STEUBEN – The Rev. Lewis Cushman, retiring pastor of the Unionville Church of God, knows his successor very well – the minister was at the hospital the day the boy was born,

On Sunday, the Rev. Arthur Fairbrother, 28, will succeed Cushman, who is retiring after more than 40 years in the ministry.

Fairbrother grew up in Belfast, where Cushman was his pastor.

The younger man said the Cushman family was a major influence on his life and his decision to become a pastor.

The younger man was a teen-ager when Cushman left Belfast’s Faith Temple Church of God in 1988 after 28 years as pastor.

“He’s almost like our son,” said Lewis Cushman. “We pastored him. Now, he will be our pastor.”

Fairbrother felt called to ministry as a student at Colby College.

Just as Lewis and Ellouise Cushman have worked as partners, Fairbrother said he and his wife, Jennifer Fairbrother, also think of their ministry as a team effort. She is a registered nurse, but has worked on a per diem basis since the birth of their first child six months ago.

Arthur Fairbrother said his wife worked with a girls group at the Belfast church, and most likely will seek nursing work on a per diem basis in Washington County so she can set her own schedule and keep Sundays free for church activities.

“I never make a decision about the ministry without consulting her first,” he said as the couple prepared to move to the parsonage in the Unionville section of Steuben. “She encourages me when I’m discouraged and helps things go smoothly. It’s also nice being married to an R.N. because any trips we take with youth, we need a nurse. I always have one.”

– Judy Harrison