Dennis Luker Eulogy

by Victor Kubik

March 30, 2013 Seattle, WA
April 13, 2013 Cincinnati, OH

“Just call me Denny. That’s my name."

A little less than three years ago, that was how long-time pastor Dennis Luker, the new president of the United Church of God, introduced himself to thousands of church members. It was pure Denny: short, humble, direct. And it set the tone for three years of remarkable and selfless service, an extraordinary term of service that was cut short only a few days ago.

We are assembled here today for two reasons: one is to mourn, to find comfort to cushion the sharp pain of unexpectedly losing a dear friend, a family member, a beloved colleague and leader. And indeed we do mourn. But there is more, much more. 

The second is to celebrate and honor a life, a life fully lived, an inspiring life that can only be described as that of a servant leader.

When writing his second letter to Timothy at the end of his life, Paul wrote some words that could easily be applied to our good friend and leader: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
This certainly reflects the man we honor today.

While God of course is our final judge, I seriously doubt whether anyone in the Church of God, any in his family, or anyone anywhere has any cause to be concerned about the eternal fate of Denny Luker.

As he was definitely a man of humility. He would have never said this about himself. But based on what we all saw and experienced, we can be assured that there is now laid up for Denny Luker a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to Denny on that Day, the Day of the return of the Lord and Savior of Denny Luker, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.  You can read those promises, which he emphasized to us and which are now fully Denny Luker’s, in Second Timothy, the fourth chapter, in verses 7 and 8.

As a major part of that life, we are here to celebrate the true bond of two servants together, Denny and his wife of nearly 50 years, LeeAnn. Denny often said with great conviction that LeeAnn participated in full measure in their joint ministry to the Church of God. Anyone who knows them certainly appreciates the truth of this fact. Wherever there was LeeAnn, there was Denny. Wherever there was Denny, there was LeeAnn. LeeAnn was the love of Denny Luker’s life, to whom he was gladly bonded. As servants together, they formed a formidable spiritual team that positively touched the lives of thousands of people over nearly half a century. When Denny was physically unable to return to the Home Office for one final goodbye, it was LeeAnn who was there for him.

On June 1 , Denny and LeeAnn would have celebrated their Jubilee year of marriage, which represents a profoundly eloquent testimony to the depth of their love and commitment. 

We are also here to celebrate the family that Denny and LeeAnn brought into this world, including two wonderful human beings: Stephen and Leah  and their grandchildren Chelsea, Zach Conner Chad and Kennedy along with three  great grandchildren. During the days I had the privilege of working with him, he often mentioned how much he loved and cared for his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. They were very important to him.

Denny leaves behind a wonderful and close-knit family, and while they may today rightly and deeply mourn the passing of a true patriarch, they have a magnificent legacy, memory and standard in the life of Denny Luker. As members of Denny’s Church family, his friends, we all can share in this wonderful legacy of service by example.

As those who served with Denny know full well, both Denny and LeeAnn were—and are—extraordinarily humble people. We talk and teach a lot about Christ-centered leadership in the United Church of God. Denny exemplified that standard throughout his life.

Many of you here today could relate story after story of Denny’s selfless service, his living commitment to God and how he would say over and over again how we could only follow one man, as the scripture says – the man Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  

Denny and LeeAnn constantly watched out for the disadvantaged, the overlooked, the people who genuinely needed help and attention. He believed the best about people. 

Since Denny’s death, e-mails and letters have been pouring in that share hundreds of stories about the ministry and life of Denny and his wife LeeAnn. Permit me here a few minutes to relate a few stories and experiences that show forth the character of our friend and leader, Denny Luker. 

Shortly before he was named as the president of the United Church of God some three years ago, Denny came to me and in his characteristically humble way, asked me what I thought about the possibility of him serving as president. He wasn’t electioneering or campaigning. We knew each other too well for that. When he asked me the question, he simply wanted to know whether I thought he was up to it when his name was put forward for President of the United Church of God. 

I personally thought he would make a good president and told him so. But in retrospect, I had no idea then just how powerfully Jesus Christ would use him and what profound and long-lasting contributions he would make in leading the Church over the next three years. 

When Denny came to the Home Office as president, one of the first things he did was initiate prayer on knees for the management meetings. Further, several times during the day, when we were facing tough decisions or conflict, Denny would ask all of those present to kneel and pray with him to the living leader of the Church, Jesus Christ. Together we prayed practical and focused prayers – imperfect humans seeking the direct guidance and leadership of the head of the Church.

He would emphasize, over and over again, how Jesus Christ was the Head of the Church and quote Scripture – even in his last address to the men of the Council – that proved that statement. Denny would often remind us that Jesus Christ had been through everything we have as a human living on the earth. He would remind us that Jesus Christ knew our thoughts, what we really felt, and what our motives were, even at that exact moment. He knew it was true and he made sure we did too.

And during some tough times over the last three years, Denny began emphasizing what Jesus said shortly before his crucifixion in the book of John, chapter 13, verses 34 and 35, where we read: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

The Home Office is a direct reflection on Denny’s approach to leadership. There is peace. There are smiles everywhere. Everyone pitches in. Everyone’s doors are open.  And I have to believe that Jesus Christ directly used Denny Luker in promoting that love for each other that can only come from God. 

Denny was full of faith. He believed God. He believed that Jesus Christ was alive and leading the Church. As it says in the 12th chapter of the book of Romans, Denny believed that it was our daily task to “prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” He believed that we must daily yield our human wills to that of God’s, following the example and leadership of our elder Brother, Jesus Christ.

Denny knew we are all human and that we all make mistakes. He knew from personal family experience and from counseling hundreds of people over decades that sometimes we needed help beyond our fellowship, particularly when it came to overcoming addictions and severe emotional trauma. He and LeeAnn saw too many people, including fellow ministers, fall prey to these things. So he helped open the door to focused education that encouraged recovery instead of condemnation.

Denny didn’t raise his voice every often, but he did in his last address to the Council of Elders.  When he was explaining why he had full confidence that the United Church of God would thrive, he quoted First John the third chapter, with quite a bit of passion. There he started reading in verse 14, where it says: “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death.” 
In verse 18, Denny emphasized for us all: “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” Earlier, Denny had uncharacteristically raised his voice on a similar point, thundering the message from I Corinthians 13: “God’s love never fails!” 

Regarding our behavior and thoughts toward others, there was no question where Denny stood: Denny loved everyone, even those who didn’t love him in return.

In addition to prayer, sometimes several times a day, Denny fasted often, usually at least once a week during the crisis periods. He didn’t tell anyone, as he wasn’t trying to somehow force God to do anything. What he wanted was the mind of God and direction from God. Like you and me, Denny didn’t like the weakness and headaches that often came from fasting, particularly for a man in his 70s. But he read what Jesus Christ said about fasting and he was determined to follow that direction.

Following a Women’s Retreat a couple of years ago, Denny would joke about how his personality could be characterized as that of a “Golden Retriever” – always friendly, energetic and helpful, while his wife LeeAnn was probably more of a “lion” personality. And certainly there was lion side, as well.

In many respects, Denny was a 21st century Barnabas, always encouraging everyone and going to great lengths to strengthen them the best he knew how. Home Office workers can relate probably hundreds of stories about how Denny would greet them or unexpectedly drop in with a word of acknowledgement or encouragement. He gave people new opportunities. He asked them to grow. And he encouraged them constantly, praising them when they did well, and encouraging them to keep trying when things were tough. He would cheerfully remind people that working at the Home Office was no ordinary job and they responded by raising the bar. It was something he had done all his life as a pastor and administrator.

When Denny came into the Home Office as president three years ago, he came with much-needed executive-level leadership experience. Years earlier, Denny had been the regional director over then a very-large work of the church in Australia and Asia. He also had served in a leading position in Church Administration at the California offices of Worldwide Church of God. That experience, together with decades of direct work in pastoring multiple church congregations across the United States with his wife LeeAnn at his side, served the United Church of God well.  
When he was named president, even though I had known him for many years -- even as fellow Council members back in the mid-1990s -- I simply had no scope or real comprehension of the quiet and profound effect that he was going to have.

You see, Denny had a depth of experience that I am only beginning to appreciate. Some of you probably were surprised to read in last year’s Festival edition of the Good News that Denny was a former all-star back for the University of Delaware football team. Many of you also probably didn’t know that he was very good at math and was a mechanical engineer before coming to Ambassador College.

Denny didn’t care about his athletic or academic exploits, even though he set more than one record while playing football at the collegiate level. Like Paul in Philippians the third chapter, Denny’s thought was “whatever was to my profit I now consider a loss for the sake of Christ.” Further, it was obvious that as noted in verse 8 and 9 in the New International Version, Denny’s viewpoint was: “I consider them rubbish, that I might gain Christ and be found in Him.” Both Denny and LeeAnn held this to be true throughout their joint service.

To some, position and rank were important. But not to Denny. Denny was more than satisfied to be known simply as an elder in the United Church of God, committed totally to the service of all the brethren that he and LeeAnn loved and helped.

Through the ups and downs and even tumultuous times of a long ministry, Denny never became bitter or critical. He didn’t look backwards. He looked forward. Many times he would ask people flat-out: “Are you preparing to serve for all eternity with Jesus Christ?” The coming Kingdom of God was his focus, day in and day out.
Here I would like to relate one final story: my wife Bev and I had the distinct privilege of accompanying the Lukers on a recent tour of Africa.

We travelled in Malawi and Zambia, some of the poorest countries in the world. The Luker’s showed the deepest respect for these people’s decades of faithfulness to God treating them as equals, as God does, of the equal inheritors of eternal life and God’s blessings. 

Denny and LeeAnn showed special compassion as we were leaving Malawi and could not fund any more scholarships for young people.  They did not turn away, but asked to personally fund one more scholarship at the last moment. Over the years, their continual support of the causes of the disadvantaged has caused us to establish the The Dennis Luker Memorial Foundation to continue the Lukers legacy of care for the disadvantaged and vulnerable of the world. 

Now, we return to our original profound question. What is the fate of Denny Luker?

Over his nearly 50-year career as an ordained minister of Jesus Christ, Denny probably preached hundreds of funerals. He doubtless read many of the Scriptures we will review today hundreds of times. And he believed them with great conviction.

Perhaps the most profound question before us today was asked thousands of years ago: “If a man dies, shall he live again?” The 14th chapter of the book of Job notes that “man dies and is laid away; indeed he breathes his last, And where is he?”

We read the answer in verses 14 through 16. Here we learn from Scripture that a person who has passed from this life will patiently wait in death until a momentous and profound time.
The writer in Job says: “I will wait, till my change comes.”Then, as each of us will discover, “You [God] shall call, and I will answer you; you will desire the work of your hands.”

What is this change that Denny will experience, indeed, that all of us who are called and responsive in this time, will see? The apostle Paul gives us the reassuring and certain answer in his first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 15, and beginning in verse 51. Here we read:

“Behold, I tell you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet shall sound and the dead” – which now temporarily includes Denny Luker – “will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” 

What a great and inspiring future for all of us, and in particular, our friend Denny Luker, who now temporarily has fallen into a short rest. When next he opens his eyes, Denny will experience a mighty resurrection directly into the long awaited Kingdom of God that he preached and taught for nearly 50 years.

As we read in the book of Hebrews, chapter 11, verse 6: “Without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.” The book goes on further to show that many died in that faith, having not yet received the promise of eternal life.  

So it is with Denny Luker, who died in the faith, strongly believing and teaching that God loves His creation, even to the point where God will give to us all the free and unmerited gift of eternal life.

He believed and taught the biblical truth that once we are baptized and sealed by the Holy Spirit of God, we become the children – the sons and daughters – of God Himself. As the book Hebrews records earlier in chapter two, verse 11, it is for this reason that Jesus Christ Himself is not ashamed to call us brothers!

And if we are the children of God and perhaps incomprehensively a brother or sister of Jesus Christ, what does the Bible say about our future?

We read the answer in First John, the third chapter, beginning in verse two:
“Now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He [speaking here of Jesus Christ] is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”  
So we can be assured by his experience and his expressed faith what the future holds for our friend and leader, Denny Luker. But what about us? What would he say to us today?

I would expect that he would have us read a few verses in the book of John  chapter five, beginning in verse 24:
"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.  Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth — those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.”

Let’s also read in  First Thessalonians four verses 13 through 18:
“But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.   

“For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ” – which now includes Denny Luker – “will rise first.”

“Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.”
The unbreakable promise that Denny Luker now has, indeed the promise that all of us in Christ Jesus have, is recorded simply in the book of Luke, chapter 12, verse 32. Here we read the words of Jesus:
“Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.”
It is that Kingdom of God that Denny Luker devoted his life to, so in conclusion, I would like to quote a very meaningful section from a sermon Denny gave at the Winter Family Weekend in Louisville, Kentucky, in December 2010:

"Someday all of our trials will be over, and all that will really matter at the end of the day is that we hear these words from Jesus Christ...

"Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord." Someday there will be exceeding joy when we finally are there, when we make it, by the grace of God."

To my great friend, my mentor, my teacher and an extraordinary leader by example for all of us, it is not goodbye. It is “till we meet again.”

And now I invite you to stand and join me in a prayer of thanksgiving for the life and example of Dennis Luker.