Owed to Joe

(With apologies to Noah Webster for not using “Ode”)

Dr. Joseph Reid Buckner went to heaven on April 30, 2004.  Joe was not only a graduate of CBC, but also studied an additional year at Columbia Biblical Seminary.  He then transferred to Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary where he earned an M-Div. in May of 1992.  In the fall of 1992 he became the pastor of Sharon Baptist Church in Lincolnton, NC and in 1998 became the Associate pastor of New Vision Ministries in Lincolnton, NC.  While pastoring in Lincolnton he earned his Th. D.  Joe was the Minster of evangelism and president of New Vision University when God called him home.

Rev. Joseph Reid Buckner and I met in 1984 as students at Columbia Bible College.  One of our first conversations was in the CBC bookstore.  He told me at that time that he had attended Fruitland Bible Institute in Western NC, and had pastored a church in the state of Washington.  We both would study in the morning in the cafeteria where we could purchase coffee and enjoy it while we studied.  Joe and I could not have been more different in personality and even in theology  -- at that time.  Joe was such a people person – he never met a stranger.  He did not mind being loud and he loved to laugh.  One of the factious statements he made to our cafeteria group during our study time was that there was a demon of slumber in the library, so he stayed nears the coffee.  Joe and I were antagonistic at that time, so I dared him to go and cast out the demon and even went with him to call his bluff.  Joe was full of courage, so he went along with the challenge.  But when we went into the Library and he saw the people reading, he cared to much for them to disturb them, so he quietly said his exorcism piece and left.  It took later reflection to understand that that was one of my first glimpses of Joe’s mile-wide-heart.

We were in Romans class together.  He sat in the first row and I sat in the second row behind him.  He skipped one of the days the professor was explaining a doctrine that he did not hold to at that time (he had a good reason for not being there, I found out later).  I coarsely teased him about it several times, and it helped to accentuate our differences.  We were still just aquatenances at this time and so different from each other there wasn’t much human chance of us becoming friends.  Well, at least that was how it appeared to man.

Joe and I graduated in the same class from CBC in May of 1987.  Then in June we both took a graduate counseling summer course with Dr. Bill Crabb in the evenings.  I brought a thermos of coffee each night, and Joe loved coffee.  He came up and talked and I shared the coffee with Joe, and was starting to think he was not too bad after all.  One day on break the professor came by while Joe was holding my thermos and Joe gave the professor a cup of my coffee.  I teased Joe about trying to be the teacher’s pet with my coffee, but we were able to joke at this point without any hard feelings.

That summer I was hired as the Assistant Off-campus dean at Columbia Bible College and Seminary.  In the fall Joe continued on as a Graduate Student and would stop by my office and chat on a regular basis.  In May of 1988 my first son was about to be born and I found out that both of my jobs – Pastoral Assistant at a local church and Dean were coming to an end.  Joe found out that I needed a job and checked where he worked.  He told me to apply at Dick Smith Motors (Nissan) as they had some openings and he had recommended me to the Shop manager.  They hired me on June 6, 1988, partly on Joe’s recommendation.  Joe worked there that summer and in the fall just worked on Saturday’s while he was a full-time student.  The following year Joe worked at Dick Smith Motors full-time to catch up on some bills, and postponed school for a while.  When Joe came back as a full-time employee, we would meet each morning for prayer before work and went to lunch together every day.  This was a very difficult place for a Christian to work, but with Joe’s assistance and encouragement, I was able to keep at it.  We became the best of friends and true brothers in Christ even though we were very different in so many areas.  The only sibling I was aware of that had that has become a Christian died in 1987.  I told Joe that God had given him to me not only as a brother in Christ but also as a replacement of my siblings according to the flesh.  Men in the shop would complain that when they started jumping on me about something, that they found themselves engaged with Joe and me.  When I was under attack, it tore Joe up, and even though he would try, he couldn’t stay out of it if somebody was trying to argue with me or irritate me.  As far as I was concerned, we were “family” in every sense of the word.  In 1989 Joe and I bought a Datsun station wagon together to fix up and sell for profit.  However, it had a problem that was so expensive to fix, it did not work out like we planned.  But this never phased our trust of each other or our friendship.

In April of 1990 I received a call to be the pastor of Valois Community Church in Valois, NY (which later returned to its former name of North Hector Baptist Church).  My wife Deborah and I had assumed the loan on HUD house while I was a student, and my accepting the call was contingent on us selling the house.  Joe came to Dick Smith Motors the week of the call to be pastor in Valois and told me that he and Lowanna had prayed about it, and they would buy my house so I could accept the call to NY.  Joe was on the program to do the final prayer at my Ordination service, but he made a mistake on the date.  I remember the pain on his face when he realized he had mixed up the weekends and had missed the service.  He said, “I would not have missed that for the world.”  And he meant it.  We ran into problems with the house and the FHA inspection.  The front porch had to have some major concrete work, so Joe split the cost with me  -- even though it was my problem and not his.  He and Lowanna helped us pack the U-haul truck to move to NY.  When we were about to leave, we learned the truck had thrown a belt.  Joe fixed the truck so we would not have to wait for a repairman to come.  I remember him having to drive home with that diesel engine grime all over his hands.

Joe transferred to Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary that next fall.  He commuted back and forth from Wake Forest, NC, to Columbia, SC, while a student.  It was a difficult 4-hour trip, but Joe did it without complaint.  Lowanna had a good job which she did not want to leave, but I often wondered if his buying the house had not made it too hard to move to Wake Forest when he started back in seminary.  After graduating, Joe and Lowanna came to New England and looked at some of the SBC church plants to pray about assisting one of them.  They stopped by to see us for a couple of days in NY.  We had a great time.  I have a picture of Joe, Lowanna, and our son John standing by the edge of Seneca lake in Watkins Glen, NY.

In the summer of 1993 I drove down to Lincolnton, NC where Joe was pastoring Sharon Baptist Church.  We drove together from there to Birmingham, AL to check out the SBC Founders Conference we had both been hearing about.  We had a great time together rooming and eating together as well as attending the preaching services.

In 1995 when I considering resigning my position as pastor and moving closer to my parents as my father’s Alzheimer’s continued to progress, I mentioned to Joe in a phone call about my desire to continue my education as well.  He told me about the changes at Southeastern due to conservative course correction, and that Wake Forest was just 3 ½ hours from VA Beach, VA where my parents resided.

I came down and applied for a job and visited the seminary.  In October, 1995 our family moved to Wake Forest, NC.  I transferred my church membership from North Hector Baptist Church to Sharon Baptist Church, in Lincolnton.  Rev. Buckner, who I called “Big Joe,” was my pastor.  Joe drove over 4 hours to help us unpack the truck in Wake Forest.

I was candidating at a church in the summer of 1996 near Rutherfordton, NC.  Pastor Joe opened up his pulpit for me to preach before the pulpit committee and he and Lowanna went to lunch with the pulpit committee and us.  I was not called to that church as the pulpit committee canceled the vote on the morning it was to occur.  Nevertheless, Joe was behind me and beside me again when I needed him.

In July of 1997 I was called as the pastor of FBC of Lake Waccamaw.  In 1998 Joe joined the board of Evangelizing India for Christ and we would fellowship together twice a year at the board meetings, often rooming together at the hotel.  Also in 1998, Joe invited me to preach a revival at Sharon Baptist Church.  He was the first one to every offer such an invitation, and I have only had one other opportunity to do so since then.  But Joe believed in me and encouraged me.

In May of 1999 I graduated from New Vision University where Joe was Vice President with a Masters in Divinity.  The next year Joe became president of the University.  In the fall of 1999, New Vision opened up their fourth satellite school campus at First Baptist Church of Lake Waccamaw.  Joe drove the almost 5 hours trip every Monday for 1999 and Spring 2000 to teach courses along with me and another pastor to get the satellite started.  We would eat supper together and fellowship together each Monday after the classes.  Joe came and preached at FBC Lake Waccamaw during this time as well. 

Hurricane Floyd hit our area hard.  Joe and a large group from New Vision Ministries, including Pastor Mike, came to Lake Waccamaw with an 18 wheeler loaded with supplies and drinking water.  We worked together for hours to unload that truck and distributed the supplies to our area and other hard hit areas for months.

In October of 2000, I was going through a difficult time at the church in Lake Waccamaw.  They were having a vote of confidence on me.  Joe drove all the way there and stood beside me during that difficult event.  The vote was 52 % in my favor, not requiring an instant move, but making clear that my ministry was over there.

In the summer of 2001 when I needed counsel, Joe encouraged me to return back to Southeastern full-time.  He wrote a reference letter for me to receive the Charles B. Keesee Scholarship and to apply as a Navy Chaplain Candidate.  He continued to encourage me over the phone in 2002.  I would get the New Vision Newsletter each month and read Pastor Mike and “Big Joe’s” articles to learn of what was happening and to feel apart of the ministry of my dear friends.  It was in the newsletter that I learned that my brother had gone to heaven on April 30, 2004.  I graduated from Southeastern May 22, 2004 with an M. Div., unaware that Joe had went on to his reward.  I found out one month later to the day, May 30, 2004 while reading the Newsletter late at night while at work.

Joe was an encourager, and an effective evangelist.  I saw him share his faith many times.  Over the last twenty years he gave me good advice and exposed me to helpful things over the years such as explaining to me about the MasterLife course, which I took in 1996.  Joe had an intense love for people.  I told him many times, “Your bark is worse than your bite.”  There were time when I went with him to confront people, and he did not lack any courage.  But, when he saw the person he was dealing with, he dealt with them with kindness and fairness, even though he may had intended to deal with them based on justice.  His mile-wide-heart would kick-in and slow him down.  Joe loved God and loved people.  Joe also was a preacher at heart.  He had exceptional ability at finding and using illustrations.  If I every talked to him on a Monday or Tuesday, he would re-preach half his sermon to me over the phone or in person.  He loved the Word of God and was excited about communicating it to others.  It just welled up inside him and had to come out.  And Joe loved me well.  He loved his wife, his daughter, and his grandson a whole lot as well.  He loved Pastor Mike at New Vision who was a true friend to Joe for many years.  I owe Joe a whole lot and can’t wait until we are reunited on heaven’s shore.  I will listen for his laugh to find him among those worshiping Jesus.  I could never repay Dr. Joe Buckner for the last twenty years -- but because Joe loved the Lord Jesus with all his heart, and because he was serving Him each time he helped me, the Lord Christ will reward Joe for each cup of cold water he gave me and each box of chicken he bought me.  He will be missed much by a lot of folks, including the many he lead to Christ, by his dear family and his extended Church family, and by me his brother . . . Ted D. Manby