God@Work

“A fulfilling life takes off when you begin to serve.” For Dave Shoemaker, this life motto began to take shape later on in his life’s journey. Dave is known for his larger-than-life personality and an instinctive ability to make people laugh and put them at ease. He solemnly tells people he’s a florist — and actually is. But don’t picture him arranging daisies in a wreath. He actually manages sales for a flooring company. But even his busy floor-ist career doesn’t begin to define the reaches of Dave Shoemaker’s life. His intensity and passion has led him into many adventures, especially the adventure of loving and investing in his crazy-fun family. But even with these blessings, life didn’t reach its climax for Dave until he embraced the biggest adventure he was ever called to — finding and pursuing a life of service. Dave found his purpose in reaching out to other people and connecting them to Jesus.

He finally told himself, “Well, I’m just going to try something.” And that “something” was buying an Angel Tree gift for the first time. It may have seemed small, but that single act started him on a new journey.

Dave recalls that serving wasn’t always a priority for him. Neither was church. “I was one of those people who just drove by the church, and you know I saw the building and I’m like, ‘Fellowship Alliance what?’ One day he decided to check it out. “I walked in and I thought I’d give it a try. That was about 20 years ago, and I’ve been going ever since.” Dave went on to describe the early years of his church life as somewhat stagnant. He took in but never gave out. He recounts, “I got a lot out of the services and it was helpful for life, but I really just walked in and I walked out almost anonymously — wasn’t connected to any group, wasn’t connected to any serving, and that was really it for years.” He wrestled through trying to figure out where God wanted him to serve and what He wanted him to do. “I grew up in a church that talked about spiritual gifts and God’s call on your life, His guidance, and His specific purpose. Part of the reason I walked in and out of church for six years was because I wondered what my specific call and my specific gift was. And so as I wrestled through that — wondering, ‘What am I specifically called to do?’— I did nothing.”

He finally told himself, “Well, I’m just going to try something.” And that “something” was buying an Angel Tree gift for the first time. It may have seemed small, but that single act started him on a new journey.

“After several years of just buying one single gift — that was the entire thing that I did for the entire year at church — then I finally decided to deliver the gifts.” That decision changed everything. Forced out of his comfort zone, Dave dove into serving people face to face, building relationships, and impacting lives. He says, “I got a taste to see what it’s like to do something for someone else, to bring a smile to someone else’s face. I was able to see how God could work through me by just doing one simple act, one simple outreach.”

Ellie, Jon, Olivia, and Jessica.

Dave’s newfound passion led him into other service opportunities. He took serving from a seasonal activity to a year-round pursuit. “I was so excited about this idea of reaching out to others at Christmastime that I wanted to help anybody I could to do that because it had meant so much in my life. I was involved in helping out with Kid Blast and Sunday night kids’ clubs, and I got involved in some men’s groups. I basically just started trying some different things within the church.” Dave even started bringing people to Alpha — FAC’s engaging, conversational program for anyone with questions about faith. “I always tell people, ‘Do something. Do anything. Do everything.’ We expect God to guide us specifically without moving. When I finally cut the ties off the dock and started moving in any direction that I saw an opening, then God was able to specifically show me. I feel like God wired me to reach out to people, specifically to connect them to Jesus. Alpha provided a vehicle to do that so I just started to take people to Alpha whenever I could.”

Dave’s passion for people eventually led him into overseeing the whole Alpha ministry. When asked his favorite part of leading Alpha, Dave leaned back with a characteristic grin and replied, “The cute girl who runs it with me.” Though joking, the truth remains that Judi Shoemaker balances out the large presence of her husband with calm organizational genius and an easy-going personality that instinctively draws people and makes them feel at home. The two have always worked as a team, using their different gifts to support the Alpha ministry. Dave went on to say another favorite part of the Alpha ministry: “The most important thing about leading Alpha is not the organization or the presentation but it’s just reaching out in love to people who need Christ. The most exciting thing about Alpha is to see people come into the group with concerns, with fears, with baggage and see them wrestle with that with their group hosts, with their new friends, with listening to the videos and the film series, and then coming out through the process and becoming reconciled to God and learning and growing.”

Dave’s experience serving in Alpha has in turn enriched his own life as he gains new perspectives from each Alpha guest. “One of the things that makes Alpha so interesting is that you do have people who literally have a degree in theology, to people who are atheists, and then people who walk in and out of church and that’s all they ever do, and then people who are very engaged in church-life and serving. And so you mix all those people together and it makes for a very interesting conversation. And the cool thing is that everybody has something to offer. The person with the theological degree does not have more to offer than the person walking into an Alpha group for the very first time to really check out faith. Everybody’s comments and everybody’s story, and everybody’s life is just as important to the discussion. It’s one group where everybody fits in. And because everyone’s of equal value, there’s no right or wrong answers.” At Alpha, all guests experience a hot, catered dinner; an engaging video presentation; and real, raw, honest interactions with people who question, search, and seek to know the truth.

Ellie, Jon, Olivia, and Jessica.

Through serving in Alpha, Dave continues to develop and exercise his passion to give and lead people to Jesus. At Alpha, Dave finds people who, “have spent their whole lives on themselves, whether they’re 20 or whether they’re 80, now say, ‘I have a newfound purpose. I want to do God’s work.’” They’re ready to serve. Dave wants to see this hunger channeled into action. “In our community and around the world, there are hundreds of needs. And so there’s a huge gap that I see. Especially at Alpha, everybody is ready to go — but they don’t know where to go. At FAC, there’s a continually developing culture of serving — of reaching out — from the kids in Kid Blast to our community in Mount Holly, to our partners in Camden, to South Africa.” Opportunities abound.

To help meet these needs, Dave has been involved in the process of planning a new “Want to Serve?” station that launches this fall at FAC. The “Want to Serve?” station will be located in the Atrium. Dave’s hope is that the station will be an easy channel for anyone to find a way to serve — with many entry-level positions from greeting people at the door to serving in Children’s Ministries. When Dave first had the desire to start serving he recalls, “I didn’t really know where to go or who to talk to.” He now wants to make an easy way for people to reach out to others as Jesus taught us to do.

Dave’s adventure began outside of himself. He now enjoys working with his wife, Judi, to reach people everywhere — in their home, at their office, or in a Wawa parking lot. Dave and Judi have lived out the truth that serving isn’t confined to an organized ministry. They never stop giving to everyone around them. Their lives are an inspiration to many.

We would all do well to take Dave’s model: “Do something. Do anything. Do everything.” Then step back and watch God take you into an adventure of purpose and joy you never dreamed possible.