It sounds like it could be the back-story for a Hollywood film. Young boy growing up in a Philadelphia row home with his small Italian mother raising him the best she knows how on her own. One can almost hear the sound of the city in the summer: boys, balls, and broomsticks for bats. Mom working a minimum wage job, smiling at customers knowing she will cry herself to sleep again tonight. Perhaps to his buddies, Tom was just like any other kid growing up in the 1970’s, but, by the time Tom was in his mid-teens, he had called three men “dad,” never really knowing one, having one killed in Vietnam, and the third was found to be living a double (or triple) life. Almost two decades of abandonment left Tom and his mother with some deep wounds that would forever shape his life and the life of thousands.
Today Tom Rees finds himself living in Central Pennsylvania, working hard, and loving God. Tom has many “hats” that he wears. He is a husband, a father, a pastor, a mentor, church planting director, and college professor. One might wonder how a “fatherless” boy from Philly could end up where Tom is today. The answer is found still back in the 1970’s.
One day, when Tom’s family seemed to be falling completely apart, Tom’s mom found herself in the parking lot of a church. Filled with anger, this depressed and broken waitress spoke with the pastor. The pastor recognized that Tom’s mom needed to “let go” of all she was holding on to. Finally, Tom’s mom “called out to God” and was forever changed.
With a simple faith, Tom’s mother began to introduce Tom to God in the ways she knew how. Tom, not “feeling” anything when accepting Jesus as Lord, struggled with coming to God. Tom finally, through some Christian literature, understood that faith precedes feelings, and Tom believed.
The late 70’s and 80’s brought horrific examples of Christian leadership. The Baker and Swaggart scandals rocked the faith of many in the Church. Tom witnessed the moral fall of one of the pastors he had worked under as an intern. It would seem as though Tom’s life, even his redeemed life, continued to be riddled with poor leadership and examples.
After attending Valley Forge Christian College, Tom found ministry to be frustrating and challenging. Although Tom was, and is, a highly driven person, he continually felt as though the leadership he worked under set-up roadblocks and threw wet blankets on all of his efforts. It was around this time that Tom began to root-out some personal issues. Searching his heart, Tom started, what is now a life-long effort, analyzing his spiritual heart and habits. With the help of a counselor, small groups, an accountability partner, and “living within the margins” Tom continues to work on balancing his driven-ness. Admittedly, Tom is still a workaholic, and is challenged with taking days off. So as to not get caught up in the numbers game (attendance, membership, offering, etc.) and comparing ministries, Tom says that he is just “going to do what Jesus has called [him] to do.”
Although Tom’s youth was filled with fractured relationships, he sees that relationships are vital to a healthy spiritual formation and growth. The biblical model in the New Testament is discipleship, and discipleship only happens within relationships. It is inside relationship where honesty is necessary and healthy discipline is found. The leadership modeled for Tom early on was less than desirable, but now Tom works as, and with, men and women leaders of integrity, striving to maintain that throughout the fellowship.
So will Hollywood make a movie of the life of Tom Rees? Who knows? Evidently, God has been watching Tom’s film for some time.
Tom Rees, only by the grace of God, has been able to move from a deserted little boy to a driven man of God.
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