Glenn Maid’s church roots run deep, with a grandfather who was a Methodist minister and parents active in the church.
“That’s how we are…worker bees.”
He did it all from youth ministry to painting — “stuff you do in a smaller church.” Here at Hope, Glenn is once again “involved with everything…I like to help people.” From the security team to Center 4 Hope, to running the soundboard, Glenn carries on his family’s serving tradition.
But things are not what they seem. Glenn married, had children, and a long, time-consuming career in law enforcement, and his work schedule often competed with church attendance. The day he asked their new pastor to baptize their children triggered a break with church that would last for 30 years. The pastor told Glenn that because he doesn’t come to church enough, he was not going to baptize his children.
“I was floored…Man of the cloth, he should be baptizing everybody…I’d spent more time in his church than he had. He just had not seen me recently. That’s what started my spiral of not going to church.”
From then on, Glenn avoided Christian reading or other inspirational resources. “I developed a horrible attitude, partly because of my line of work.” He said he felt “like an old dead guy” when he was only 57.
Now divorced, and at his wit’s end, he asked a co-worker what he should do if he wanted to head back in the right direction. Knowing him well, she suggested he listen to contemporary Christian music. As a musician (he plays bass guitar in Hope’s music ministry), the lyrics from The Redeemer spoke to the unhappy old man that had taken over his heart.
Just about then, he met Meredith Thomas, who brought him to Hope, but more than that, helped Glenn return to the man he was meant to be.
Hope’s friendly welcome astounded him. “There were two pastors standing where people come in and talking to everyone. Made me feel at home. That was a very poignant moment for me.”
Prior to their wedding, Meredith and Glenn met with Pastor Larry, and Glenn shared how he had been living far from Christ. Larry smiled and said “Well you’re here now. Welcome home.”
“I just melted. It was unbelievable what power that had for me…welcome home.”
