MOON, Pennsylvania (BRN) — “God’s been good to us, and God’s perfect timing has been a theme, really, throughout our whole life,” said Pastor Larry Walker, who formerly served as the pastor at West Hills Baptist Church in Moon, Pennsylvania. In December of 2020, due to medical reasons, he stepped down as lead pastor and entered a season of retirement.
Throughout nearly 40 years of ministry, Walker has experienced many moments of God’s perfect timing, mercy, and transformative power. Today, we look back fondly on some of those moments, as we take a “walk down memory lane” with Walker and his wife Karen, highlighting some of those key instances of God’s handiwork.
A heartbeat in God’s perfect timing
“I did some research on cardiac arrest – 94 percent of people who go into cardiac arrest do not survive, only six percent survive – and that is within the first five minutes they have medical treatment. I had none of that,” said Walker.
Since the time he was born, Walker has experienced some cardiac challenges. In 1997, he had open heart surgery to correct a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD), the initial heart issue he had at birth.
Throughout the next 20 years of his life, and ministry, his health improved. It was just in 2019 that Walker began to experience further health complications.
“It wasn’t until April 28, 2019 [that] I went into cardiac arrest. I collapsed in my front yard…my heart literally stopped,” shared Walker.
“At that very instant two cars pulled into the driveway. Out of the first car jumped two ladies, and one said, ‘I’m a nurse.’ She took the cell phone from Karen and talked to the dispatcher. The other car that pulled in was a male figure, we did not really see his face, but he came up…and he just put his hands on my shoulders.”
The day after his cardiac arrest, Walker was told by his cardiologist that he “shouldn’t be here,” followed by an “I don’t know what started it [Walker’s heart] up again.”
“Karen and I both said, basically at the same time, ‘We don’t know what started it up again, but we know who started it back up again.’”
Now, nearly two years since his cardiac arrest, Walker is getting stronger and preparing for a new season of life.
“I’m getting stronger health-wise [and] looking forward to what God has for us in the future.”
God’s mercy in merging
In 1997, along with undergoing open-heart surgery, Walker and his wife both graduated from Liberty University. That same year, they relocated from Virginia to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, specifically to plant a church.
“We really wanted to start a cell church – a church will small groups. Four years into the church plant, we really were at a standstill. We didn’t know what God wanted us to have as far as a building [and] we were in rented facilities…it was just sort of a standstill,” said Walker.
Hoping to find a way to smooth out this “standstill,” Walker put an advertisement in the local Pennysaver, reaching out to nearby churches about the possibility of merging.
“I had met the previous pastor of West Hills Baptist Church before, [and] when we left our conversation I said to him, ‘We’ll get together for lunch one day,’” said Walker.
One day, Walker felt God place it upon his heart to go knock on the pastor’s door and have lunch with him.
The pastor’s wife answered. “She said, ‘He’s not here and he’s not coming back.’ This was right after 9/11…the disaster in America,” said Walker.
The pastor’s wife told Walker her husband had been transferred to Fort Bragg, N.C., to head up the chaplaincy program there.
Knowing that, at that time, West Hills Baptist was dwindling in numbers, Walker inquired about the church.
“She said, ‘Well, they’ll probably just close,” he recounted.
Walker then told the pastor’s wife about his advertisement in the paper. In awe, she gave Walker the name of the deacon at West Hills.
“So, Paul Bacon was the deacon – Paul and Jackie Bacon had been at that church for many years – and God placed us together. It was like we had known these people all our life – God’s perfect timing,” said Walker.
“After about three months, the West Hills congregation said, ‘Let’s vote on this. Let’s make this thing official.’ So, we merged the churches together…our actual merger date was February of 2002.”
Walker described this merger of the two churches as “a surreal situation.”
“When God merged the churches together and gave us West Hills facilities – and we didn’t have to pay anything for it – it was just a surreal situation. We had an auditorium, we had Sunday School classes, we had a place for kids to play… God just gave us the tools to use for his glory [and] to effectively start reaching people,” said Walker.
Now, 19 years since the merger, West Hills Baptist – and Walker, himself – find themselves in another transitional season.
“When we had to step aside at West Hills, because of my health situation, God provided another situation – Tony Durnell. We took Tony on as an assistant pastor, and for about six months or so, we just worked together,” said Walker.
“Finally, after being in the hospital three times, I said to Tony, ‘I think now is the time for us to go forward with this thing of you being the new pastor.”
God’s transformation in a new season
Now entering another season of life, Pastor Walker and his wife are looking forward to ministering to others in new ways.
“My hope and prayer is that I’ll be able to do pulpit supply in various churches…and possibly, even on down the road, an interim pastor,” he said.
Walker also shared that he and his wife, have a desire to minister and encourage other couples in ministry.
“We want to minister to other ministry couples in our association. There’s really not an organized system of pastors and pastor’s wives getting together,” he said. “So, I guess we would like to be an encouragement to younger pastors and their wives, because God’s brought us through some unusual times in our lives.”
Karen echoed this, by stating, “Larry and I learned many years ago – when God called us into the ministry and separated us from everything we were ever familiar with – that God showed us ‘You’re going to have to depend upon each other…you gotta rely upon each other.’”
She continued: “It has been a privilege and an honor to walk alongside of Larry, as God has opened doors for us to minister in various churches and ministries. Sometimes, that has been very challenging…sometimes we dread those, but God uses them to be a blessing to draw us closer to Him and closer to each other.”
Listen to the podcast interview:
The “50 Stories of Transformation” series, told in honor of the Baptist Resource Network’s 50th anniversary, highlights the many ways God has moved throughout Pennsylvania, South Jersey and beyond. Your generous support of the Cooperative Program makes this ministry possible and fuels evangelism and outreach in our local churches and all over the world! Thank you!
