Arkansas Nazarene Clayton Smith had his wish granted from the Make a Wish Foundation.
Nazarenes in the News: April 21, 2011
Global Ministry Center
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Nazarenes in the News is a compilation of online news articles featuring Nazarene churches or church members.
Make-A-Wish Foundation to grant a 7-year-old's wish
Conway, Arkansas
(KTHV, April 21) He was born at 24 weeks, weighed one pound at birth, lost his twin at three weeks old and stayed in a hospital the first six months of his life, but has shown a remarkable strength to survive.
So Wednesday, at the their church, Conway First Church of the Nazarene, Clayton Smith got the surprise of his life.
"His favorite things are 'The Gaithers' homecoming tapes and riding in people vehicles so hearing that he will get to ride in Bill Gaither's tour bus has been his dream,"Ashey Smith, Clayton's mother says.
So when Jay Myers from Crane Buick GMC presented Clayton with the special surprise he was extremely excited. "Bill Gaither and the Homecoming Friends look forward to meeting you in Fort Worth on May 7th."
For the rest of this story and video, click here.
Pulaski distribution center reaching out to families in need
Pulaski, Virginia
(WSLS, April 21) Work is non-stop at the distribution center at the New Life Church of Nazarene in Pulaski. With so many donations to help the victims of last Friday's tornadoes, several volunteers are making it easier to get the items out.
"We have people sorting the items, and bagging them up," said Deborah Pedigo, volunteer.
Upstairs, volunteers are sorting through pet food, linens, cleaning supplies and personal hygiene items.
"We've got everything from shampoo, toothpaste, soap and a lot of other stuff," said Bonnie Nunn, volunteer.
Downstairs, volunteers are filling up bags of groceries. Once full, they are brought out to the assembly line, where volunteers give them to the families.
For the rest of this story and video report, click here.
'Half way there'
Carthage, Missouri
(Carthage Press, April 20) Volunteers have pre-cut lumber for headers and corners and the footings have been dug and are ready for concrete, but the Carthage Ministerial Alliance is still a bit short of having the money to build a new home for an elderly Carthage woman.
"We're about half way there," said Dustin Ledford, senior pastor of the First Nazarene Church in Carthage. "We've raised about $9,000 either in donations or cash and we still have about $10,000 to go. Our hopes would be for footings to be dug this week. We thought last week but then the rain set us back. The concrete man is putting together the forms and his plan is to have it in this week."
Volunteers from the Bykota Church were on the property in the 700 block of 10th Street on Saturday, during daylong community fair, held in front of the home, pre-cutting dozens of pieces of lumber to help with the framing of the home. The Ministerial Alliance will meet at 8:30 a.m. Thursday at the Hardee's Restaurant on south Grand Street to talk about the project and firm up the roles the different churches will play in the project.
For the rest of this story, click here.
Church moves into new building
Muncie, Indiana
(The Star Press, April 17) Members of the Forest Park Church of the Nazarene moved to a new home just in time for their Palm Sunday service. During it, in fact.
Having purchased the former Creekwood Baptist Church building at Memorial Drive and Batavia Avenue, the church made the move formally on Sunday with a procession from the old building on Eighth Street to the new one as part of Sunday morning's service.
Pastor David Delk and his wife, Darlene, decided to purchase the Memorial Drive building because of the low price of $50,000 and the fact that their congregation simply needed more space.
For the rest of this story, click here.
Prayer tent aims to unite residents with faith
Vineland, New Jersey
(The Daily Journal, April 15) Faith can move mountains, but on Thursday just enough of it was needed to pitch a few tents in a quiet, shady spot at Cumberland County College and wait.
The waiting was for students, or anyone else, looking for a quiet conversation with God or to ask a question.
The Faith Fellowship Club, a student organization, set up a prayer tent near the Academic Building early in the morning. A coalition of area churches lent support, including the loan of a large cross.
The tent was open for prayer for 12 hours, hopefully enough for anyone to squeeze in a few minutes in a busy day.
Note: The Millville Church of the Nazarene was part of the support team for this project.
For the rest of this story, click here.
Pioneers football receives highest ranking in program history
Olathe, Kansas
(The Kansas City Star, April 19) MidAmerica Nazarene football has achieved the highest ranking in its history.
The Pioneers, who are coming off a 12-1 season and its first NAIA semifinals appearance, were installed in the No. 3 spot Monday when the NAIA Football Coaches' Spring Top 25 was released.
MidAmerica spent much of the last football season ranked fourth in the nation, which is where it landed in the final postseason poll. The Pioneers occupied that position in the final six polls last season and also were ranked fourth in the nation during the 2000 season.
For the rest of this story, click here.
Norm Parrish named as Utes' new Director of Operations
Salt Lake City, Utah
(KSL, April 20) Utah men's basketball has hired Norm Parrish as its new Director of Basketball Operations, head coach Larry Krystkowiak announced Wednesday. Parrish joins the Runnin' Utes after 20 years as the head coach at Salt Lake Community College.
"Norm is a tremendous basketball coach and a great person," said Krystkowiak. "He is going to be involved in several key areas of our program. He had tremendous success at the junior college level, winning a national championship in 2009 after reaching the finals the year before. He is very well-respected in basketball circles and will be a great representative of the University of Utah. We are very excited that he wanted to join us and help us move forward."
This will be Parrish's second stint with Utah basketball, after serving one year as a graduate assistant under the late Lynn Archibald in 1988-89.
"As a Utah native I am very excited to become part of this staff. It's an honor to get back to the great tradition of Utah basketball," said Parrish. "I have known everyone on this staff for a number of years and I am very confident in them."
Note: Before coaching at Utah under Archibald, Parrish was an assistant at Nampa High School in Idaho, coaching football and basketball. Parrish played his collegiate ball at Ricks College (now BYU-Idaho) in Rexburg, and then at Northwest Nazarene College (now University) in Nampa. He received All-Region honors at both institutions. Parrish earned his Bachelor's degree from Northwest Nazarene in 1987
For the rest of this story, click here.
Make-A-Wish Foundation to grant a 7-year-old's wish
Conway, Arkansas
(KTHV, April 21) He was born at 24 weeks, weighed one pound at birth, lost his twin at three weeks old and stayed in a hospital the first six months of his life, but has shown a remarkable strength to survive.
So Wednesday, at the their church, Conway First Church of the Nazarene, Clayton Smith got the surprise of his life.
"His favorite things are 'The Gaithers' homecoming tapes and riding in people vehicles so hearing that he will get to ride in Bill Gaither's tour bus has been his dream,"Ashey Smith, Clayton's mother says.
So when Jay Myers from Crane Buick GMC presented Clayton with the special surprise he was extremely excited. "Bill Gaither and the Homecoming Friends look forward to meeting you in Fort Worth on May 7th."
For the rest of this story and video, click here.
Pulaski distribution center reaching out to families in need
Pulaski, Virginia
(WSLS, April 21) Work is non-stop at the distribution center at the New Life Church of Nazarene in Pulaski. With so many donations to help the victims of last Friday's tornadoes, several volunteers are making it easier to get the items out.
"We have people sorting the items, and bagging them up," said Deborah Pedigo, volunteer.
Upstairs, volunteers are sorting through pet food, linens, cleaning supplies and personal hygiene items.
"We've got everything from shampoo, toothpaste, soap and a lot of other stuff," said Bonnie Nunn, volunteer.
Downstairs, volunteers are filling up bags of groceries. Once full, they are brought out to the assembly line, where volunteers give them to the families.
For the rest of this story and video report, click here.
'Half way there'
Carthage, Missouri
(Carthage Press, April 20) Volunteers have pre-cut lumber for headers and corners and the footings have been dug and are ready for concrete, but the Carthage Ministerial Alliance is still a bit short of having the money to build a new home for an elderly Carthage woman.
"We're about half way there," said Dustin Ledford, senior pastor of the First Nazarene Church in Carthage. "We've raised about $9,000 either in donations or cash and we still have about $10,000 to go. Our hopes would be for footings to be dug this week. We thought last week but then the rain set us back. The concrete man is putting together the forms and his plan is to have it in this week."
Volunteers from the Bykota Church were on the property in the 700 block of 10th Street on Saturday, during daylong community fair, held in front of the home, pre-cutting dozens of pieces of lumber to help with the framing of the home. The Ministerial Alliance will meet at 8:30 a.m. Thursday at the Hardee's Restaurant on south Grand Street to talk about the project and firm up the roles the different churches will play in the project.
For the rest of this story, click here.
Church moves into new building
Muncie, Indiana
(The Star Press, April 17) Members of the Forest Park Church of the Nazarene moved to a new home just in time for their Palm Sunday service. During it, in fact.
Having purchased the former Creekwood Baptist Church building at Memorial Drive and Batavia Avenue, the church made the move formally on Sunday with a procession from the old building on Eighth Street to the new one as part of Sunday morning's service.
Pastor David Delk and his wife, Darlene, decided to purchase the Memorial Drive building because of the low price of $50,000 and the fact that their congregation simply needed more space.
For the rest of this story, click here.
Prayer tent aims to unite residents with faith
Vineland, New Jersey
(The Daily Journal, April 15) Faith can move mountains, but on Thursday just enough of it was needed to pitch a few tents in a quiet, shady spot at Cumberland County College and wait.
The waiting was for students, or anyone else, looking for a quiet conversation with God or to ask a question.
The Faith Fellowship Club, a student organization, set up a prayer tent near the Academic Building early in the morning. A coalition of area churches lent support, including the loan of a large cross.
The tent was open for prayer for 12 hours, hopefully enough for anyone to squeeze in a few minutes in a busy day.
Note: The Millville Church of the Nazarene was part of the support team for this project.
For the rest of this story, click here.
Pioneers football receives highest ranking in program history
Olathe, Kansas
(The Kansas City Star, April 19) MidAmerica Nazarene football has achieved the highest ranking in its history.
The Pioneers, who are coming off a 12-1 season and its first NAIA semifinals appearance, were installed in the No. 3 spot Monday when the NAIA Football Coaches' Spring Top 25 was released.
MidAmerica spent much of the last football season ranked fourth in the nation, which is where it landed in the final postseason poll. The Pioneers occupied that position in the final six polls last season and also were ranked fourth in the nation during the 2000 season.
For the rest of this story, click here.
Norm Parrish named as Utes' new Director of Operations
Salt Lake City, Utah
(KSL, April 20) Utah men's basketball has hired Norm Parrish as its new Director of Basketball Operations, head coach Larry Krystkowiak announced Wednesday. Parrish joins the Runnin' Utes after 20 years as the head coach at Salt Lake Community College.
"Norm is a tremendous basketball coach and a great person," said Krystkowiak. "He is going to be involved in several key areas of our program. He had tremendous success at the junior college level, winning a national championship in 2009 after reaching the finals the year before. He is very well-respected in basketball circles and will be a great representative of the University of Utah. We are very excited that he wanted to join us and help us move forward."
This will be Parrish's second stint with Utah basketball, after serving one year as a graduate assistant under the late Lynn Archibald in 1988-89.
"As a Utah native I am very excited to become part of this staff. It's an honor to get back to the great tradition of Utah basketball," said Parrish. "I have known everyone on this staff for a number of years and I am very confident in them."
Note: Before coaching at Utah under Archibald, Parrish was an assistant at Nampa High School in Idaho, coaching football and basketball. Parrish played his collegiate ball at Ricks College (now BYU-Idaho) in Rexburg, and then at Northwest Nazarene College (now University) in Nampa. He received All-Region honors at both institutions. Parrish earned his Bachelor's degree from Northwest Nazarene in 1987
For the rest of this story, click here.
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