To Gretna’s Tim Sawatzky, helping others in a time of need is simply part of who he is.
“We need to live beyond ourselves,” he said. “It’s about creating the bigger picture with others.”
Shortly before Christmas, Sawatzky put that belief into action when community newspaper owner Brett Mitchell found himself stranded on the side of the road in Gretna. Sawatzky offered Mitchell the use of his phone, a warm seat, and friendly company at the Gretna Post Office while he waited for CAA.
Helping out, Sawatzky said, was an easy decision.
“I asked myself, ‘What would I appreciate if I were in his shoes? How would I want to be treated in this situation?’” he recalled. “I’m a Christian, and one thing we see throughout scripture is that it’s not always about us –– it’s about others.”
As the two passed the time waiting for the tow truck, conversation turned to Sawatzky’s faith and the pivotal moment that shaped his life decades earlier.
During the summer before he began Grade 10, Sawatzky and a friend were driving through Gretna when they noticed a large number of vehicles parked outside the former Sunflower Gardens Hockey Arena. Curious, they went inside and unknowingly walked into a crusade led by a Lundstrom evangelist.
“I remember walking through the doors onto the ice surface and grabbing onto the plexiglass,” Sawatzky said. “The lights were dim, but the stage was brightly lit. I remember the sight, the smell –– the whole environment of that day.”
While there, the evangelist posed a question to the audience that would change Sawatzky’s life: Do you know where you’ll go when you die?
While his friend left immediately, Sawatzky stood frozen.
“I couldn’t answer the question, and that freaked me out, so I just stood there,” he said. “That question haunted me. That’s when I decided to give my life to the Lord –– and my life hasn’t been the same since.”
Though he had attended church regularly with his family before that night, Sawatzky said it was the first time he had been confronted so directly with the question of eternity.
“It’s been such an amazing journey and adventure ever since,” he said. “I know what’s to come, and nothing will ever change that.”
He doesn’t know how long it took him to reach that decision –– whether seconds or minutes –– but said it felt as though time itself had stopped.
“It felt like an eternity in that moment,” he said. “It was just me and the question, wrestling in my heart.”
The transformation, he said, was immediate and noticeable.
When school resumed in September, several teachers asked what had happened to him.
“It was such a good confirmation of having a transformed life,” he said. “I wasn’t trying to be different — I just was. People could see it.”
Years later, in 2003, the Sunflower Gardens Hockey Arena was sold, and the new developer offered to lease the building to Sawatzky’s local church group at a low cost. Church members quickly embraced the opportunity, renovating the arena into a new church home after previously meeting at the Community Club Seniors Centre.
Eventually, Sawatzky became pastor of Victory Family Church, in the very building where his faith journey began. Becoming a pastor had never been part of his plan, he said, but when the opportunity arose, it felt like a calling.
To Sawatzky, being a pastor meant serving as a role model both inside and outside the church, especially for younger generations. While he holds many fond memories from that chapter of his life, seeing positive change in others stands out most.
“When you really see change in people, that’s the most rewarding part of it all,” he said.
After retiring from ministry, Sawatzky found himself on a new path during the COVID-19 pandemic, turning to refurbishing and selling pontoon boats.
Hoping to buy a boat for himself but deterred by high Canadian prices, Sawatzky began travelling to the United States on his commercial licence, purchasing affordable pontoons and refurbishing them back in Canada. Since cross-border travel was limited at the time, others began relying on his licence as well, and soon he was selling refurbished pontoons to customers, marking his entry into the business world.
The best part of this stage of life, he said, is the excitement it brings to his family.
“We love adventure,” he said. “We want to live where the adventure is and that’s what I’m holding onto.”
