. However, Vinny wanted me to make sure I didn’t drown him in the baptismal tank so he threatened to wear his ski jacket for the ceremony. From what we could tell from our visit to Holdrege last fall for Holcomb’s 110th Anniversary, Vinny entered heaven with his humor intact. On that visit last summer at Christian Homes, we had to almost run to keep up with Vinny and his walker as he took us to see Grant Bergman. Vinny brought a smile wherever he went, but especially at the Christian Homes where he will definitely be missed by residents and staff alike. And you know what? I believe Vinny was the kind of man who put a smile on God’s face just like he put a smile on the faces of all he knew.

Every pastor needs a Vinny in his life because he adopted the pastor into his family. We always knew the place to be on Christmas Eve was at Vinny and Harriet’s house where we were family to them. Our extended family lived far away from Holcomb, but Vinny and Harriet became parents to us and grandparents to our three daughters. We were just part of the family – a family where everyone knew we were loved, accepted and appreciated.

When I remember Vinny, I recall the humble man of God who tolerated my attempts at golf, invited my family to his lake house for rest and fun, showed me by example how to minister to the elderly, taught me how to lead a church board with grace and truth, volunteer because God’s work needed to get done, show up for church even when I didn’t want to because he loved his Holcomb Church family – every single one of us, and protected his pastor from undue criticism. And Marty will always be grateful for the priceless gift of two tickets to go to Memorial Stadium and watch his beloved Cornhuskers play her beloved University of Maine in 2005. The Big Red won 25-7 and I still had a very happy wife!

We will miss Vinny because we always knew that he was praying for us each day. And oh how pastors need prayer and need to know that we are being prayed for. Every pastor needs a Vinny in his life and we were blessed beyond measure to have God’s original.

Vinny loved his God, loved his family, loved his church family, loved his pastor, loved his Christian Homes and his community. He loved life and is now enjoying eternal life with his Jesus, and we will miss him until we see him again in Glory. Well done, good and faithful servant of the Lord. Now, who will follow in Vinny’s footsteps?

“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.” (1 Thes. 4:16-18)