The Zimmers: Clinging to a Dream
If you had been Ken Zimmer's high school guidance counselor back in Denver, you might have questioned his desire to train for the ministry. A middle-of-the-road student who got along well enough but stuck to the shadows, his leadership skills were not apparent. He was not a natural mixer with people, and he tended to hesitate before he spoke. When he finally opened his mouth, he usually had something thoughtful to say, if you didn't mind waiting.
Ken held to his course, however, went to Nazarene Bible College in Colorado Springs, and married Beth the week after graduation. It was a case of "opposites attract." Beth showed spunk, came from a highly educated family, wanted to succeed, liked to organize things. She was eager to get started in the ministry.
Their first opportunity, however, did not come for more than a year. They kept their secular jobs until a church in Pueblo invited them to a part-time position in music and young-adult ministry. It was a church of a hundred or so, with a pastor edging toward retirement. Says Ken:
We were to come and help him make something happen, revitalize the church. For a hundred dollars a month this young couple would sweep in and really light some fires.
Well, that wasn't quite what happened. That winter, in order to help the financial picture, the church asked me to organize a day-care operation. I got it going and found myself up to my waist in little kids twelve hours a day. Then the recession began to hit Pueblo, and enrollment dipped. The whole thing turned out to be a disappointment.
A string of supplementary jobs—selling water softeners was one—brought the Zimmers enough money to stay alive but a lot of frustration. By the end of the second year, Ken surrendered his title of assistant ...
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