MINNEAPOLIS, MN (November 9, 2007) – LeRoy Carlson couldn’t believe what he heard on his answering machine earlier this year.
Ray Young had called to say he wanted to finish the confirmation assignment that was late. It had been assigned in 1990!
That was the year Carlson, who had been pastor at Community Covenant Church in Cottage Grove, Minnesota, refused to sign the document for his 15-year-old student. “He never did the assignments,” Carlson explains. “I signed his confirmation Bible and told him he could stand up front with the class, but I wasn’t going to sign his certificate.”
Not that it mattered to Young. “I just rolled my eyes and thought, ‘Sure LeRoy.’ I didn’t care. I couldn’t have cared less.”
A year later, Carlson left Community Covenant Church in Cottage Grove, Minnesota, (now CrossRoads Covenant Church), and he gave little thought to Young, the only student for whom the pastor had refused to sign a confirmation certificate.
Since that time, Young says he tried to leave God behind and gave him little thought. Occasionally he would make a “half-hearted” attempt to return to faith, but always fell back into old patterns and sometimes deep depression.
In February, Young had sunk to near despair. “I just cried out to God and said, ‘I’ll do whatever you want.’ ” He made a fresh and “full commitment” this time.
The idea of getting the certificate signed surprised even Young, now 32 years old. “I don’t know why the idea came to me – it just did,” he says.
Young, who works at a bank in Minneapolis, wanted his former pastor to do the signing, but he didn’t know where Carlson was living. So he asked for help from Paul Peterson, with whom he had spoken only twice in 10 years.
Peterson is Young’s second cousin and a retired Evangelical Covenant Church pastor. He quickly located Carlson through the Covenant Yearbook. And then Young made the call.
Carlson admits he didn’t understand why Young would be so insistent on getting the certificate – and doing the necessary work. Still, he told his former student to complete three assignments: attend a Covenant church, memorize the books of the New Testament, and read Luther’s Shorter Catechism.
The first one was easy: Young already was attending Crosstown Covenant Church in Minneapolis. The once disinterested student poured his heart into the other assignments.
In September, Young traveled to Chicago to see a baseball game between the Minnesota Twins and the Chicago White Sox. He also would use the opportunity to spend time with Carlson (see accompanying photo, Young at left).
Carlson met him at the airport on a Friday, and they visited North Park Theological Seminary before heading to the ball game. In the stands of Cellular Field, they discussed the catechism, and Young proved he had learned it well.
On Sunday, the pair attended Ravenswood Covenant Church. In front of two other witnesses, Carlson stood in the hallway listening to Young recite all the books of the Bible – not just the New Testament.
Young didn’t once have to refer to his old confirmation Bible, which he had brought with him. But that wasn’t the only item Young carried from Minneapolis – he still had the original unsigned certificate.
Young found the certificate while cleaning out boxes he had stored for years. There amid old matchbox cars, vacation souvenirs and a note from an old girlfriend was the paper he had inexplicably saved.
“I never imagined I would find that certificate,” Young says, still amazed. “I never meant to save it.”
So in the hallway of Ravenswood Covenant Church and before two witnesses on the morning of September 9, 2007, Covenant minister LeRoy Carlson signed the certificate for confirmand Ray Young. Young then shared his story in the service. The congregation honored him with their applause.
For Young, getting the certificate signed was an important part of his continuing transformation. “A common theme in my life was not finishing what I started. It took me 17 years, but it’s completed.” He adds, “I hope I’m setting an example.”
Young says he would never have come to that point if it weren’t for the fact, “I quit on God, but he never quit on me.”
