"Most-shared stories of 2015"
Board of General Superintendents releases statement on same-sex marriageGlobal Ministry Center
Societies across the globe are engaged in conversations to redefine marriage. Media debates, election-day balloting, and governmental court rulings have provided the platform for this redefinition. We believe a biblical view of marriage involves a monogamous, covenantal relationship between a man and a woman. Jesus said, “... At the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate” (Matthew 19:4-6NIV).
Today the United States Supreme Court, in the 5-4 decision of Obergefell v. Hodges, legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. We remind our people that while the civil law of yet another country has changed, divine truth has not changed. We will learn how this civil definition functions within the context of our constitutional and religious freedoms. Our commitment to the orthodox biblical Christian faith remains the same. We continue to call Nazarenes around the world to a life of holiness, characterized by holy love and expressed through the most rigorous and consistent lifestyle of sexual purity. We further call our people to a generosity and graciousness of spirit that extends kindness to those who do not share our belief. We pray that God will help us be examples of His truth in a world that needs to see God’s love demonstrated in word and deed more than ever.
Jerry D. Porter
J. K. Warrick
Eugénio R. Duarte
David W. Graves
David A. Busic
Gustavo A. Crocker
Board of General Superintendents
Church of the Nazarene
For further reading from the National Association of Evangelicals, see the following articles:
"Supreme Court Redefines Marriage"
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Cincinnati, Ohio
Rob Westerman, pastor at Springdale Nazarene Church's campus in Norwood, Ohio, recently surprised 15 customers at a local grocery store by paying for their items.
Over the course of two hours, Westerman entered the store, paid for an individual's groceries, then quickly disappeared to do it again. Recipients included a woman who forgot her wallet, a man who was recently mugged, and a woman who bursts into tears when her $8 bill was paid.
Mike Lewis, Westerman's friend and the director of JesusPainter Ministries, recorded the interactions and uploaded the video to Facebook. As of Tuesday afternoon, the video had more than 25 million views and over 800,000 shares.
"The intent of the video wasn’t to go viral," Westerman said. "The idea behind it was that doing good is contagious."
The outing is not the church's first random act of kindness.
"We have this dollar bucket; people put $1, $2, $10, whatever they want in it and we go out and do things with it," Westerman said. "This is the first one we've recorded, though, because we wanted to show the congregation what it looks like."
The outreach was a chance for the congregation to be the light in a dark world.
"There have been some not-so-positive things going on in Cincinnati, so we just decided to be the change we want to see," Westerman said.
In addition to sharing a positive message, the video also allowed the church to build relationships in the community.
“We’ve had a chance to talk with people in the video,” Westerman said. “They sought us out after it was over, once our contact information started getting around.”
Hundreds of others have reached out to Westerman, Lewis, and the church.
"If we’re faithful, God will do amazing things," Westerman said. "God took $400 and spread His message literally around the world."
Rob Westerman, pastor at Springdale Nazarene Church's campus in Norwood, Ohio, recently surprised 15 customers at a local grocery store by paying for their items.
Over the course of two hours, Westerman entered the store, paid for an individual's groceries, then quickly disappeared to do it again. Recipients included a woman who forgot her wallet, a man who was recently mugged, and a woman who bursts into tears when her $8 bill was paid.
Mike Lewis, Westerman's friend and the director of JesusPainter Ministries, recorded the interactions and uploaded the video to Facebook. As of Tuesday afternoon, the video had more than 25 million views and over 800,000 shares.
"The intent of the video wasn’t to go viral," Westerman said. "The idea behind it was that doing good is contagious."
The outing is not the church's first random act of kindness.
"We have this dollar bucket; people put $1, $2, $10, whatever they want in it and we go out and do things with it," Westerman said. "This is the first one we've recorded, though, because we wanted to show the congregation what it looks like."
The outreach was a chance for the congregation to be the light in a dark world.
"There have been some not-so-positive things going on in Cincinnati, so we just decided to be the change we want to see," Westerman said.
In addition to sharing a positive message, the video also allowed the church to build relationships in the community.
“We’ve had a chance to talk with people in the video,” Westerman said. “They sought us out after it was over, once our contact information started getting around.”
Hundreds of others have reached out to Westerman, Lewis, and the church.
"If we’re faithful, God will do amazing things," Westerman said. "God took $400 and spread His message literally around the world."
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Connecticut pastor shot early SundayHartford, ConnecticutNBC Connecticut/Hartford First Church photo
A Connecticut pastor was shot early last Sunday morning, May 24, while putting out Memorial Day flags,NBC Connecticut, the Hartford Courant, and several other news outlets reported.
Augustus Sealy, 54, pastor of Hartford First Church of the Nazarene, was shot twice in the leg and once in the shoulder around 6:30 a.m. local time. The Courant reported he was found in the road.
A little over 10 minutes later, another individual was shot six times. The 27-year-old male victim was shot in the torso and arms, NBC Connecticut reported. Both victims were taken to the hospital and released this week.
Police issued an arrest warrant June 1. They are also investigating the shootings as a possible hate crime.
Hartford First Church official Elton Adams told NBC Connecticut on Monday that Sealy was outside the church placing flags in the yard as part of an annual tradition for the church's Memorial Day celebration. TheCourant reported American flags bordered the front lawn of the church along the sidewalk, but stopped abruptly.
A service was also planned later that day to honor Sealy's fifth anniversary at the church. WFSB reported an associate pastor at the church canceled the Sunday afternoon celebration though Sealy requested things continue as planned.
Members of the church arriving for Sunday services were shocked to hear the news about their pastor.
A note on the church's website requested prayer for Sealy and his family.
"There’s so many mixed emotions right now. It’s hard," Myrna Springer, a secretary at the church, told NBC. "People’s spirits are low. We just don’t know.”
She told NBC Connecticut that Augustus is a "very caring" and "comfortable person" who is "easy to get along with."
According to reports, there have been at least three fatal shooting in Hartford in the last two weeks.
Prayer is requested for the victims and Hartford First Church.
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Church ministers to refugees stranded in HungaryBudapest, Hungary
This summer, hundreds of thousands of people have fled to Europe to escape violence in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Many authorities are describing it as the worst refugee crisis since World War II.
In the past few days, the Keleti train station in Budapest, Hungary, has become a focal point of the crisis. More than 2,000 asylum-seekers arrived in Hungary on Monday, double the number in past weeks. Chaos erupted when authorities began allowing many of them, even those without proper documentation, to board trains bound for Germany and then reversed the decision on Tuesday, suspending international services. Authorities in Hungary have attempted to take refugees to a nearby processing center, but most have refused to leave the station.
In the midst of the chaos, the Church of the Nazarene has been quietly ministering to migrant families at Keleti, in partnership with a local volunteer organization called Migration Aid. Families and individuals at the station are receiving food, water, and blankets through the efforts.
“The refugees in Budapest’s Keleti train station know why they left their homes, but they do not understand why they cannot continue their journey to freedom,” said Teanna Sunberg, a Nazarene missionary living in Budapest helping lead the church’s outreach to stranded families. “Many of them have paid for train tickets to Germany or to Austria. Family members wait for them at these western European destinations.”
One refugee told Sunberg, “My three children have not been in school for four years, since the war began. They asked me to take them away from our home in Aleppo [Syria] so that they can go to school.”
Another said, “My husband has been missing for two years. I have two children. The airplanes bombed our house, so my father led our family out of Syria. But we left my mother in Aleppo. She has a heart problem, and she cannot make this dangerous and long journey. I need a home for my children. I need a future.”
Sitting on the ground at the Keleti station, Sunberg listened as a third woman said to her, “Tell the world that in Syria, we are looking for a place where we won’t die.”
How to help
Pray
Pray for wisdom for church leaders in Hungary as they organize outreach ministry to families. Pray for health for stranded children and adults who are sleeping outside in the cold and rain. Pray for the presence of God to be felt and a spirit of peace to reign in the midst of the chaos.
Give
Churches and individuals around the world can support efforts to minister to families stranded in Hungary and other areas by giving to the NCM Refugee and Immigrant Support Fund. Donations will be used to meet immediate needs, including food, water, and blankets.
To send donations by mail:
In the U.S., make checks payable to "General Treasurer" and send them to:
Global Treasury Services
Global Church of the Nazarene
P.O. Box 843116
Kansas City, Missouri 64184-3116, United States
Be sure to put 125347 in the Memo area.
In Canada, make checks payable to "Church of the Nazarene Canada" and send them to:
Church of the Nazarene Canada
20 Regan Road, Unit 9
Brampton, Ontario L7A 1C3, Canada
Be sure to put 125347 in the Memo area.
For any other country, give through your local church or district, designating your gift to the NCM Refugee and Immigrant Support Fund.
[Church of the Nazarene Central Europe Field]
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Nepal: Six days after the earthquake
Nepal, Eurasia RegionWhen a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Nepal on April 25, it was a Saturday. In Nepal, that’s the day when Christians gather to worship. That meant that most churches were full when the ground began to violently shake beneath their feet.
Prakash, the pastor of the Nazarene church outside Kathmandu, said that because everyone in his family was at the church with him, there were no casualties in his family.
“I was preaching when the earth started to shake,” Prakash said. “I told the congregation to stay still and remain where they are, as we were meeting on the third floor. I told them not to go outside because to do that they would have had to go through the lower floors and on the top they were safer."
Hermann Gschwandtner, retiring South Asia field strategy coordinator, was in a Nepal church service during the quake.
”Right in the midst, the building shook, and we were reminded of Matthew 24,” Gschwandtner said. “We wondered whether this is the rapture.”
Prakash said his building did not collapse, "but it has huge cracks, so in the near future we will have to hold church services outside. We can't have fellowship there anymore. But most of our people live in solid buildings that only have minor cracks.”
Not everyone in Nepal was so fortunate.
More than 5,500 people have been reported dead so far, and there are at least 11,000 injured, according to the BBC on April 29, numbers that no doubt will keep climbing.
The country has a critical lack of clean water, which has already resulted in more than 1,200 recorded hospital visits due to water-related disease from drinking contaminated water. The next big fear in the country is a cholera outbreak.
Addressing the critical need for clean water is among the strategies that the Church of the Nazarene in Nepal has decided on as part of its immediate relief efforts. Nazarene Compassionate Ministries is partnering with churches in these efforts. NCM Nepal leaders met with Rev. Dilli*, who serves as both the Nepal district superintendent and NCM coordinator, and Eurasia Regional NCM Coordinator Jörg Eich to develop a relief and recovery plan.
They decided to first concentrate on the most critical short-term needs: shelter, water, and food.
To address the serious lack of food in affected areas, NCM leaders in Nepal would like to combine short-term food aid distribution with long-term seed and garden projects — a successful strategy NCM has used in some rural areas of the country to create food security.
The Nazarene Disaster Response team, made of church leaders and NCM staff, traveled to a community called Dharmasthali where NCM Nepal owns a small piece of land, and where a small Nazarene church meets. Seventy percent of the houses there were destroyed by the earthquake, so people are taking shelter in makeshift tents made out of tarp and plastic. The visit was one example of the critical need for providing tents and blankets.
On May 1, the disaster response team began serving in the Sindhupalchock district, one of the hardest hit areas, about 30 kilometers east of the capital city, Kathmandu. The team is providing aid to a community of about 1,000 people where the United Nations estimates 64 percent of homes were destroyed in the quake.
The Church of the Nazarene has more than 300 churches and church plants and 8,000 members in Nepal. Their focus following the earthquake will be to meet the needs of their neighbors, both through short-term emergency aid and longer-term community development efforts — all in the name of Christ.
How to help
Pray
Pray for grieving families, pray for vulnerable children and families, pray for those responding to the disaster, and pray for our church leaders and members in Nepal.
To send a prayer or message of encouragement, visit ncm.org/nepal.
NCM has also created a bulletin insert and presentation slides for use in church services.
Give
Churches and individuals around the world can support disaster response efforts by giving to the Nepal Earthquake Fund. Donations will be used to meet immediate needs, such as water, food, and shelter, as well as long-term recovery and rebuilding efforts.
To send donations by mail, find your country below.
In the U.S., make checks payable to "General Treasurer" and send them to:
Global Treasury Services
Global Church of the Nazarene
P.O. Box 843116
Kansas City, Missouri 64184-3116, United States
Be sure to put ACM1549 in the Memo area.
In Canada, make checks payable to "Church of the Nazarene Canada" and send them to:
Global Church of the Nazarene Canada
Brampton, Ontario L7A 1C3, Canada
Be sure to put ACM1549 in the Memo area.
In Germany, send your donation to Helping Hands Germany:
Helping Hands e.V. - Gelnhausen, Germany
IBAN DE56 5075 0094 0000 022394
SWIFT-BIC HELADEF1GEL
For any other country, give through your local church or district, designating your gift to the NCM Nepal Earthquake Relief.
Share
General Superintendent David W. Graves called upon Nazarenes around the world to pray and give toward efforts in Nepal.--------------------
Persecuted Christians arrive safelyEurasia Region
More than 150 persecuted Christians from the Middle East have found safety, thanks in part to the generosity of Nazarenes around the world.
Numerous Christian families, including Nazarenes and others associated with the Nazarene church, from the Middle East were stranded after fleeing their homes for fear of being killed. A European country agreed to accept them, but they were stuck in transit due to complications with obtaining their visas. During this time, the local Nazarene church reached out to care for them, and the global Church of the Nazarene, through Nazarene Compassionate Ministries, raised money to provide for their lodging, meals, and other immediate needs.
Of the 159 individuals who were in transit, all but seven have made it safely to their destination country. Another organization has arranged to provide support for the families for a year, and various churches from different denominations, including the Church of the Nazarene, are receiving the families into their congregations. The remaining seven individuals will travel to the destination country as soon as their visas are processed.
How to Help
Churches and individuals around the world can help persecuted families in the Middle East by giving to the Help for Persecuted Christians fund. Donations will be used to get families to safety and to meet other urgent needs.
To send donations by mail, use these instructions:
In the U.S., make checks payable to "General Treasurer" and send them to:
Global Treasury Services
Global Church of the Nazarene
P.O. Box 843116
Kansas City, Missouri 64184-3116, United States
Be sure to put ACM1832 in the Memo area.
In Canada, make checks payable to "Church of the Nazarene Canada" and send them to:
Global Church of the Nazarene Canada
20 Regan Road, Unit 9
Brampton, Ontario L7A 1C3, Canada
Be sure to put ACM1832 in the Memo area.
In Germany, send your donation to Helping Hands Germany:
Helping Hands e.V. - Gelnhausen, Germany
IBAN DE56 5075 0094 0000 022394
SWIFT-BIC HELADEF1GEL
BANK: KREISSPARKASSE GELNHAUSEN
MEMO: MID-EAST REFUGEES
For any other country, give through your local church or district, designating your gift to the Help for Persecuted Christians fund.[Nazarene Compassionate Ministries]
[Related: "Church helps persecuted Christians find safety"]
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Nazarene Publishing House regains financial footingKansas City, Missouri
(Spanish)
Nazarene Publishing House continues to move forward with significant innovation in a season of reinvention. By implementing a restructure focused on increased efficiencies and cost savings, NPH has regained financial stability, according to Interim CEO Mark D. Brown.
As a result of the 2014 reduction in staff and a changing business model, the NPH Board has approved the sale of the administrative offices located on Troost Avenue in Kansas City to Kansas City Public Schools to be utilized as the district headquarters.
“We are taking advantage of an opportunity to right size the company,” Brown said. “With our reduced need for office space, we will be able to downsize and still remain near our service providers.”
Brown said NPH is pursuing relocation options within two miles of the present site in order to maintain a necessary proximity to the printing facility and the distribution center, which will remain on Troost. Brown expects the transition to a new space to occur sometime after the beginning of 2016. No disruption in services will occur with the move, and the NPH phone and PO Box numbers will remain the same.
In another move forward for NPH, Brown announced the relaunch of Lillenas Publishing Company, the music imprint of Nazarene Publishing House. The nearly 100-year-old music company, founded in 1924, had halted the production of new product in late 2014. Considerations were given to selling the business, but the NPH Board of Directors concluded that at this time Lillenas needs to be a vital part of the publishing ministry going forward.
The new Lillenas leadership team will be led by long-time NPH director Mark Parker, Brown said. Lillenas will premier several new releases in the fall of 2015, including the 2016 Easter product, which will release by the end of November. Christmas releases for 2016 will soon go to the studio for recording. Moving forward, Lillenas will focus once again on meeting the needs of the ever-changing music culture of the church.
“Both the sale of the administrative offices and the relaunch of Lillenas are good news for Nazarene Publishing House,” said NPH Board President Bob Brower. “These moves are significant pieces in strategic planning for the next five years. Under Mark Brown’s leadership, the NPH team is creating a new future for this 100-year-old company.” [Nazarene Publishing House]
[(Spanish)]
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Former Olivet Tiger advances to World SeriesKansas City, Missouri
Shortly after the Royals made the July 28 trade that would put Ben Zobrist in one of their jerseys, his mother, Cindi, scoured through tubs of keepsakes for a throwback version:
A weathered Royals T-shirt fit for a toddler, circa 1985, inscribed with “BEN 1” on the back.
She finally unearthed it just in time to make it part of the postseason Royals-themed decorating scheme in the family living room.
“This is what he wore to the Royals games,” his father, Tom, said, happily holding what proved to be a harbinger.
“No way,” Ben Zobrist said when they told him they’d found it.
Now, it’s just part of something that almost seemed meant to be, tethering together the family’s few years in Kansas City when Tom was studying at Calvary Bible College.
“We’ve always loved Kansas City,” said Cindi Zobrist, who like her husband grew up in Morton, Illinois. “We came from a small town, but for a big city, it didn’t feel like a big city.
“Those were some of our most special times. As a family, we had nothing, but we made a lot of memories.”
Kansas City is “only” six hours away, says Tom, whose truck knows its own way there by now, after all the drives he made to see daughter Serena and son-in-law Mike Grimm during the 10 years they lived there, and as a board member now of his alma mater.
But even as the second of their five children has become a vital part of the Royals’ cause entering Game 6 of the American League Championship Series against Toronto on Friday at Kauffman Stadium, they appreciate the preciousness of the moment.
For one thing, there’s no way to tell now how many more games he’ll play in his current Royals’ getup since he’ll be a free agent after the season. He’ll likely be able to command a steep contract.
“We’re hoping for the Royals,” Cindi Zobrist said, “but we don’t know.”
For another, as pre-ordained as it might seem to them now, there was nothing at all assured about his professional baseball career.
After Zobrist played his last baseball game for Eureka High, after all, he spent the night driving around lamenting the end of an athletics career in which basketball had been his strongest game.
He had nary a scholarship offer and was entirely off the radar of any major-league teams.
Baseball, Cindi Zobrist said, “was in the past.”
Which was fine.
Ben was set to attend Calvary himself, and as each of his siblings has for at least a time, follow in the work of his father.
Tom Zobrist has been pastor of the Liberty Bible Church in Eureka since 1988, nurturing those to whom he ministers and the operation from a storefront location to its own site to a soon-to-be shimmering expansion project now that will include 500-seat capacity.
Their son’s direction wasn’t going to change, either, when the Zobrists got a call suggesting Ben attend a tryout camp in nearby Brimfield.
It would cost $50, after all.
“Fifty dollars was a lot of money,” Cindi said. “It still is.”
Never mind that Ben was intrigued, if only for the chance to spend more time playing with his friends.
“‘I’m not paying for that,’” said his father, who grew up a Cardinals fan.
But he was OK with Ben using $50 of birthday money he’d gotten from his grandparents.
“‘Go ahead; it’s your money,’” Tom Zobrist remembered saying, smiling at the recollection it would be money misspent.
Next thing you know, though, college recruiters were calling.
Ben and his family were confronted with a new range of decisions as he considered nearby Olivet Nazarene of the NAIA to play baseball.
Cindi remembers crying about it over lunch with him at a local Cracker Barrel, fretting that doing so would be stepping away from God’s plan and fearing “other influences” at a larger school.
But Tom told him that at age 19, he needed to decide for himself and asked what he thought God wanted for him.
“‘Well, I feel like I’m not done with baseball yet,’” he remembered Ben saying. “‘But I’m willing to do what you want me to do.’”
That, Tom said, “told me a lot about his maturity. And he made that decision to go there, and it worked out pretty well.”
Zobrist would later transfer to Dallas Baptist and be picked in the sixth round of the 2004 draft by the Houston Astros, a completely implausible development to the family even when coaches were telling them it was likely to happen.
Looking back now, it all played out as it should, even the part when they were saddened Ben was traded to Tampa Bay.
“I always tell people keep pushing forward and God will close doors and open doors as you move along,” said Tom Zobrist, noting they had friends pursue scholarships by having videos made or hiring companies to help make connections. “We did absolutely nothing, and it just came.”
As it happened, it didn’t have to contradict their hopes for what he’d stand for, either.
The night before Ben left home to join the Astros’ affiliate in Troy, N.Y., he told his father, “I’m going to be a missionary in the big leagues.”
And so he has, whether by organizing Bible studies with teammates or vigorously supporting the career of his wife, Julianna, a Christian singer, or just in how he carries himself.
“It’s not this blustery, dominating in-your-face kind of thing,” his father said. “It can be very gentle and quiet: the way you live your life, the way you treat your family, the way you treat other people …
“He lives his life and lets his actions speak.”
As a child, sometimes Zobrist’s actions spoke more rashly.
The same competitive zeal that compelled him to do pushups and situps by the hundreds, and run a 5:01 mile in 7th grade, and to meticulously mow and paint an elaborate, lighted Wiffle ball field behind their house sometimes overflowed.
(Playing Wiffle ball, incidentally, was a foundation for his versatility, which later expanded to being able to play multiple positions. Although he wouldn’t apply it in baseball until later, Zobrist’s father is certain that his aptitude for switch-hitting began with batting left-handed in the back yard. Zobrist also once converted extra points left- and right-footed in a junior football game).
When Ben was 7, his parents got a call from school that Ben had shoved kids away from a bathroom sink so he could wash his hands first … so he could then run to be first in line for lunch.
Everything was a competition, at least until his parents made it clear that he needed to learn to “give way” at times and let the last be first.
“The Bible says the man that can’t control his anger is like a city broken down without walls,” Tom Zobrist said. “There’s nothing good that comes from unharnessed anger.”
Now, part of what distinguishes Zobrist is his equilibrium — at least if you don’t count his trademark habit of bouncing around at second base waiting for the pitch this postseason.
“He’s really engaged when he’s doing that; he’s doubly focused,” said his father, adding, “I don’t think he could stop.”
And because he found himself and his true path in the game, now they’re glad he didn’t stop playing baseball ... and hope he stays in a Royals jersey.[Republished with permission from The Kansas City Star]
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Changing the face of povertyMartin County, Kentucky
On one of the most difficult days of their lives, John and Lisa Mollett called their pastors. John had been diagnosed with stage 4 throat cancer, and the couple needed the prayers of their church family at Turkey Creek Church of the Nazarene in Martin County, Kentucky.
What they weren’t expecting was the practical support from their church community: money, gasoline, Christmas presents for their three children. People called regularly, sent cards, and offered to drive their children wherever they needed to go.
“It was like a burden was rolled off,” Lisa said. “They helped us through a very difficult time.”
This all-encompassing compassion is what Pastors Dwayne Mills and his father, Garrett, are working to emphasize in this small church located in the coal fields of Eastern Kentucky’s Appalachian region.
The face of poverty
In 1964, Martin County, Kentucky, became the face of poverty in the U.S. when President Lyndon Johnson visited and declared his proposed war on poverty. At the time it was the poorest county in the country. Today, unemployment, drugs, and unhealthy family patterns are among the persistent causes of seeming hopelessness in the community.
In fact, drug addiction has touched nearly every person there, whether through a family member or friend, and generational poverty is still a problem today, more than 50 years after Johnson’s visit. At the time, the poverty rate in Martin County was 60 percent. Today, that percentage is down, but it remains one of the poorest counties in the U.S., with a poverty rate of 35 percent, which is more than two times the national average.
“We’ve got to break the cycle of what they know,” Dwayne said.
The pastors have known the cycle for a long time. Garrett pastored the church from 1975 to 1983 when Dwayne was a child. Dwayne felt called to return after Tony Campolo spoke at a chapel service at Olivet Nazarene University, asking students, “Why would you be in a place where God can use anyone? Why wouldn’t you go to a place where he could only use you?”
“Two words came to mind in that moment, and they were Martin County,” Dwayne said.
Dwayne feels his calling is not solely to the church, but to the county, too. He is active within the local school system, sits on various boards and committees, and is connected with the local community center.
“I’ve always been a huge proponent of the church having to care for the whole person, not just the spiritual,” he said.
A safe haven
Much of Martin County’s poverty is found in the hollows, or “hollers,” as they’re called, between the Appalachian Mountains. Every Wednesday, Christi Brown spends more than an hour driving a passenger van to and from those hollers so young people can go to church on Wednesday nights. Though trust forms slowly, the route offers a chance to connect with youth from difficult situations.
“The greatest thing is when they want to invite their friends,” she said.
For 16-year-old Megan Preston, life hasn’t always been easy, but she found encouragement in the church when many of her peers become hopeless, dropping out of school, or turning to drugs.
“Some people feel like they can’t be much of anything, so they don’t try,” Preston said. “When they finally came to our church, it opened up a new door for them because they never knew a life that way.”
From left to right: Dwayne Mills, Christi Brown, and Megan Preston
A call to stay
Pastor Dwayne’s dream is to see more resources invested in rural areas like Appalachia, where less than 40 percent of the population have a church home.
The Turkey Creek church is working toward opening a Nazarene compassionate ministry center to address some of the needs of families in the county.
The church’s dream is a CMC that would partner with the local community center to facilitate after-school programs, GED classes, parenting training, and eventually a crisis pregnancy center. Dwayne hopes the center will also allow them to invite as many as 30 short-term teams a year to bring skilled laborers to the area. It could welcome students from Christian universities for a semester with skills in health care, counseling, education, and ministry.
“For it to work in Appalachia, people have to understand culture, and we’ve got to be very inclusive," Dwayne said. “It’s going to be a God thing if it happens, there’s no doubt about it.”
To help fund a compassionate ministry center in Martin County, click here.[Republished with permission from NCM magazine, Summer 2015 edition]]
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Texas pastor killed in motorcycle accidentMt. Pleasant, Texas
Facebook photo.
Kevin Sneed, pastor of the Mt. Pleasant, Texas, Journey Church of the Nazarene, was killed in a motorcycle accident Tuesday evening. He was 46.
Citing authorities and the Texas Highway Patrol, KLTV reported Sneed was traveling on I-30 in Titus County when his Harley Davidson motorcycle veered off the road and hit a cable barrier. Sneed was pronounced dead at the scene.
Sneed began serving at the Dallas District’s Mt. Pleasant Journey Church as an interim pastor in July 2014. He was named the full-time pastor in November.
"He was a visionary with an infectious laugh, and a dedicated man of God," said Dallas District Superintendent Curtis Lewis.
Sneed previously served at Texarkana First Church in Texas, Kendallville Cross Pointe Family Church of the Nazarene (Indiana), Pueblo Belmont (Colorado), Oakwood (Illinois), and Shelbyville (Illinois).
He was born in 1969 to Lawrence Ray and Paula Barttonen Sneed. Sneed attended Olivet Nazarene University.
His wife, Angela Ball, a son, Lucas Allen, and a daughter, Abby Noel, survive him. His parents preceded him in death.
A visitation will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, July 31, at Bates-Cooper-Sloan Funeral Home in Mount Pleasant. Services will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, August 1, at the Bates-Cooper-Sloan Chapel.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Sneed Children Scholarship Fund at any Red River Credit Union in Texarkana.
An online registry is available at batescoopersloanfuneralhome.com.
Prayer is requested for the Sneed and Mt. Pleasant Journey Church families.
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Note: NCN News will resume its regular schedule January 8.
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Connecticut pastor shot early SundayHartford, ConnecticutNBC Connecticut/Hartford First Church photo
A Connecticut pastor was shot early last Sunday morning, May 24, while putting out Memorial Day flags,NBC Connecticut, the Hartford Courant, and several other news outlets reported.
Augustus Sealy, 54, pastor of Hartford First Church of the Nazarene, was shot twice in the leg and once in the shoulder around 6:30 a.m. local time. The Courant reported he was found in the road.
A little over 10 minutes later, another individual was shot six times. The 27-year-old male victim was shot in the torso and arms, NBC Connecticut reported. Both victims were taken to the hospital and released this week.
Police issued an arrest warrant June 1. They are also investigating the shootings as a possible hate crime.
Hartford First Church official Elton Adams told NBC Connecticut on Monday that Sealy was outside the church placing flags in the yard as part of an annual tradition for the church's Memorial Day celebration. TheCourant reported American flags bordered the front lawn of the church along the sidewalk, but stopped abruptly.
A service was also planned later that day to honor Sealy's fifth anniversary at the church. WFSB reported an associate pastor at the church canceled the Sunday afternoon celebration though Sealy requested things continue as planned.
Members of the church arriving for Sunday services were shocked to hear the news about their pastor.
A note on the church's website requested prayer for Sealy and his family.
"There’s so many mixed emotions right now. It’s hard," Myrna Springer, a secretary at the church, told NBC. "People’s spirits are low. We just don’t know.”
She told NBC Connecticut that Augustus is a "very caring" and "comfortable person" who is "easy to get along with."
According to reports, there have been at least three fatal shooting in Hartford in the last two weeks.
Prayer is requested for the victims and Hartford First Church.
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Church ministers to refugees stranded in HungaryBudapest, Hungary
This summer, hundreds of thousands of people have fled to Europe to escape violence in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Many authorities are describing it as the worst refugee crisis since World War II.
In the past few days, the Keleti train station in Budapest, Hungary, has become a focal point of the crisis. More than 2,000 asylum-seekers arrived in Hungary on Monday, double the number in past weeks. Chaos erupted when authorities began allowing many of them, even those without proper documentation, to board trains bound for Germany and then reversed the decision on Tuesday, suspending international services. Authorities in Hungary have attempted to take refugees to a nearby processing center, but most have refused to leave the station.
In the midst of the chaos, the Church of the Nazarene has been quietly ministering to migrant families at Keleti, in partnership with a local volunteer organization called Migration Aid. Families and individuals at the station are receiving food, water, and blankets through the efforts.
“The refugees in Budapest’s Keleti train station know why they left their homes, but they do not understand why they cannot continue their journey to freedom,” said Teanna Sunberg, a Nazarene missionary living in Budapest helping lead the church’s outreach to stranded families. “Many of them have paid for train tickets to Germany or to Austria. Family members wait for them at these western European destinations.”
One refugee told Sunberg, “My three children have not been in school for four years, since the war began. They asked me to take them away from our home in Aleppo [Syria] so that they can go to school.”
Another said, “My husband has been missing for two years. I have two children. The airplanes bombed our house, so my father led our family out of Syria. But we left my mother in Aleppo. She has a heart problem, and she cannot make this dangerous and long journey. I need a home for my children. I need a future.”
Sitting on the ground at the Keleti station, Sunberg listened as a third woman said to her, “Tell the world that in Syria, we are looking for a place where we won’t die.”
How to help
Pray
Pray for wisdom for church leaders in Hungary as they organize outreach ministry to families. Pray for health for stranded children and adults who are sleeping outside in the cold and rain. Pray for the presence of God to be felt and a spirit of peace to reign in the midst of the chaos.
Give
Churches and individuals around the world can support efforts to minister to families stranded in Hungary and other areas by giving to the NCM Refugee and Immigrant Support Fund. Donations will be used to meet immediate needs, including food, water, and blankets.
To send donations by mail:
In the U.S., make checks payable to "General Treasurer" and send them to:
Global Treasury Services
Global Church of the Nazarene
P.O. Box 843116
Kansas City, Missouri 64184-3116, United States
Be sure to put 125347 in the Memo area.
In Canada, make checks payable to "Church of the Nazarene Canada" and send them to:
Church of the Nazarene Canada
20 Regan Road, Unit 9
Brampton, Ontario L7A 1C3, Canada
Be sure to put 125347 in the Memo area.
For any other country, give through your local church or district, designating your gift to the NCM Refugee and Immigrant Support Fund.
[Church of the Nazarene Central Europe Field]
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Nepal: Six days after the earthquake
Nepal, Eurasia RegionWhen a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Nepal on April 25, it was a Saturday. In Nepal, that’s the day when Christians gather to worship. That meant that most churches were full when the ground began to violently shake beneath their feet.
Prakash, the pastor of the Nazarene church outside Kathmandu, said that because everyone in his family was at the church with him, there were no casualties in his family.
“I was preaching when the earth started to shake,” Prakash said. “I told the congregation to stay still and remain where they are, as we were meeting on the third floor. I told them not to go outside because to do that they would have had to go through the lower floors and on the top they were safer."
Hermann Gschwandtner, retiring South Asia field strategy coordinator, was in a Nepal church service during the quake.
”Right in the midst, the building shook, and we were reminded of Matthew 24,” Gschwandtner said. “We wondered whether this is the rapture.”
Prakash said his building did not collapse, "but it has huge cracks, so in the near future we will have to hold church services outside. We can't have fellowship there anymore. But most of our people live in solid buildings that only have minor cracks.”
Not everyone in Nepal was so fortunate.
More than 5,500 people have been reported dead so far, and there are at least 11,000 injured, according to the BBC on April 29, numbers that no doubt will keep climbing.
The country has a critical lack of clean water, which has already resulted in more than 1,200 recorded hospital visits due to water-related disease from drinking contaminated water. The next big fear in the country is a cholera outbreak.
Addressing the critical need for clean water is among the strategies that the Church of the Nazarene in Nepal has decided on as part of its immediate relief efforts. Nazarene Compassionate Ministries is partnering with churches in these efforts. NCM Nepal leaders met with Rev. Dilli*, who serves as both the Nepal district superintendent and NCM coordinator, and Eurasia Regional NCM Coordinator Jörg Eich to develop a relief and recovery plan.
They decided to first concentrate on the most critical short-term needs: shelter, water, and food.
To address the serious lack of food in affected areas, NCM leaders in Nepal would like to combine short-term food aid distribution with long-term seed and garden projects — a successful strategy NCM has used in some rural areas of the country to create food security.
The Nazarene Disaster Response team, made of church leaders and NCM staff, traveled to a community called Dharmasthali where NCM Nepal owns a small piece of land, and where a small Nazarene church meets. Seventy percent of the houses there were destroyed by the earthquake, so people are taking shelter in makeshift tents made out of tarp and plastic. The visit was one example of the critical need for providing tents and blankets.
On May 1, the disaster response team began serving in the Sindhupalchock district, one of the hardest hit areas, about 30 kilometers east of the capital city, Kathmandu. The team is providing aid to a community of about 1,000 people where the United Nations estimates 64 percent of homes were destroyed in the quake.
The Church of the Nazarene has more than 300 churches and church plants and 8,000 members in Nepal. Their focus following the earthquake will be to meet the needs of their neighbors, both through short-term emergency aid and longer-term community development efforts — all in the name of Christ.
How to help
Pray
Pray for grieving families, pray for vulnerable children and families, pray for those responding to the disaster, and pray for our church leaders and members in Nepal.
To send a prayer or message of encouragement, visit ncm.org/nepal.
NCM has also created a bulletin insert and presentation slides for use in church services.
Give
Churches and individuals around the world can support disaster response efforts by giving to the Nepal Earthquake Fund. Donations will be used to meet immediate needs, such as water, food, and shelter, as well as long-term recovery and rebuilding efforts.
To send donations by mail, find your country below.
In the U.S., make checks payable to "General Treasurer" and send them to:
Global Treasury Services
Global Church of the Nazarene
P.O. Box 843116
Kansas City, Missouri 64184-3116, United States
Be sure to put ACM1549 in the Memo area.
In Canada, make checks payable to "Church of the Nazarene Canada" and send them to:
Global Church of the Nazarene Canada
Brampton, Ontario L7A 1C3, Canada
Be sure to put ACM1549 in the Memo area.
In Germany, send your donation to Helping Hands Germany:
Helping Hands e.V. - Gelnhausen, Germany
IBAN DE56 5075 0094 0000 022394
SWIFT-BIC HELADEF1GEL
For any other country, give through your local church or district, designating your gift to the NCM Nepal Earthquake Relief.
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General Superintendent David W. Graves called upon Nazarenes around the world to pray and give toward efforts in Nepal.--------------------
Persecuted Christians arrive safelyEurasia Region
More than 150 persecuted Christians from the Middle East have found safety, thanks in part to the generosity of Nazarenes around the world.
Numerous Christian families, including Nazarenes and others associated with the Nazarene church, from the Middle East were stranded after fleeing their homes for fear of being killed. A European country agreed to accept them, but they were stuck in transit due to complications with obtaining their visas. During this time, the local Nazarene church reached out to care for them, and the global Church of the Nazarene, through Nazarene Compassionate Ministries, raised money to provide for their lodging, meals, and other immediate needs.
Of the 159 individuals who were in transit, all but seven have made it safely to their destination country. Another organization has arranged to provide support for the families for a year, and various churches from different denominations, including the Church of the Nazarene, are receiving the families into their congregations. The remaining seven individuals will travel to the destination country as soon as their visas are processed.
How to Help
Churches and individuals around the world can help persecuted families in the Middle East by giving to the Help for Persecuted Christians fund. Donations will be used to get families to safety and to meet other urgent needs.
To send donations by mail, use these instructions:
In the U.S., make checks payable to "General Treasurer" and send them to:
Global Treasury Services
Global Church of the Nazarene
P.O. Box 843116
Kansas City, Missouri 64184-3116, United States
Be sure to put ACM1832 in the Memo area.
In Canada, make checks payable to "Church of the Nazarene Canada" and send them to:
Global Church of the Nazarene Canada
20 Regan Road, Unit 9
Brampton, Ontario L7A 1C3, Canada
Be sure to put ACM1832 in the Memo area.
In Germany, send your donation to Helping Hands Germany:
Helping Hands e.V. - Gelnhausen, Germany
IBAN DE56 5075 0094 0000 022394
SWIFT-BIC HELADEF1GEL
BANK: KREISSPARKASSE GELNHAUSEN
MEMO: MID-EAST REFUGEES
For any other country, give through your local church or district, designating your gift to the Help for Persecuted Christians fund.[Nazarene Compassionate Ministries]
[Related: "Church helps persecuted Christians find safety"]
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Nazarene Publishing House regains financial footingKansas City, Missouri
(Spanish)
Nazarene Publishing House continues to move forward with significant innovation in a season of reinvention. By implementing a restructure focused on increased efficiencies and cost savings, NPH has regained financial stability, according to Interim CEO Mark D. Brown.
As a result of the 2014 reduction in staff and a changing business model, the NPH Board has approved the sale of the administrative offices located on Troost Avenue in Kansas City to Kansas City Public Schools to be utilized as the district headquarters.
“We are taking advantage of an opportunity to right size the company,” Brown said. “With our reduced need for office space, we will be able to downsize and still remain near our service providers.”
Brown said NPH is pursuing relocation options within two miles of the present site in order to maintain a necessary proximity to the printing facility and the distribution center, which will remain on Troost. Brown expects the transition to a new space to occur sometime after the beginning of 2016. No disruption in services will occur with the move, and the NPH phone and PO Box numbers will remain the same.
In another move forward for NPH, Brown announced the relaunch of Lillenas Publishing Company, the music imprint of Nazarene Publishing House. The nearly 100-year-old music company, founded in 1924, had halted the production of new product in late 2014. Considerations were given to selling the business, but the NPH Board of Directors concluded that at this time Lillenas needs to be a vital part of the publishing ministry going forward.
The new Lillenas leadership team will be led by long-time NPH director Mark Parker, Brown said. Lillenas will premier several new releases in the fall of 2015, including the 2016 Easter product, which will release by the end of November. Christmas releases for 2016 will soon go to the studio for recording. Moving forward, Lillenas will focus once again on meeting the needs of the ever-changing music culture of the church.
“Both the sale of the administrative offices and the relaunch of Lillenas are good news for Nazarene Publishing House,” said NPH Board President Bob Brower. “These moves are significant pieces in strategic planning for the next five years. Under Mark Brown’s leadership, the NPH team is creating a new future for this 100-year-old company.” [Nazarene Publishing House]
[(Spanish)]
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Former Olivet Tiger advances to World SeriesKansas City, Missouri
Shortly after the Royals made the July 28 trade that would put Ben Zobrist in one of their jerseys, his mother, Cindi, scoured through tubs of keepsakes for a throwback version:
A weathered Royals T-shirt fit for a toddler, circa 1985, inscribed with “BEN 1” on the back.
She finally unearthed it just in time to make it part of the postseason Royals-themed decorating scheme in the family living room.
“This is what he wore to the Royals games,” his father, Tom, said, happily holding what proved to be a harbinger.
“No way,” Ben Zobrist said when they told him they’d found it.
Now, it’s just part of something that almost seemed meant to be, tethering together the family’s few years in Kansas City when Tom was studying at Calvary Bible College.
“We’ve always loved Kansas City,” said Cindi Zobrist, who like her husband grew up in Morton, Illinois. “We came from a small town, but for a big city, it didn’t feel like a big city.
“Those were some of our most special times. As a family, we had nothing, but we made a lot of memories.”
Kansas City is “only” six hours away, says Tom, whose truck knows its own way there by now, after all the drives he made to see daughter Serena and son-in-law Mike Grimm during the 10 years they lived there, and as a board member now of his alma mater.
But even as the second of their five children has become a vital part of the Royals’ cause entering Game 6 of the American League Championship Series against Toronto on Friday at Kauffman Stadium, they appreciate the preciousness of the moment.
For one thing, there’s no way to tell now how many more games he’ll play in his current Royals’ getup since he’ll be a free agent after the season. He’ll likely be able to command a steep contract.
“We’re hoping for the Royals,” Cindi Zobrist said, “but we don’t know.”
For another, as pre-ordained as it might seem to them now, there was nothing at all assured about his professional baseball career.
After Zobrist played his last baseball game for Eureka High, after all, he spent the night driving around lamenting the end of an athletics career in which basketball had been his strongest game.
He had nary a scholarship offer and was entirely off the radar of any major-league teams.
Baseball, Cindi Zobrist said, “was in the past.”
Which was fine.
Ben was set to attend Calvary himself, and as each of his siblings has for at least a time, follow in the work of his father.
Tom Zobrist has been pastor of the Liberty Bible Church in Eureka since 1988, nurturing those to whom he ministers and the operation from a storefront location to its own site to a soon-to-be shimmering expansion project now that will include 500-seat capacity.
Their son’s direction wasn’t going to change, either, when the Zobrists got a call suggesting Ben attend a tryout camp in nearby Brimfield.
It would cost $50, after all.
“Fifty dollars was a lot of money,” Cindi said. “It still is.”
Never mind that Ben was intrigued, if only for the chance to spend more time playing with his friends.
“‘I’m not paying for that,’” said his father, who grew up a Cardinals fan.
But he was OK with Ben using $50 of birthday money he’d gotten from his grandparents.
“‘Go ahead; it’s your money,’” Tom Zobrist remembered saying, smiling at the recollection it would be money misspent.
Next thing you know, though, college recruiters were calling.
Ben and his family were confronted with a new range of decisions as he considered nearby Olivet Nazarene of the NAIA to play baseball.
Cindi remembers crying about it over lunch with him at a local Cracker Barrel, fretting that doing so would be stepping away from God’s plan and fearing “other influences” at a larger school.
But Tom told him that at age 19, he needed to decide for himself and asked what he thought God wanted for him.
“‘Well, I feel like I’m not done with baseball yet,’” he remembered Ben saying. “‘But I’m willing to do what you want me to do.’”
That, Tom said, “told me a lot about his maturity. And he made that decision to go there, and it worked out pretty well.”
Zobrist would later transfer to Dallas Baptist and be picked in the sixth round of the 2004 draft by the Houston Astros, a completely implausible development to the family even when coaches were telling them it was likely to happen.
Looking back now, it all played out as it should, even the part when they were saddened Ben was traded to Tampa Bay.
“I always tell people keep pushing forward and God will close doors and open doors as you move along,” said Tom Zobrist, noting they had friends pursue scholarships by having videos made or hiring companies to help make connections. “We did absolutely nothing, and it just came.”
As it happened, it didn’t have to contradict their hopes for what he’d stand for, either.
The night before Ben left home to join the Astros’ affiliate in Troy, N.Y., he told his father, “I’m going to be a missionary in the big leagues.”
And so he has, whether by organizing Bible studies with teammates or vigorously supporting the career of his wife, Julianna, a Christian singer, or just in how he carries himself.
“It’s not this blustery, dominating in-your-face kind of thing,” his father said. “It can be very gentle and quiet: the way you live your life, the way you treat your family, the way you treat other people …
“He lives his life and lets his actions speak.”
As a child, sometimes Zobrist’s actions spoke more rashly.
The same competitive zeal that compelled him to do pushups and situps by the hundreds, and run a 5:01 mile in 7th grade, and to meticulously mow and paint an elaborate, lighted Wiffle ball field behind their house sometimes overflowed.
(Playing Wiffle ball, incidentally, was a foundation for his versatility, which later expanded to being able to play multiple positions. Although he wouldn’t apply it in baseball until later, Zobrist’s father is certain that his aptitude for switch-hitting began with batting left-handed in the back yard. Zobrist also once converted extra points left- and right-footed in a junior football game).
When Ben was 7, his parents got a call from school that Ben had shoved kids away from a bathroom sink so he could wash his hands first … so he could then run to be first in line for lunch.
Everything was a competition, at least until his parents made it clear that he needed to learn to “give way” at times and let the last be first.
“The Bible says the man that can’t control his anger is like a city broken down without walls,” Tom Zobrist said. “There’s nothing good that comes from unharnessed anger.”
Now, part of what distinguishes Zobrist is his equilibrium — at least if you don’t count his trademark habit of bouncing around at second base waiting for the pitch this postseason.
“He’s really engaged when he’s doing that; he’s doubly focused,” said his father, adding, “I don’t think he could stop.”
And because he found himself and his true path in the game, now they’re glad he didn’t stop playing baseball ... and hope he stays in a Royals jersey.[Republished with permission from The Kansas City Star]
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Changing the face of povertyMartin County, Kentucky
On one of the most difficult days of their lives, John and Lisa Mollett called their pastors. John had been diagnosed with stage 4 throat cancer, and the couple needed the prayers of their church family at Turkey Creek Church of the Nazarene in Martin County, Kentucky.
What they weren’t expecting was the practical support from their church community: money, gasoline, Christmas presents for their three children. People called regularly, sent cards, and offered to drive their children wherever they needed to go.
“It was like a burden was rolled off,” Lisa said. “They helped us through a very difficult time.”
This all-encompassing compassion is what Pastors Dwayne Mills and his father, Garrett, are working to emphasize in this small church located in the coal fields of Eastern Kentucky’s Appalachian region.
The face of poverty
In 1964, Martin County, Kentucky, became the face of poverty in the U.S. when President Lyndon Johnson visited and declared his proposed war on poverty. At the time it was the poorest county in the country. Today, unemployment, drugs, and unhealthy family patterns are among the persistent causes of seeming hopelessness in the community.
In fact, drug addiction has touched nearly every person there, whether through a family member or friend, and generational poverty is still a problem today, more than 50 years after Johnson’s visit. At the time, the poverty rate in Martin County was 60 percent. Today, that percentage is down, but it remains one of the poorest counties in the U.S., with a poverty rate of 35 percent, which is more than two times the national average.
“We’ve got to break the cycle of what they know,” Dwayne said.
The pastors have known the cycle for a long time. Garrett pastored the church from 1975 to 1983 when Dwayne was a child. Dwayne felt called to return after Tony Campolo spoke at a chapel service at Olivet Nazarene University, asking students, “Why would you be in a place where God can use anyone? Why wouldn’t you go to a place where he could only use you?”
“Two words came to mind in that moment, and they were Martin County,” Dwayne said.
Dwayne feels his calling is not solely to the church, but to the county, too. He is active within the local school system, sits on various boards and committees, and is connected with the local community center.
“I’ve always been a huge proponent of the church having to care for the whole person, not just the spiritual,” he said.
A safe haven
Much of Martin County’s poverty is found in the hollows, or “hollers,” as they’re called, between the Appalachian Mountains. Every Wednesday, Christi Brown spends more than an hour driving a passenger van to and from those hollers so young people can go to church on Wednesday nights. Though trust forms slowly, the route offers a chance to connect with youth from difficult situations.
“The greatest thing is when they want to invite their friends,” she said.
For 16-year-old Megan Preston, life hasn’t always been easy, but she found encouragement in the church when many of her peers become hopeless, dropping out of school, or turning to drugs.
“Some people feel like they can’t be much of anything, so they don’t try,” Preston said. “When they finally came to our church, it opened up a new door for them because they never knew a life that way.”
From left to right: Dwayne Mills, Christi Brown, and Megan Preston
A call to stay
Pastor Dwayne’s dream is to see more resources invested in rural areas like Appalachia, where less than 40 percent of the population have a church home.
The Turkey Creek church is working toward opening a Nazarene compassionate ministry center to address some of the needs of families in the county.
The church’s dream is a CMC that would partner with the local community center to facilitate after-school programs, GED classes, parenting training, and eventually a crisis pregnancy center. Dwayne hopes the center will also allow them to invite as many as 30 short-term teams a year to bring skilled laborers to the area. It could welcome students from Christian universities for a semester with skills in health care, counseling, education, and ministry.
“For it to work in Appalachia, people have to understand culture, and we’ve got to be very inclusive," Dwayne said. “It’s going to be a God thing if it happens, there’s no doubt about it.”
To help fund a compassionate ministry center in Martin County, click here.[Republished with permission from NCM magazine, Summer 2015 edition]]
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Texas pastor killed in motorcycle accidentMt. Pleasant, Texas
Facebook photo.
Kevin Sneed, pastor of the Mt. Pleasant, Texas, Journey Church of the Nazarene, was killed in a motorcycle accident Tuesday evening. He was 46.
Citing authorities and the Texas Highway Patrol, KLTV reported Sneed was traveling on I-30 in Titus County when his Harley Davidson motorcycle veered off the road and hit a cable barrier. Sneed was pronounced dead at the scene.
Sneed began serving at the Dallas District’s Mt. Pleasant Journey Church as an interim pastor in July 2014. He was named the full-time pastor in November.
"He was a visionary with an infectious laugh, and a dedicated man of God," said Dallas District Superintendent Curtis Lewis.
Sneed previously served at Texarkana First Church in Texas, Kendallville Cross Pointe Family Church of the Nazarene (Indiana), Pueblo Belmont (Colorado), Oakwood (Illinois), and Shelbyville (Illinois).
He was born in 1969 to Lawrence Ray and Paula Barttonen Sneed. Sneed attended Olivet Nazarene University.
His wife, Angela Ball, a son, Lucas Allen, and a daughter, Abby Noel, survive him. His parents preceded him in death.
A visitation will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, July 31, at Bates-Cooper-Sloan Funeral Home in Mount Pleasant. Services will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, August 1, at the Bates-Cooper-Sloan Chapel.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Sneed Children Scholarship Fund at any Red River Credit Union in Texarkana.
An online registry is available at batescoopersloanfuneralhome.com.
Prayer is requested for the Sneed and Mt. Pleasant Journey Church families.
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Note: NCN News will resume its regular schedule January 8.
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Material created and owned by NCN News may be used for church newsletters and bulletins.
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