Rich Johnston is retiring from the pastorate of Second (Indianapolis, Ind.) RPC. Yet, like a lot of retirees, he may be moving into a busier phase of life.

The day after we honored Rich with a church dinner in early July, he headed off at 6 a.m. for a road trip with his sons, Brad (Topeka, Kan., RPC pastor) and Stephen, and his two grandsons. The three Johnston generations were following the Lewis and Clark trail to a mountain in Idaho.

We enjoyed celebrating Rich’s decades of service that Sabbath. Visitors included RPTS President Jerry O’Neill and Pastor Andrew Quigley of the Scottish RP Church. Andrew identified a key characteristic of Rich’s ministry: his great gift of relationships with people. He has come alongside so many others, many times helping them in doubling, tripling, and even quadrupling their capacities in ways that kept him quietly behind the scenes.

Andrew identified Rich as the role model for co-pastoring, as Rich came alongside Dr. ...