BRENTWOOD, Tenn. — A recurring cancer requiring brutal treatment has not stopped the Rev. Howard Olds from leading the congregation at Brentwood United Methodist Church. Rather, it appears to have strengthened the 58-year-old pastor.

The cancer Olds thought he beat five years earlier returned in August more virulently, according to The Tennessean.

"This was much more intense and life-threatening than the last time," Olds said. "This required a lot more intensive treatment."

Because of that, Olds offered to step down from the pulpit, but the church wouldn't hear of it. The church supported him with prayer, cards and letters. A healing service in September drew 700 people who prayed for him as he was anointed with oil.

"At the very end of the service, Howard came up and said we know all healing is of God," said the Rev. Kaye Harvey, who ministers pastoral care at Brentwood. "While he didn't know what faced him, he did know he had seen church as it was meant to be that night."

Since then, his openness has led others to acknowledge their weaknesses and to increase their concern for other people, Harvey said.

"What I've seen happen in the congregation is that (because of) Howard's willingness to show his vulnerability and his willingness to share his journey toward healing, whatever that may be, the congregation was also willing to be vulnerable," she said. "I think that is a powerful statement for how the spirit moved in this congregation."

According to the newspaper, Olds said the experience has given him a true sense of Christian love from his congregation and others. While he was hospitalized to receive a stem-cell transplant, he received thousands of letters and e-mail messages. A Sunday school class organized a platelet drive.

While he couldn't see his benefactors because of the risk of infection, Olds saw the label stating the platelets were donated by Brentwood church when they arrived in his room.

Olds was forced to stay away from the pulpit for several weeks after the stem cell transplant, but returned recently.

"I started preaching when I was 18 years old. I'm 58 now," Olds said. "I've been at this business for almost 40 years. I've never been out of the pulpit three weeks at most. This time (I was) out nine consecutive weeks. It's been a major separation for me."