Working for excellence
"God doesn't demand perfection, but He does require excellence." That is the motto that guides Tony Shupp's life. For the past three years, Shupp has served Stonegate Fellowhip as the children's pastor. Along with 15 full-time employees, approximately 50 part-time employees and countless volunteers, he is responsible each week for leading 1,000 children—infants through sixth grade—in their walk with God.
Shupp says his call to ministry didn't come quickly and there were no claps of thunder, bolts of lightning nor visions of angels to give him a loud and clear signal. In fact, Shupp's first career was that of a police officer. Shupp says, "I loved being a cop. I was good at it. I had a niche for it. It was something that I really enjoyed." Shupp's father had been a police officer for the Midland Police Department (MPD), and Shupp said he had wanted to follow in his father's footsteps since he was about 4 years old.
After graduating from Lee High School in 1991, Shupp attended Midland College (MC) and then transferred to West Texas A&M (WT) in Canyon. He had been attending WT for only three weeks, when he met Amy Todd and told her he was going to marry her. Ten months later, he made good on his word, and now the couple have been married for 16 years and have three children. Shupp left WT before completing his bachelor's degree, but he did successfully complete the Panhandle Regional Law Enforcement Academy through Amarillo College. In 1996 he moved back to Midland with his new wife in hopes of joining the MPD, just like his father.
However, at that time the MPD had a nepotism policy that prevented Shupp from working there. So, Shupp spent one year with the Midland Independent School District's police department and four years working for the Odessa Police Department. Then the nepotism policy changed, and he was able to realize his childhood dream of joining the MPD. At various times, he was a street cop, a SWAT team member and a detective. "Midland has an amazing police department," says Shupp.
It was while Shupp was working for the MPD that he says he began about a four-year journey with God calling him to ministry. When a children's director position became vacant at Stonegate, Shupp said he inquired about it. He explains, "I didn't have a burning passion to work with children, but I was willing to work hard for God. So, I applied for the position, but when I read the requirement of a bachelor's degree, I emailed the pastor and told him that I appreciated being considered, but because I didn't have a degree I wasn't qualified." However, Stonegate was willing to consider him for the position if he would go back to school. "I had always wanted to finish my degree, but cops work long hours, and then I also had family responsibilities," states Shupp. "I asked the church to allow me six months to 'get my feet on the ground,' and then I would check into completing my degree."
Shupp says, "I was very hesitant about going back to college." He told his WT advisor, Dr. Trudy Hanson, that he would be 38 when he graduated and felt that was extremely late in life for getting a bachelor's degree. Dr. Hanson replied, "You're going to be 38 anyway. You might as well be 38 with a college degree!" So, 12 years after first leaving WT, Shupp was enrolled once again—this time taking online courses leading to a degree in communications. But, while Shupp thought he was only 18 hours away from completion of his degree, he discovered that he really needed 40 hours.
During this time, Shupp was also promoted to his current position of children's pastor for Stonegate. Because he had a full-time job with numerous responsibilities, he took no more than 10 hours each semester. He says, "I would work on my class assignments in my office at the church at nights and on my days off." Shupp kept going—kept working with excellence.
Then the man of God experienced a four letter word—MATH. Shupp explains, "I took the math placement test and found out that before I could take College Algebra, I had to take remedial courses. So, Midland College came to the rescue. I enrolled in a remedial math class and had great instructors at MC." He says that he would go to the MC math lab for about an hour every morning before reporting to work at Stonegate. He credits two MC math instructors: Gena Nicholson for helping to get him through remedial courses and Sonia Ford for finally making college algebra attainable. He even was able to take college algebra online. Shupp says, "I remember saying to Sonia, 'tell me what I've got to do to get through this math class as quickly as possible.' She steered me in the direction of the online course, and not only did I get through it quickly, I actually learned something!" While many people struggle with online courses, Shupp says, "Online courses are perfect for me. Successful completion is dependent on ME, and I like that."
On May 14, Tony Shupp finally received his bachelor's degree in communications—with honors, no less. Eventually Shupp would like to continue his college studies and work toward a master's degree in theology as well as an MBA. But first, he says, he wants to take about six months a year and enjoy time with his family. In the meantime, Tony Shupp will continue to lead the children's programming for Midland's largest church. He says, "It's all about building relationships with God and working for excellence in everything we do."
