The year 2017 was a big year for Freedom Church of the Nazarene, as we saw many changes and embarked on new adventures.
January:
Unfortunately, the year started out on a sad note with the passing of our beloved Jan Clark on January 6, after her brave battle against pancreatic cancer. Jan was a true beacon to many in the congregation, and her love for God and her church family was a comfort and inspiration to all.
We all wanted to do something special in her memory, and two projects were initiated: a Jan Clark memorial bench to be made through Green Tree Plastics and a Jan Clark Memorial Fund for the Nazarene Compassionate Ministries Global Water Project. We immediately began collecting plastic bottle caps that would be recycled and made into a memorial bench, an effort in which Jan always enjoyed participating when Spencer Elementary School would collect caps for various bench projects. Jan’s family thought this was a great memorial to her, and so did we! Additionally, many in the church and in the community made donations to the Jan Clark Memorial Fund, raising over $1,000 to help dig wells and provide clean water to various parts of the world. Because the leading cause of death worldwide is illness due to waterborne disease, lack of sanitation, and poor hygiene practices, the money raised in Jan’s memory would be used to save lives! Even though Jan was now with the Lord, we could see how He was still using her life on earth to positively impact others. Praise his Holy name! The memorial fund is still active, and donations can be made at any time. Click here to donate.
The shock and sadness of saying goodbye to Jan was soon intensified as we learned on January 22 that God had called Pastor Rick Wetnight into retirement, effective immediately. Pastor Rick had been such a blessing during his nine years with us, and God had used him to accomplish great things for our church family. It was with mixed emotions that we said goodbye; we were sad to see him go but also happy for him as he started a new chapter in his life. While we did not understand why God seemed to be hitting us so hard, we trusted that He had a good plan in store for us.
February-March:
The search for a new pastor began immediately and so did efforts to ready the parsonage. Because Pastor Wetnight commuted from Brazil, the parsonage had not been inhabited by a pastor for nearly nine years! There was much work and renovation to be done, and it had to be done quickly. We didn’t know when God would send a new pastor, but we knew we had to be ready for him when He did! Meanwhile, we were blessed to have Rev. Bruce Yates as our interim pastor.
On February 28, we were thrilled to announce that Rev. Christopher Breeden had accepted the pastoral position here at Freedom Church of the Nazarene! His first Sunday would be April 9! That meant we had little more than a month to get the parsonage ready for move in!
The congregation rallied together and began a massive effort to restore the parsonage to suitable living conditions. The entire house was cleaned from top to bottom, new flooring was laid throughout the house, one bathroom was completely gutted and restored, new appliances were installed, and the each room received a new paint job! This was all accomplished by the end of March, with most of the work done by volunteers within the congregation. There was no doubt that God’s hand was at work!
Other projects these two months included our winter Alabaster offering in February and Crisis Care Kits in march.
April:
April 1, was Pastor Chris and his wife Zoe’s exciting move-in date. A good crowd from the church showed up to help unload furniture and boxes from the moving truck. We were all so excited to welcome our new pastor and his family.
Pastor Chris’s installation service was April 9. This was such a joyous time for our congregation, not only because we were welcoming our new pastor, but because we were welcoming him back! This was not the first time that Rev. Breeden had pastored Freedom Church of the Nazarene. He and Zoe, along with their three children who were still in school at the time, had pastored the church from 2002-2007. This installation service was a homecoming event!
The arrival and installation of our new pastor was an extremely joyous and exciting event, but even more exciting things were to come! For the first time in years, we planned a church field trip. We decided on the Indianapolis Zoo! Everyone was excited, and a Mona Hamilton planned a bake sale for our youth to help raise funds for the trip.
Other events in April included a musical service with singer/songwriter Mark Vice, an “Oils of the Bible” essential oils class in our fellowship building—taught by Pastor Craig Moore from Concord General Baptist Church in Bloomfield—and our annual Easter Service and Easter Egg Hunt. Because of rain, we had to move our egg hunt indoors, but we had record-breaking attendance this year! Praise God!
May:
On Saturday, May 6, a group of 50 from our church traveled to Indianapolis for a day of fun at the zoo. It was a great time of fellowship.
Later that month, on May 31, we began a new project on Wednesday evenings: summer children’s church. While we had always had Sunday morning children’s church and the Wednesday Caravan program throughout the school year, we had never had a Wednesday night children’s ministry during the summer months. We were excited to provide this new ministry for our children.
June:
June was a BIG month for the church!
Sunday, June 4, we honored our Ball-State-bound high school graduates Sarah Breeden and Dylan Crites. The church presented each one with a name-engraved Bible and other gifts. After service, we had a great time of fellowship with our graduates with a pitch-in dinner and graduation cake!
That very next day, on June 5, Dawn Chance surprised us with a new paint job to our church swing set. She and her grandsons did a fantastic job!
On June 20, a small team from our congregation—consisting of Rick and Anna Smeltzer, Brooklyn Smeltzer, and Mark Clark—travelled to Highland, IL, to deliver a truckload of school supplies and do some volunteer work for the NiCE Foundation (Nicaragua Christian Education Foundation). While there, Rick and Mark put a window in one of the foundation’s storage trailers, while Anna and Brooklyn sorted school supplies and infant clothing to be delivered to Nicaraguan children. The day was tiring but very rewarding. May God richly bless the NiCE Foundation workers and all the Nicaraguans who receive their assistance.
On June 24-25, Kevin and Anna Smeltzer hosted our first-ever summer youth retreat! The event began that first morning with breakfast in the fellowship hall prepared by Mark Clark, Pastor Chris, and Kevin. Afterwards, the group traveled to Horse-Angels, Inc. Horse Rescue, an Owen County horse rehabilitation facility, where the teens volunteered their services bathing and grooming horses and cleaning out stalls.
Afterwards, the teens went back to Kevin’s and Anna’s house for a fun-filled evening including games, a bible lesson with Pastor Chris and Zoe, some fireworks and sky lanterns, and then an outdoor movie. The weekend retreat concluded with Sunday morning worship service here at Freedom Church of the Nazarene, followed by a church dinner.
All the teens had a wonderful time of fellowship in the Lord and formed special memories that will last a lifetime.
We finished out the month of June with a VBS week like never before! This year our VBS was conducted by Big Blast Ministries—a group who uses balloons, illusions, music, Bible stories, puppets, art, scripture memorization, games, and a whole lot of fun to teach people (of ALL ages) about Jesus Christ. The week was highly successful, bringing in over 40 elementary-age children! Praise God! We finished out the week with a Sunday morning healing service with Big Blast Ministries, followed by a church dinner.
During VBS week, we were also blessed with a new play set added alongside our newly painted swing set. A small group of six men from the church assembled the new play set, and the children had a great time trying it out.
July:
On July 22, we had our annual yard sale to raise money for church camp. With the proceeds we were able to send two children to camp this year!
The following week, on July 28, we had our annual FREE Clothes and School Supplies Giveaway. The event was extremely successful as we were able to help several families in need.
August:
In August, we had a church dinner and hosted the Gospel Servants Quartet. Also, the church parking lot received a makeover with new parking stripes, making parking much easier and efficient.
September:
On September 9, Freedom Church of the Nazarene, along with the Owen Valley JROTC and the H-H-H-H 4-H club, partnered with FEED NICARAGUA to pack 15,000 meals destined for Nicaragua!
The following Saturday, we participated in the Apple Butter Festival Parade for the fourth year in a row. We had a great time throwing candy, passing out flyers, and interacting with the crowd. Other September projects included our Alabaster Offering and Crisis Care Kits.
October:
October was Pastor Appreciation month, and the congregation spent the month filming a surprise video for Pastor Chris and Zoe.
October 10—We launched our new church website.
October 11—We reached 100 followers on Facebook!
October 12—We learned that we had finally collected enough bottle caps to make a Jan Clark Memorial Bench for the church!
October 14—We took a second field trip to see Newsboys and several other artists as they stopped in Bloomington, IN, on their Big Church Night Out tour. We all had a rockin’ good time praising the Lord through song.
October 28—A small group of ladies from our congregation attended the WOW (Women of the Word) conference today at OVHS.
October 29—We concluded the month with a pitch-in dinner.
November:
This was an exciting month as we started our new Blessing Box project, thanks to the efforts of Mark Clark and Mona Hamilton. The Blessing Box is open for anyone in the community to anonymously take items as needed. Likewise, items can be added by anyone in the community at any time.
This month we also collected our annual Thanksgiving offering for the World Evangelism Fund. This offering helps our global Nazarene family enter new lands and start new works!
In addition to the Blessing Box and Thanksgiving Offering, we also provided Thanksgiving Baskets to 11 families in our community.
On November 16, our NYI Youth Group hosted Spencer, IN, Hometown Hero Award winner Dylan Deem who shared with our teenagers his story of overcoming adversity. He told of the trials he’s faced including cancer, amputation, and two heart transplants. Dylan testifies that is was God who has helped him through it all. There is power in prayer, and his life is a living testimony to that! Our teenagers and adult leaders were truly inspired and blessed by his encouraging words, and we pray that God continues to bless him! Learn more and follow Dylan’s story at Team Dylan Deem.
November 18, was the annual SWID Nazarene (Southwest Indiana District) NYI lock-in. This year’s fun-filled all-nighter was located at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Our youth leaders Kevin and Anna Smeltzer chaperoned our teenagers, and Pastor Chris and Doug Smeltzer drove them to and fro. Our teenagers had a blast! The SWID Lock-In 2017 is a memory they will treasure forever.
December:
We kicked off the month of December with 420 Christmas cards that were signed, sealed, addressed, stamped, and mailed out to the Freedom community! Each of the 420 names was prayed for individually. Many hands and hearts helped with this project.
It was in December that we were introduced to and decided to partner with the Owen Valley Backpack Buddies, a program whose mission is to provide weekend food for students who have little or no food for the weekend and who rely on school meals to fulfill their weekly food needs. This partnership involves several other churches and organizations in the community. Click here to learn more and find out how you can help.
Similar to Backpack Buddies, the Snack Packs program also gained our partnership this month. We teamed up with Jefferson Baptist Church in Coal City to help provide students with nutritious snacks over extended school breaks. This Christmas season, we provided peanut butter, peach and mandarin orange cups, and chocolate and vanilla pudding that went home in 36 snack packs for students at Patricksburg Elementary School!
With cold temperatures this month and a challenge from Pastor Chris to bless someone during the holiday season, a new service project was born. Several men in the church decided to cut and deliver free firewood to families in need, a project that has continued nearly every weekend into the new year.
On December 17, the children and teens in our group performed “Sally’s First Christmas” under the direction of Mona Hamilton. Each child did a fantastic job!
Other highlights this month were two missionary guest speakers: Jason Courtney, serving in Honduras, and Sarah Ross, serving in Ecuador.
In summary, the year was one of heartbreak, excitement, reunion, joy, service, gratitude, and great blessing. God was on the move this year at Freedom Church of the Nazarene, and we are so thankful to see all that He is doing in our community and in our church. We look forward to all the many blessings that 2018 has in store, and we invite you to be a part of it.
Enjoyed reading about all you are doing in Freedom–it is exciting. We love Chris and Zoe and all their family here in Odon. I had Sarah in the nursery and Paul and Greg in Caravan. We are glad to have them back in Indiana. Evidently they have found a living and active group of believers in Freedom. May Jesus continue to bless your ministry, and make you a light to your community. Pray for us here in Odon with Pastor Josh and Ashley Nichols, that we may do the same.
Thank you so much for the encouraging words! We are so blessed to have the Breedens back with us. We will add the Odon church to our prayer list. God bless you!