Hinches Celebrate 50th Wedding Anniversary

Rev. Wilburn and Vi Hinch, Pastor and First Lady from our DeSoto Church of the Nazarene, will celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary on Thursday, April 5th. The Hinches have pastored the DeSoto church since 1991. Congratulations!

Rev. Henry Wilson Passes Away

Rev. Joseph Henry Wilson, retired elder on the Missouri District, passed away this morning, Monday, March, 26, 2007, at Lock Haven Nursing Home in Macon, MO. He was 94 years old. He had lived at home until last December. Rev. Wilson was ordained in 1946 and served his entire ministry on the Missouri District. He and his wife also served as Pinecrest campground caretakers for two and a half years. He is survived by his wife, Christina, his five children and many, many grandchildren and over 30 great-grandchildren. His funeral was held at the Macon Church of the Nazarene, Thursday, March 29th, and was attended by Rev. Michael Palmer, Missouri District Superintendent, and nearly a dozen our district pastors.

Two Korean Church Plants Recognized by General Church

The two newest church plants on the Missouri District have been given official CTM (Church Type Mission) status by Nazarene Headquarters. This means they are both now official church plants. Harvester Korean Church of the Nazarene, pastored by Jong Koo Cho, is meeting in the Harvester church's facilities. The True Light Korean Church of the Nazarene, pastored by Jin Sik Kang, is meeting in the St. Louis Southwest Church of the Nazarene's facilities.

In new survey released by The Barna Group, and cited in Focus on the Family’s, The Pastor's Weekly Briefing (Mar. 23, 2007), Barna noted that Asians were doubled the national average of being unchurched. According to Barna, 63 percent of the Asian population have not attended a religious service of any type during the past six months.

New Horizons Burns Land Mortgage

Pastor Ralph Wood reports that the New Horizons church recently burned their mortgage on the 9 acres of property that they purchased. It only took them 15 months to pay it off! New Horizons is a church plant started in September 2003 at Hallsville, MO. They are currently meeting in a rented church building. They are already making plans on building a multi-purpose structure on the site.

PK's Attend Annual Retreat at MNU

About a dozen of our district PKs attended the annual PK Retreat at MNU held February 16-18. Kevin Muttschall, the District NYI PK Retreat director stated that everyone had "lot's of fun", but got very little sleep! Brady Braatz, Assistant Chaplain at MNU, was the special speaker. All total about 50 PKs from across the MNU educational region attended the retreat.

Children's Talent a Success!

Cheri Griggs, District Children's Director, reports that about 130 children participated in the annual District Children's Talent held at Harvester Church of the Nazarene on Saturday, March 3rd. The kids used their talents for Christ in a variety of ways including singing, baking, drawing, instrument playing and Bible memorization, just to name a few. Angie Meyer was this year's talent director again. Thanks Angie!