Derrick Gerber, pastor of Westside Baptist Church, stands with his primary care team at Brooks Rehabilitation Hospital in Jacksonville. Gerber was able to encourage patients and staff to follow Christ as he worked through recovery from an injury to his C1 and C2 spinal segment. Once told he would never walk again, Gerber is now walking to the pulpit and preaching.
PANAMA CITY, Fla. — When Virgil Tillman, pastor emeritus at Springfield Baptist Church in Panama City, awoke in the Brooks Rehabilitation Hospital in Jacksonville, the last thing he remembered was carrying a bucket of ice to his daughter’s house. As Tillman approached the porch, he slipped and fell on the concrete, leaving him unconscious, with a broken nose, concussion and brain bleed. He required a repair of the C1 and C2 vertebrae, a steel plate inserted into the base of his skull and a fusion of C6 and C7 spinal segments. His recovery also required a tracheostomy that has not been able to be removed nearly two years later.
In recovery, Tillman spent the next three months traveling back and forth to Jacksonville for medical care.
“Through all of this, God reminded me to take inventory of what He has done in my life and how He has put hope in my life through the wonderful caregivers who profess faith in Jesus Christ and the support of my church family,” said Tillman, who can only leave home via non-emergency medical transport and uses a Hoyer lift to move from bed to chair.
Troy Varnum, associational mission strategist for the Northwest Coast Baptist Association, has been faithful to visit Tillman weekly. “Virgil has been a friend for over 18 years, and I never wanted him to feel isolated from God’s kingdom through this. He is the quintessential pastor and also served as military, hospice and police chaplain. He is a faithful prayer partner, mentor and friend.”
‘Strong prayer circle’
Due to his own heart condition, Varnum at times has needed a driver to get to Tillman. Norm Todd, a recent widower, became a regular driver for Varnum and immediately bonded with Tillman through the weekly visits. Tillman’s hospice background and the death of his own wife, Jane, prepared the way for him to minister to Todd even amid his own suffering.
Todd began inviting a mutual friend, Wayne Anderson, music minister at First Baptist Church Callaway to join his visits with Tillman. Anderson is wrestling with Parkinson’s disease and looks forward to the weekly prayer gatherings.
“We have formed a strong prayer circle, not only for healing, but for revival and the fresh wind and fire to fall upon the many who need the peace of God,” Varnum said.
Friendship forged through adversity
Tillman visits via telephone regularly with fellow pastor, Derrick Gerber, who also experienced injury to the C1 and C2 spinal segments. Gerber’s injury came almost a year after Tillman’s, and he also received care at Brooks Rehabilitation Hospital in Jacksonville. The pastors have been mutually encouraged by one another’s stories of witnessing opportunities experienced through their similar trials.
One story the two talked about was when Gerber shared the gospel with a nurse named Grace and gave her a New Testament Bible. It was the first Bible she had ever owned.
Gerber’s injury occurred when he fell from a ladder while adding an exterior light at Westside Baptist Church in Wewahitchka, Fla., where he serves as pastor. At the scene, he had no pulse and received CPR until emergency medical help arrived. With a broken back, Gerber lay in the hospital bed and learned what it is like to be on the “other side” of ministry.
“When a deacon from the church came in to pray with me, I stared at the ceiling and felt helpless,” Gerber said.
After seven months of in-house therapy at Brooks Rehabilitation Hospital, Gerber is now home and doing physical therapy in Panama City.
“The church has been incredible, praying for me and visiting regularly,” said Gerber. “They looked after our home and family and continued the ministry of God’s work during my absence.”
After eight months of recovery, Gerber walked to the pulpit in April to preach his first sermon about joy in the midst of trials from James chapter 1.
“It felt great to be back to what God has called me to do,” said Gerber, who has been preaching every week since.
Varnum shared, “It is amazing that the congregation has remained strong, working and praying together, adding to the community of faith, comforting and caring for the Gerbers as they served as ‘missionaries’ at Brooks Rehabilitation Hospital through this trial. Derrick has been able to join the lives of patients and staff in their walk with Christ or what is hopefully steps toward Christ.”
Purpose and hope for the future
During the time of Tillman’s injury and recovery, his pastorate, Springfield Baptist Church, continued to struggle in obtaining Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) money to rebuild from destruction caused by Hurricane Michael in 2018. Close by, Primera Iglesia Bautista Hispana De Panama City, a mission of First Baptist Church of Panama City, sought a place to call home. After prayer and several discussions, Primera Iglesia Bautista joined Springfield Baptist Church, with Hugh Redmond serving as pastor and leading the rebuilding process. When the building is complete, Tillman plans to preach the first service and hopes to walk to the pulpit that morning.
“This is a God story, showing us that the church is bigger than any one congregation. I am excited to see what God does. God is good. He is greater than any obstacles, and He knows our future,” Tillman said.
Gerber added: “Don’t focus on the circumstances, but focus on what God wants to do through it. He has been faithful and provided the rescue team, the intensive care team, the ministry and church team, the therapy team. Each step of the way, my needs were met through God.”
(EDITOR’S NOTE — This article was originally published at flbaptist.org.)
