Everyone calls him Pastor

Five high-profile military funerals make Rolen known

By Gabriel Alexander / Independent Staff Writer Friday, Mar. 28, 2008

Tim Rolen is a celebrity when he walks the streets of Clovis.

The pastor of New Hope Community Church seems to know everybody in town.

"Hi, Pastor Tim," one woman says while he's having a drink at The Little French Hen Café. "I saw you on TV."

Another woman hugs him before ordering a drink at the Old Town Clovis coffee shop.

"My mom died over Christmas," she says.

The community flocks to Rolen, who has been in the spotlight lately because of five high-profile funerals.

Clovis has lost eight servicemen in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq -- more than any other Valley community. Rolen has led five of the funerals and acted as the unofficial family spokesman on television and in newspaper articles.

"People ask why did I do all these funerals," Rolen said. "Well, I knew them. It's that simple."

The fallen military men either attended Rolen's church or knew his sons, now 24 and 26 years old.

"I've taken pictures of those guys going to proms and formals," Rolen said.

Rolen taught Senior Airman Nick Eischen how to swing a bat in Babe Ruth baseball. He watched his son graduate from Buchanan High School with Marine Lance Cpl. Jared Hubbard and Marine Cpl. Jeremiah Baro. Army Cpl. Nathan Hubbard was Jared Hubbard's younger brother, and Marine Lance Cpl. Anthony "Tony" Butterfield attended youth group at New Hope Community Church.

Rolen led all of their services before they were laid to rest in Clovis Cemetery. He visited the families after they received the tragic news, made funeral arrangements, answered phones and sent over homemade meals from his congregation.

Rolen cut his honeymoon short to lead Eischen's funeral on Jan. 4. Rolen married his wife, Shelly, Dec. 27 and planned to spend 10 days in Williams, Ariz. Five days into the honeymoon, the Rolens decided to return to Clovis.

"At that point, we decided that these people needed us more than we needed our honeymoon. And that is pretty much how his life and now mine has become," Shelly Rolen said.

Tim Rolen has made a science out of funerals.

"If I could teach a seminary class, it would be on funerals," he said. "There are so many things that can make a difference."

First Rolen asks grieving families what they want from him.

"The first thing I say is, 'I want to be as close as I can be, but I don't want to be in the way,' " he said.

He asks about favorite foods and beverages. His congregation sends over casseroles, pies and drinks of choice.

When Rolen prepares the eulogy, he pulls out a two-page questionnaire for the family. He asks about the deceased's favorite foods, bands, movies, vacations, hobbies and expressions.

"I want to get this as personal as I can," Rolen said. "If I do a good job honoring a person's life, then I have the right to share a few minutes about God, but it's earned."

At Eischen's funeral, Rolen told stories about how the Air Force medic met his wife. The audience laughed over stories about the 6-foot-3-inch football player watching "Dora the Explorer" with his 2-year-old son. They listened to words that his family used to describe him -- gentle giant, strong, big and sweet.

Keith and Robin Butterfield sat in one of the back rows. They've attended each of the eight Clovis military funerals, including the funeral of their own son Marine Lance Cpl. Anthony "Tony" Butterfield.

"He lets you focus on the fact that you can be both sad but can remember the happy and that there's life after," Robin Butterfield said about Rolen. Rolen asked the Butterfields about their son's favorite movie before conducting his funeral. It was "Hook" starring Robin Williams, a movie Rolen hadn't seen. He watched it before the service -- one of the many thoughtful acts he performed during the funeral arrangements.

"He has a way of putting feelers out so he doesn't impose," Butterfield said. "We were so thankful when he came over. We could immediately take a deep breath as much as we could take a deep breath at the time."

After the first two Clovis men died in Iraq, Rolen's church on Clovis and Nees avenues built a memorial fountain in their honor. The fountain has become an unofficial meeting place for grieving friends and family. When the second Hubbard died, friends held a candlelight vigil in his honor at the fountain.

"The fountain has been a place people gather in these tragedies," Rolen said. "It's a touchstone for them."

Rolen comes from a family of pastors and preached his first sermon in his father's church when he was 15 years old. His grandfather started 30 churches between Oklahoma and California in the 1930s and 1940s.

"He'd go to a town, put up a tent and have a revival," Rolen said. Rolen, who graduated from Hoover High School, became the pastor of his father's church in Fresno when the older Rolen retired.

He sold carpet and worked at the Fresno Bible House to make ends meet while pastoring a congregation of less than 100. He moved to Clovis in 1986. "A little place out in the country," Rolen said. "We wanted horses."

In 1992, his Fresno congregation joined a Clovis congregation that was meeting in a small, white church on Clovis and Nees. New Hope Community Church was formed and grew to more than 700 under Rolen's leadership.

Now Rolen leads three services every Sunday, conducts several weekly Bible studies, provides counseling and officiates at weddings and funerals. "He's just extremely busy," Shelly Rolen said.

The pair became close after Rolen and his first wife separated three years ago.

Shelly Rolen, a Sunday school teacher at New Hope Community Church, was drawn to him because of his big heart, she said.

"He genuinely loves and cares for people more than anything," she said. "He feels a deep commitment for the community and the people in the community. You'll often find him when he has nothing to do, walking the streets of Clovis."

Rolen became a chaplain with the Clovis Police Department 15 years ago. He notifies family members about deaths, helps in crisis situations and provides counseling to police officers.

"He's just an incredible, upbeat person who is always on the go helping someone," police spokeswoman Janet Stoll-Lee said.

His role as police chaplain is one of the many hats he's worn to connect with the community. Rolen has coached soccer, Babe Ruth baseball and joined "just about every" committee while he was a Clovis Unified parent.

He refuses to shop outside of Clovis, never misses a rodeo and takes the cowboy town's western roots to heart. He took his wife to a western film on their first date, reads western novels and has a cowboy room in his house with leather couches and curtains held back with spurs.

He only wears suits on Sundays otherwise it's Wranglers, plaid shirts and his trademark mustache. During rodeo weekend, he visits the local bars full of traveling cowboys.

"Friday and Saturday I'm in and out of the bars," he said. "I can go in and have a club soda and visit."

Rolen fights the stereotype of a preacher. He doesn't want people to watch their language and straighten up around him.

"I'm not pushy," he said. "I rarely invite anyone to church."

Maybe because of that, the community has grown to love him and call him "pastor" even if they don't attend his church.

"You have to laugh at him because wherever we go it's always, 'Pastor Rolen, Pastor Rolen,' " Shelly Rolen said. "We can't go anywhere without people knowing him. It doesn't have to do with him being on TV and all the funerals. He has a huge heart for people."

E-mail Gabriel Alexander at galexander@clovisindependent.com. Friendly Faces is an occasional series about people in Clovis who make it a great place to live. To nominate someone to be profiled in this series, please e-mail Patti J. Lippert at plippert@clovisindependent.com.