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Getting Out Into the Community
The Tuba City Mission in Arizona is a significant ministry model that shapes much of what Ekklesia attempts to accomplish in the Port Orchard community. Paul and Ann Ghee were the lead missionaries in the Tuba City Mission for over 25 years which was on the Navajo Reservation.
Paul and his wife, Ann, moved to Tuba City in October 1987 to work among the Diné (the preferred name of the Navajo people) and the Hopi.
Paul and Ann worked tirelessly over 26 years serving in Tuba City and becoming known as the church that helped the community. Paul passed away on May 29th 2013 after a brief
illness.
At his memorial many local Navajo leaders rose to express their gratitude for the work and ministry of Paul and Ann in their community. The assistant Chief of Police at Tuba City stated that he remembered how Paul spent the first few years of his work wearing a tie and spent most of his time in the church office. Paul's impact on the community, he stated, actually began when he took off the tie, got out of the office and began serving the people. This is when his impact really began. I was also personally transformed by Paul's motto for the many church youth groups that visited each summer. His belief was that we should be "The Hands and Feet of Jesus" in our community and that is what most of his summer-time groups became. We would paint houses, build decks, haul a vast amount of firewood up to the reservation donated by the Flagstaff fire department. We would roof houses and every year (and I do mean "every" year) send groups out into the local Tuba City cemetery to clean, hoe, and tidy up the graves. Thinking of all the work projects we accomplished, none of us were licensed contractors.
We were just a group of willing chaperones and 50 to 60 young people open to the calling to serve others in the community. This idea of becoming "the hands and feet of Jesus" in the community created a great environment to mentor youth toward a life-time of Christian service. It is with this same intention that the Ekklesia Church brings this rhythm of service home to our own town of Port Orchard. We are committed to participating in a regular pattern of community service leading to evangelism and the sharing of the Name of Jesus.
Paul and Ann Ghee during a visit to Seattle in 2007
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