For 10 years, I pastored The Village Church, in the Chicago suburb
of Western Springs. It was the church where Billy Graham pastored long before. In 1944, George
Beverly Shea was connected there too as the featured soloist of the radio
program “Songs in the Night,” which was broadcast live from the church
basement.
Fifty years later, when I arrived as pastor, I noticed the pulpit
was falling apart. This pulpit, with matching chairs and communion table, had
seen better days. Since the pulpit Billy Graham had used was already on display
at the Billy Graham museum, I didn’t expect this to be a prized piece of
furniture. I gently inquired about the possibility of getting a new one, and
was denied. “George Beverley Shea and his family donated that pulpit,” they
said. “It’s not going anywhere.”
It wasn’t the Shea family who insisted on making the donation a permanent
fixture, just a few long-time members. My backup plan was to get the pulpit
fixed and refinished. That proved impossible. As one professional restorer put
it, “If we dipped that thing into the stripper, it would disintegrate.”
Scandal erupted a month later when the pulpit was missing from the
platform. Someone said it was broken. An ugly rumor briefly circulated that I
had intentionally busted it to force the purchase of a new one. My reputation
was eventually spared when the custodian confessed to dropping the pulpit while
trying to move it.
Abandoned and misshapen, the pulpit lingered in a back room until
it was carted off to destinations unknown, never to be seen again.
After 104 years, Bev Shea is with the Lord. He will be seen again.
Could his voice sound even better in heaven?
