Nazarenes in the News: 07.30.2010

Global Ministry Center

Friday, July 30, 2010

Nazarenes in the News is a compilation of online news articles featuring Nazarene churches or church members.   

USA/Canada Region

Minister celebrates 19 years with heart transplant
Fort Wayne, Indiana

(WANE-TV, July 29) Reverend Tom Chapman, 62, has been a pastor for 36 years.

"I was 16 when I first preached. I don't know if I've improved that much," he joked.

He was working at the First Church of the Nazarene in Decatur when he had his first heart attack in 1985. He was 37 years old.

Chapman recovered from the heart attack and was transferred to Eastview Church of the Nazarene in Anderson. In 1991, Chapman had his second heart attack at age 43.

"I called my cardiologist, who was in Fort Wayne, and told him what happened. He said I should come up there. When I got there, they didn't let me leave. I had 15 percent heart function at that time," Chapman said.

For the rest of this story and video report, click here.


Volunteers from across U.S. come to Columbus to fix up 35 homes
Columbus, Ohio

(Columbus Dispatch, July 27) Pat Marvin bought her Franklinton house to make sure drug addicts and gang members didn't.

She already had spent 12 years living in her son's house next door, trying to protect her grandchildren from the syringes and knives she found in the front yard. So when the neighbors left, she saw an opportunity to help save the neighborhood.

A year later, Marvin, 62, realized she needed help tackling the growing list of repairs for the Dakota Avenue home.

This week, she'll get it.

Volunteers from across the country put hammer to nail yesterday on Marvin's home and 34 others in Columbus as part of a project with One Heart - Many Hands, a nonprofit group that repairs homes for low-income residents, the disabled, elderly and single parents.

For the rest of this story, click here.

Note: With plans to establish a long-term presence in Columbus, OHMH is working from a model the organization has developed in other cities. Last year, One Heart - Many Hands organized a large scale, week-long service project in Orlando, Florida, coinciding with the Church of the Nazarene's General Assembly and involving more than 100 home-base projects and more than 2,000 volunteers from across the world. The OHMH effort continues today in that city's most economically challenged neighborhoods, with a permanent "One Hands" office now organizing volunteers and projects throughout the year. Since 1995, more than 10,000 OHMH volunteers have completed more than 500 home-based projects in Indianapolis, San Antonio, Chiapas (Mexico), and other large urban areas.


On the ark with Noah
Merrillville, Indiana

(Post-Tribune, July 24) An interesting sight greeted visitors recently as they stepped into the South Lake Church of the Nazarene foyer. As part of the vacation Bible School theme "Noah and the Great Flood," the area was transformed into the inside of Noah's ark.

"We wanted something for not only our own church family but also to reach out to the community," said Janice Burke, a VBS committee member. "It is a story people are familiar with, and it is a great biblical story of one man's obedience to God."

Another replica of the ark, in one-sixth scale, went up in front of the church, on U.S. 30 between Indiana 51 and Randolph Street.

The outside of the replica ark, built by church members Don Stamper, Phil Bough and Phil Engle, was 9 feet high and 76 inches long. Other volunteers painted the ark and the animals on and around it. The structure took four weeks to complete. During the week of vacation Bible school, children went to the ark to hear stories about Noah and the animals.

... The vacation Bible school also had a mission that fit right in with the trials and tribulations of Noah and the great flood: The children raised money to help rebuild a Tennessee church [Fly Nazarene] that had been affected by its own flood.

For the rest of this story, click here.


New Bedford girls raise money for Haiti by selling lemonade
New Bedford, Massachusetts

(SouthCoastToday.com, July 27) For generations, many youngsters have viewed a summertime lemonade stand as a cool way to make a little money, and Annasaskhea Delmas-Azor and Jade Torres are certainly no exception.

It's what they decided to do with their earnings that might surprise you.

"The pastor at our church was talking about how important it is to help others, so we decided we wanted to do something," said Annasaskhea, 11, who is known as Anna by her family and friends. A sixth-grader at the Global Learning Charter School, she and her friend Jade, who is in the fifth grade at James B. Congdon School, belong to the First Church of the Nazarene in New Bedford.

"You need to help people out," added Jade, 10.

For Anna, the connection with those less fortunate struck very close to home.

Her mother, Claudette Delmas, who was born in Haiti, recently returned from visiting her native country for the first time in 12 years. She happened to be there on Jan. 12 when the catastrophic magnitude-7 earthquake brought the impoverished island nation to its knees.

For the rest of this story, click here.


Smith Mills Holiness Camp hosts music festival
Dartmouth, Massachusetts

(SouthCoastToday.com, July 24) Other cities and towns may have seen heavy rain falling and putting a damper on outdoor activities, but the sky above the Smith Mills Holiness Camp Meeting stayed clear for the group's first Music Festival.

Off of Tucker Road, the long wooded driveway was lined with cars as people smiled and greeted each other with hugs and small talk. Kids played basketball or jumped to their hearts' content in the bubble-bounce while music emanated from the tabernacle. For a 16-acre spread of woods dotted with small cottages, a snack shack and other buildings, it still comes as a surprise to people, says Nathan Silva, that the camp has been around since 1907, but very few people know it is there.

"Anytime anyone comes down for the first time, the first thing out of their mouth is, 'I never knew this place existed,'" said Silva, whose father was a grounds-keeper for the camp for years. "(The camp) is basically run for only 10 days a year. We're trying to figure out ways to use it more."

Silva was not alone in wanting to make more happen for the camp. Former campers and now counselors Brent Allen, Alyssa Eklund, Jillian Barrett and a few others all got together to help plan the music festival. Visitors came primarily from the First Church of the Nazarene and International Church of the Nazarene, both of New Bedford, and the Emmanuel Church of the Nazarene in Wareham, so the group hopes to use the music festival as a launching pad to help garner interest from other area churches.

For the rest of this story, click here.


Former Trevecca basketball players, now married, continue to minister in the Caribbean
Santiago, Dominican Republic

(Trevecca Athletics, July 26) Will and Audrey Partin, two former Trevecca Nazarene University Trojan basketball players, who met at Trevecca, married, and almost immediately headed to the Dominican Republic for mission work. That was five years ago. As they celebrate five years of marriage and five years on the mission field, we wanted to revisit with them and share a recent profile WAVE TV in Louisville, Kentucky, (Will's hometown) aired about Will and their work in the Dominican.

For WAVE's video story, click here.
For Trevecca's story, including photos, click here.


Xtreme Xpress bus brings church to children in York
York, Pennsylvania

(York Daily Record, July 24) His orange shirt made Sovi Handy, 7, stand out as he was running for the bus Saturday.

But this was no ordinary bus, and Sovi wasn't headed to school.

It was the Xtreme Xpress, a bus painted with hearts and other wording that stops in the Parkway Homes neighborhood of York to bring the word of God to local children.

Stillmeadow Church of the Nazarene in Manchester Township uses the large school bus and another, smaller bus in an effort to bring church to the people, said Chastity Frederick, 32, a program co-director.

For the rest of this story, click here.


Stories to share? Send them to submitnews@ncnnews.com.

Compiled by NCN News

 

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