And he’s eager to train others on the fine points of chain saw sharpening. In fact, he’s taught two classes for the Mississippi Baptist Convention.
"I’d love to teach chain saw sharpening as an evangelistic ministry to every association — just to equip people to get out there. I’m just praying that God will raise up more people to do what I do."
Fritz Wilson, Florida Baptists’ director of disaster relief and recovery, has known Stanton for several years, working several hurricanes and other disasters with him. He calls Stanton a "super" Christian with a unique ministry.
"He comes in and sharpens our saws, and then goes out in the community and offers to sharpen anyone’s saw," Wilson said. "Tom has a unique ministry and uses sharpening to parallel the Christian life and walk. He tells people that we can’t be good tools for Christ unless we stay sharp." (BP)
As the guys on the Arkansas disaster chain saw team — tired after a long day of working a recent Missouri storm — ate their dinner at a local Southern Baptist church, the big, burly man who came in was impossible to miss. Imagine John the Baptist with a Stihl chain saw.
Dressed in blue denim, with a full, graying beard and huge hands, Tom Stanton dropped by their table and asked if they needed any chain saws sharpened.
The "Saw Man," as Stanton is called, didn’t have to ask twice. Any chain saw operator knows that a dull one is useless, and sharpening chain saws is a prickly job best left to experts. And the Saw Man is just that.
Stanton’s unique ministry is valuable to Southern Baptist disaster relief chain saw teams who respond to ice storms, tornadoes, hurricanes and other disasters.
Stanton, 53, calls Deer River, Minn. — about 100 miles south of the Canadian border — home. Until last October, he was the pastor of a small church there.
Now, his "day job" is running a shear/scissor sharpening business.
Stanton’s disaster relief ministry began in 2001 when a major tornado hit Siren, Wis. The following day — after a sleepless night — he felt called to go to Wisconsin.
"I had no clue what I was going to do," said Stanton, who first learned to sharpen chain saws as an 18-year-old logger in Montana. "My first paycheck was a chain saw.
"In Wisconsin, I found guys who didn’t know how to file chain saws. So I volunteered and started sharpening. People came out of the woodwork. I sharpened chains with a file for three days until a preacher got me a 12-volt rotary tool. Then I sharpened for another 10 days."
That was the beginning of Stanton’s chain saw-sharpening ministry. He doesn’t know for sure but figures he’s sharpened thousands of chain saws in the wake of disasters, including Hurricane Katrina. He doesn’t charge a penny.
Financially, how does Stanton cover his expenses? What about gasoline for the pickup truck he must drive to disasters? What about tools? Lodging? Food?
"God provides," Stanton said. "The people are really generous with me." He said God gave him his sharpening business back home, which provides most of his day-to-day financial needs.
These days, Stanton is too professional to use files or even his original rotary tool to sharpen saws. Now he uses a Dremel tool.
"Dremel Company now provides me with all my tools. In fact, I was invited to their plant in Racine, Wis., to teach their people how to use their tool." With the Dremel device, Stanton does not have to remove the chain to sharpen it, which saves time and effort.
During the first two weeks after Hurricane Katrina, someone estimated that Stanton sharpened 2,000 chain saws in Louisiana and Mississippi. He worked as many as 20 hours a day.
"Since I can leave the chain right on the saw, I can pull up to a bunch of guys and easily sharpen 10 saws an hour," Stanton said. "When I have someone to hand me the saws, I can do 16 an hour. Hand-filing takes up to 20 minutes apiece. This helps the disaster relief teams get back to work faster."
Why would a man who has undergone two hip replacement surgeries and recently suffered a heart attack chase natural disasters around the country to sharpen chain saws for strangers?
"It’s really hard for me to stand back and see somebody else hurting," Stanton said. "I’ve been crippled up through the years. Since 1997, I haven’t been able to do much physically for people except for chain saw sharpening. It’s a tremendous need."
At a disaster site, Stanton witnesses to the public during the day as he sharpens their chain saws. He gives out tracts and New Testaments from a five-gallon pail he calls the "Bucket of Hope." At night, he sharpens chain saws for disaster relief workers, including those from Southern Baptist teams — counseling, challenging and encouraging Christian men in their walks with God.
Share with others: