By Nicole Falco
Cole didn't grow up in Valley Stream, and up until last week he had never been a resident of the community, but his move here from Queens with his wife, Polly, and teenage children, David, 15, and Rebecca, 13, is a move back to a "small town."
Cole grew up in Kennebunk, Maine, a town made famous for its proximity to Kennebunkport, home of the Bush family retreat. With 40,000 or so residents, Valley Stream is larger than Kennebunk, but according to Cole, it still has that small-town appeal, from its village government to its numerous thriving community groups.
"I think Valley Stream is in some ways part of the larger New York City area, yet it is a small town in a lot of ways," Cole said. "I grew up in a small town. I like small towns."
Cole left Kennebunk in the 1960s to pursue a degree at Duke University. After graduation, he accepted a two-year assignment with the Harlem Domestic Peace Corps, which battled poverty in the area, and lived in central Harlem. From the wilds of Manhattan, he moved to the wilds of West Africa, where he worked with the Peace Corps, providing community development.
Cole first thought of becoming a minister while working in Africa. "I didn't always know I wanted to be a minister," he said. "If you'd asked me in college, I probably would have laughed at the thought.
"I got the feeling the Lord wanted me to do that -- a feeling I can serve people best in a church situation."
After returning to America, Cole enrolled in Union Theological Seminary in Manhattan, where he earned a master's of divinity and was ordained a minister in 1971. He has served as pastor of various churches in Queens and Brooklyn, including 14 years at Good Shepherd United Methodist Church in Astoria and four years at Jamaica First Methodist Church.
For the past four years, Cole was associate executive director of United Methodist City Society, a 130-year-old church mission. He is a past president of Anchor House in Brooklyn, a co-ed residential drug-treatment program in which he remains active.
The call to Valley Stream from Bishop Ernest Lyght could not have come at a better time for Cole. After spending four years away from a parish, he was eager to return. "My priorities are to learn what's going on here," he said. "I need to listen. I need to do a lot of listening and learning the names of people. I need to find out what programs are active and what areas of problem-solving need to take place."
Cole is filling the shoes of a beloved pastor, and credits Carrington with helping to make the transition smooth. When Howard reluctantly retired last June, having reached the mandatory retirement age of 70, his congregation of 28 years didn't want to see him go. Parishioners took their protests all the way to the bishop, but church tradition prevailed.
Carrington accepted a one-year interim assignment to handle the transition process, which can often be a time of mourning for a church.
According to Eric Bjorneby, chairman of the Pastor-Parish Relations Committee, "We had a surprisingly smooth transition. Pastor Carrington helped the congregation turn its focus from where we had come from to where we are headed."
In accordance with church procedure, Cole was recommended by the bishop, and then met with members of the Pastor-Parish Committee for consideration. He was accepted by the committee last winter and was appointed by the Bishop to start in July.
"He had a substantial amount of pastoral experience," Bjorneby said. "He was warm. Engaging. He seemed to be a good listener, and he also seemed to have some administrative experience and skills as well. When you're pastor of a large church, it's not just preaching on Sunday."
As Cole settles into Valley Stream, he said he is looking forward to getting involved beyond just the church community. He said he hopes to spur membership growth, revamp the thrift shop and focus on the church's 100-year anniversary, among other goals.
"Every few years, every institution needs to go through a period of assessment -- to look at what their mission statement is," Cole said. "I hope I can work with the leadership of the church to develop a mission statement and goals if not for the next century, at lease for the next 20 years."
At 61, Cole is about a decade away from retirement. He said he hopes he will be able to retire from Grace Church.
