In 1992, I received a call from a Pastor in New Hampshire who wanted us to juggle at an event he was hosting in his town. It was to be held at the local fairgrounds, and the main event was a local high school production of Godspell. Of course, we agreed to go, and that was the start of a 22 year friendship with Pastor Fred Shapiro. Today we got the news that Pastor Fred died and went to be with Jesus. You will be missed by many who pass our time here between Eden and eternity.
After the first meeting in New Hampshire, the next time we met was at his new church in Montpelier, Vermont. He had us there several times. I brought my father to his church for a Saturday night show one time. He was very impressed with Fred's musical ability and friendliness. Having grown up at a time when surnames were used to identify one's ethnicity, my dad found it curious that someone with such an obviously Hebrew name was a Baptist pastor. Fred shared a little of his story with my father that night.
His story started as the only Jewish kid growing up in a predominantly Irish neighborhood in Boston. He left home in the late 1960's and headed to California. It was there, homeless in LA, that he met Christian singer Larry Norman, and Fred Shapiro became a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Fred eventually went on to Bangor Theological Seminary, the only evangelical in a liberal college. At his graduation, Jim Wallis was the speaker and he told the graduating class, "If at least 15% of you don't go to jail at least once, this school has failed!" Pastor Fred was full of the 60's Jesus movement.
When I became the principal of a Christian school and started my student juggling troupe, Fred's last church in Willimantic, Connecticut was a common site for our class ministry trip. Several times we slept on his church floor or in a local campground where he would put us up. He would schedule all our shows for us in a variety of interesting settings from street fairs to homeless shelters. He was always so accommodating and great with the kids, too. He loved the fact that they knew his song "Jesus is Victor", and was happy to play it for an enthusiastic audience.
When I became the director of a summer camp I invited Fred to be a speaker for one of our teen camps. I knew he was the right choice when he built every sermon around episodes of "the Simpsons". He took "Jesus is Victor" to a whole new level that summer when he threw chairs around the stage during a drum solo performed by one of our counselors! He was one of a kind, and we had him back at camp often. No matter what week we had him, his was always one of the best weeks of the summer. One summer he was the pastor for staff training week, and he treated the entire staff to ice cream at a local restaurant. We were in a side room, and after ice cream we had a time of worship singing right there. We came back to camp, and he and many of the staff had a late night jam session in the chapel.
He was at camp this summer. The week's theme was the book of Esther, and Fred's Jewish heritage and training made him the perfect choice. But we could tell he was not doing well physically. He was actually supposed to start chemo that week but postponed it a week so he could be with us. That's how big Fred's heart was.
And for the few times each year our paths crossed, he was so much more faithful to his calling to be an inner city pastor. He was a friend to every homeless person in Willimantic. His blues band played many of the local clubs with no judgment on those who might be there to over imbibe.
I will miss my friend Reverend Doctor Fred Shapiro. Even as his spirit is in heaven, I'm proud to say his music will live on in our performances, and his impact will live on in the lives of so many of my students, campers, counselors and countless others.
Meet Pastor Fred here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10GaExtBJjQ