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The pastor who loved the pits
By JEAN JOHNSON SPRING HILL -- The congregation at Mariner United Methodist Church learned early about the new pastor's leisure interests. His first time in the pulpit, the Rev. Rod McClarnon announced that if anyone in his flock had connections with a race track, he would enjoy working in the crew pit. McClarnon, who became the spiritual leader at First United Methodist Church on June 13, came across as a hands-on person and was an instant success. An accountant until 1979, McClarnon went into the seminary because "God places it on your heart and you can't get away from it. I felt very called to the Lord when I was a member of St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Clearwater and through the efforts of some wonderful people was nurtured into the ministry." As an associate pastor at a large church in Bradenton in 1982, his first appointment was quite a learning experience, "but I enjoyed learning about the process of ministry. We all have to learn from a practical standpoint. In seminary you learn about history, the Bible and theology. You don't really learn about being a pastor until you get to a church." Pastors are appointed for one-year terms by the bishop and cabinet and may be returned to their current position or sent to a new church. McClarnon, now 59 and a father of two grown sons, was retained for three consecutive years at his first assignment church, First United Methodist of Titusville, after nine years at his previous assignment. Ruth Frenck is one of the original 40 founding members of Mariner United. She said she finds pastor McClarnon "very outgoing. Between services, he is out in the narthex" trying to remember people's names. Frenck said the nursery is busy every Sunday and the teens are doing well. "I think this pastor is looking forward to getting the church to grow, and I think he's just the one to do it." Founded in 1981, services were held at Springstead High School until the first sanctuary was built. When the new sanctuary was built in 1991, the original sanctuary became the fellowship hall. "We've had five pastors," said Frenck, "and each one's been different." Cathy Cooksey is one of the younger, newer members of Mariner United, having moved to Spring Hill with her husband and two children in April 2001. She is active in the church, working with the 70 to 80 children in the WOW group. She said she gets good vibes from McClarnon. "The children really seem to like him," she said. "My son went to service on Sunday and he was excited that McClarnon was signing and clapping along with the participants during the youth service." McClarnon considers his strong points to be "preaching, teaching and administration, in that order. Those are the things I do best and feel most comfortable doing. "Then there's the pastoral side: counseling, doing community service, working with outreach missions. I do all of those things but it's not my greatest strength. I've been very pleased with what God has called me and allowed me to do, especially in the homeless community. I've done a great deal of work with the Salvation Army. I've been on the board of directors and really enjoyed that particular part of my work. McClarnon feels blessed to have an accomplished staff: two retired pastors, a director of children's ministries, a director of music and a director of Christian education, all part time. "The full-time staff includes a custodian and secretary," said McClarnon, "so there's a sizable staff to help do the ministry we're called to do." The average summer attendance is 425 to 435 congregants, with the winter attendance increasing to about 600. Although McClarnon's wife has a master's in music education and has been his music director in the past, that post is already filled at Mariner United. Thus far her role has been to attend church and concentrate on getting used to everything and everyone. McClarnon said he knows the importance of ministering to the sick, which "you do in God's name. In any number of situations when you are representing Christ, you have an opportunity to allow yourself to do God's work and that's very, very important." McClarnon's hobby of restoring antique cars began when he bought his first restoration project in 1986. "I didn't do much to it and bought a 1953 Kaiser in 1996 and completely restored that one. "My dad was a Kaiser dealer in the '50s and I bought it in his honor, sort of a memento of him," he said. His father, who died in 1973, "once owned a dealership in Indiana where he was in charge of maintenance, so I have a heritage of mechanics in my family." McClarnon said there's a story here. "I remember sitting beside my car at a car show and the men who pass are all excited and the wives are staring off in space. It's the same with husbands when they go shopping with their wives at the mall ... that staring, blank look. "Anyway, getting grease up to my elbows is what I call fun."
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