A Compass Couple

by Nov 2, 2022Article, Circle of Influence

Welcome to our Circle of Influence article series!

As we recognize LifePoint’s 35th anniversary, we are celebrating the ripple effect of more than three decades of influence in and through the people of LifePoint. We’ve chosen several unique stories to share.

 

Part 5: Harry & Debbie Perrine

In his junior year at Woodlawn High School, Harry Perrine attended his first meeting for Young Life, a Christian organization dedicated to bringing youth to Christ through fun, adventurous, and life-changing experiences.  Harry had logged perfect attendance at Sunday school for years growing up, but he had never connected with what was being taught there.  At the Young Life meeting, he was surprised to hear Jesus talked about in a way that felt relatable to his own life. He loved how the leader, Chuck Reinhold, was a ‘regular’ guy.  As Harry puts it, “He used humor and thought-provoking questions to relate his life to the life of someone wanting to be like Jesus.”  From that point on, Harry no longer saw a Christ-centered life as boring – he saw it as an adventure.

Harry became a Young Life leader after graduating, and it was at a Young Life Leadership meeting in February of 1973 that Harry met Debbie Stewart. By October of that year, the two were married.  Much like the organization they served, the Perrines were committed to sharing the gospel in a way that was both creative and exciting.

The churches they attended as a married couple didn’t always reflect this vision.  At one church, they were chastised for exuberantly greeting friends on Sunday mornings. “This is the house of the Lord” they were told.  A house without joy wasn’t where the Perrines belonged. 

By 1986, after Harry felt a strong nudge by the Holy Spirit to start something new, they began meeting regularly with other local couples who also shared their church dream.  They wanted to create a place that reflected how they saw the Christian life – exciting and joyful, but with practical and relevant teaching and authentic worship. 1986 was also proving to be a year of change.  Debbie was pregnant with the couple’s second child and Harry’s father, who was suffering with dementia, had moved in with them. Harry had recently departed from teaching to start his own business.  It wasn’t the easiest time to throw themselves into a church plant, but they knew God was working on something good.  Says Debbie: “Looking back, it was a challenging time, but the vision was so strong.”  The church they had envisioned felt so tangible that they were committed to seeing it through, not only for their children, but also for countless others who could experience God in a fresh way. 

Those years with Young Life had impressed upon the Perrines the importance of meeting people where they are and building personal relationships to help others grow in their faith. Tricia Duke recalls the day in 1987 that she first met Harry and Debbie.  Coming from a seminary in a state across the country, she and Joe weren’t sure what to expect, but as she remembers it: “Harry and Debbie’s warmth and joy were the very first things we noticed. They both had a purity of heart that made us feel immediately connected.”

So connected in fact, that when Joe, Tricia, and their two young sons left Dallas to move to Westminster shortly after that first meeting, it was to a home Debbie had found for them. The Dukes already trusted the Perrines enough to sign the lease sight unseen. The Perrines also rounded up a group to meet the Duke’s moving truck at the new house, which arrived a few days before the Dukes themselves.

“Imagine their surprise when the movers opened the truck and found our ’76 Cutlass Oldsmobile was back there!” Tricia recalls, laughing. “They had to drive it on out!”

The warmth and purity of heart that drew in Joe and Tricia has become a trademark for everyone who knows the Perrines. Debbie’s sisters in Christ describe her as someone who “doesn’t try to fix you, she prays for you instead.”  One uses the following from Christian author Joni Eareckson Tada to summarize the Perrine’s gift: “Brothers and sisters who will hold you accountable, study with you and keep you on the straight path. Imperfect “leaky” Christians who will pray for you as you pray for them.” 

Dan Soltys remembers meeting Harry solely because Harry is the kind of person “who took the initiative to meet a new person just because he cares about people.”  Andy Thompson seconds this, adding “He spends time intentionally building into others around him.”  Perhaps no one has felt this over Harry’s years at LifePoint more than Joe Duke.  “Since the earliest days of our church, Harry has been a consistent encouragement and inspiration to me,” Joe says.  “There have been times when a word or a note or a thumbs-up from Harry would keep me going for a month!”

From their vantage point at LifePoint from the very beginning, the Perrines have had a thirty-five year long front row seat to the joys and disappointments of church ministry. Yet, they have never wavered in their devotion to Christ and their heart for making disciples.  Tricia puts it best when she describes what Debbie and Harry have been not just for her and Joe, but for countless members of the LifePoint family who have grown along with the church they started.

“They truly are a constant compass,” she says.  “Always pointing upward to Jesus, always pointing the way home.”

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