The funeral of a beloved pastor is a special event. I suspect Tuesdays services for Pastor Charles Eldon McHatton at City of Grace Church (formerly Word of Grace) in
Mesa had plenty of tributes for its founder.

McHatton, 83, was the founding pastor of the church whose name in 1980 was Gospel Echoes. Actually Gospel Echoes was what he had first called his radio ministry, and the full-gospel church followed. It later would be renamed Word of Grace and in January became City of Grace Church, with the merger with CitiChurch, a Scottsdale congregationand thus a two-campus megachurch.

McHatton later served as pastor in other Arizona churches, including one in west
Phoenix.

He was involved in the development of Christian television and was author of Christian expository books. Hundreds of thousands of believers in Phoenix and around the world were impacted by Dr. McHattons lifelong service, reads his obituary. He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Glenda, and four sons, a brother, 11 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

On the Web Site Guestbook for McHatton, Lisa Ulrich of Buckeye shared that her one-time pastor is now out of pain and walking on the streets of gold. She said he was an beloved pastor. He has impacted my life so greatly, and I will never forget how much I loved church as a child attending Gospel Echoes.

Rebecca Barbee of Glendale recalled living in Orange County, Calif., and seeing McHatton speak on the Trinity Broadcast Network I had no intention of ever living in Phoenix, yet one day my husband came home and said, We are being transferred to
Phoenix. She said her first response was, Well, then, I know where I will go to church. The day that she and her 15-year-old daughter walked with her into McHattons church for the first time, she noted, Oh, I can feel the Spirit here.

That began our years of leaning with Pastor McHatton, she said, noting that friends she made in that church are close friends today.

All too often wonderful clergy move far away after retirement, grow old, get sick and die and the thousands of scattered former members dont learn of their deaths and dont have the chance to attend their funeral. At least for some of Charles Eldon McHattons flock in the Valley, there was the chance to be on hand and feel the joy of one servants earthy work.

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