Max Weighmink Eulogy
It is a distinct honor to offer this eulogy for my good friend Max. I have seen no greater faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, than I witnessed in Max, and not only did he have great faith, but he also possessed an uncommon vision of what the Lord could do through people, and how He could use them. I often wondered how people like Max got their insight, I’ve concluded, some people have a different relationship with their Savior. When Jesus calls us, as believers, to “follow Him,” I think most people are some distance in trail. Sometimes walking a few steps behind the Lord, other times, hoping He is still out there in front of them somewhere. But I always thought Max had a special relationship with our Lord, walking closely beside Him, like that of Jesus and His Heavenly Father. They spent so much time together; He always knew what was on His Father’s heart. Then too, Max was the most humble man I ever known. If Philippians 2:3,4 defines humility, then Max was a master of it, he would always put others before himself. He was at peace with his world and contented with what the Lord gave him.
Someone has said, behind every great man is a great woman. This was certainly true of Max and Dawn; I know Max always relied on Dawn’s intuition and opinion. Dawn has such accurate relational insights. They were the perfect complement in marriage!
I want to tell some of my stories about Max to help you understand why this man had such a powerful impact on my life…..I became a Christian at age 31, led to Christ by two men who came to our home to tell me about a local church. They swept into my life one night, shared the Gospel, and I never saw them again, and no one helped me grow spiritually. I had a voracious appetite to read the Bible, my head was getting bigger, but my heart did not change. The next 10 years we attended Bible believing churches, and good Bible studies, but I did not change much without someone to disciple me. I met Max in May 1984, over 40 years ago. Because of my job we had to live on the base at Naval Air Station Miramar, and we decided to attend the base chapel. At the time, my wife Carol and I were having significant marital struggles, and we had been praying we could find a Bible study on base. The first Sunday we attended the Chapel, after the service, Max walked up to me and asked if we would be interested in a Bible study? Wow, I thought, we didn’t have to look for a Bible study, it found us! Several weeks later, after Chapel, Max invited our family to have lunch with them in their home. I was so impressed with the Weighmink kids, they acted like little adults to me, engaging Carol and I in adult-like conversation. The next time I saw Max, I asked him, how do I have kids like yours? He said follow me around and ask a lot of questions, I thought, I will do that…..
Carol and I met with Max and Dawn, as couples, for over a year, they helped us tremendously with not only our marriage but with raising our children as well. They were a categorical blessing to us at that point in our lives. In addition to our weekly couples’ meetings, I met Max at McDonalds on the base every week for time in the Word. At the time, I was convinced Carol was crazy, she would do things that I thought were bazar. So, during these weekly meetings, I tried to convince Max that my wife was crazy. Every week he patiently listened to my story of the week, then he’d look at me and say, “I agree with you Zetty, your wife is crazy, and you made her that way.” It so infuriated me, every week I came back with a bigger story, Max listened patiently, and every week told me the same thing…...”I agree with you Zetty, your wife is crazy, and you made her that way.” As I recall, this went on for months, finally I blurted out at him, if you were me what would you do. He told me something, I don’t recall what it was, but I went home and tried to do what he said. After a week, I noticed a change in Carol, so when I saw Max next, I said what else do you know, you obviously know my wife better than I know her. Max was right, when I changed, Carol changed, and my marriage changed. Max gave me an audio recording by Jack Taylor, called the Principle of Receiving. Rev Taylor uses marriage to illustrate the principle, but it applies to many issues, it changed my life, and the way I see all of life. I have probably passed out a thousand copies in our 38 years of ministry.
After meeting together for a year, Max was promoted and was going to be an Area Supervisor for The Navigator Military Ministry in Western Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. He needed people to staff the bases under his supervision, he asked Carol and I to consider getting out of the Navy and moving to Arizona, to staff one of those bases. I had never done any ministry, but apparently Max saw something in us the Lord could use. I had just been promoted, and thought my future was in the Navy, but gave Max the dutiful Christian answer, “we’ll pray about it.” After seeking the Lord for an answer for a week, Carol and I felt we should get out of the Navy and move our family to Arizona with the Weighminks to minister at Williams AFB, in suburban Phoenix. The Lord used Max and Dawn and Scott and Stormy Morrison to teach us how to minister and disciple people, over the next several years.
In 1992, a Russian general came to the United States to invite all Navigator military staff assembled at the Navigator headquarters in Colorado Springs to come to Russia to minister to the Russian military. This room filled with 125 staff could not believe our ears, hearing a Russian general pleading with us all to come to Russia to do ministry with the Russian military. We all presumed many would go, but after a year, no one responded. The Navigator Military leadership team then asked Max if he and his team of Rich and Cindy Robinson, John and Rachel Voss, and Carol and I would consider moving to Russian and ministering to the Russian military. We made two exploratory trips to Moscow and St Petersburg in January 1994 and February 1995. Ultimately, the Weighminks moved to Moscow for almost 5 years and Vosses moved to St Petersburg for 10 years, they both had significant ministries to the Russian military. I marvel and admire how Max led his family and clairvoyantly saw how the Lord could use them there. At the time Dawn’s health was not good and he had to consider Heidi’s needs as well. But where many would see hardship, and many reasons not to go, Max saw opportunities for how the Lord would use his family, and the Lord met their needs there. I want to share one way the Lord looked after and honored Max’s faith, and decision to go to Russia.
After the Weighminks had been in Moscow for a while, I met a Christian former Navy pilot who was flying to Moscow every week for a US airline company. I asked him if he could transport “things” to a missionary friend in Moscow, and he said yes. So, every week Max would email me things they either needed (like Dawn’s medicine) or other things they would like for ministry use (one Thanksgiving it was several frozen turkeys). My pilot friend would carry them with his gear in the cockpit, so we never had to worry about customs, and take them to his hotel room in Moscow and Max would retrieve them there. This weekly arrangement worked for a couple of years, as a testimony to God’s provision. In conclusion, Max was a legend to me, his faith was larger than life, and his insights from spending time in the Word were not only profound, but entertaining. I so enjoyed just listening to what the Lord was sharing with him. As a discipler, Max was without equal, he loved people best by giving them what they needed, speaking the Truth. I was a rough guy when Max met me, if he had challenged me, I probably would have dismissed him. But Max was like smoke under the door (he never barged the door down) but had his own inimitable way of getting to someone’s heart. God has used his gentle, humble manner in many people’s lives. God used him to change the course of my whole life, for which, I am deeply grateful! Jesus said in Matthew 20:27, if you want to be first in the Kingdom of Heaven, you must be servant of all. I think when we, as believing people, get to heaven, we’ll all be working for Max Weighmink!
Zetty K