August 18, 2022
In order to accommodate next year's General Assembly dates, there will be some date changes for Family Camp and CRAVE next year.

CRAVE: June 19-23, 2023
Family Camp: June 25-30, 2023
Dear Pastors and Children’s Ministry Leaders,

The Board of General Superintendents of the Church of the Nazarene has made a formal statement regarding our policy regarding sexual misconduct. “The Church of the Nazarene has adopted a zero-tolerance policy for sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior with minors. All workers, leaders, and pastoral staff are to be above reproach in their conduct and to act in the best interest of others. This requires not only that they themselves refrain from engaging in any abusive or suspicious behavior involving minors; they will also be required to report without delay to the proper authorities anyone seen engaging in such behavior.” The Board of General Superintendents (statement from M11 conference in Louisville)

The West Texas Children and Youth Ministries partner with MinistrySafe for our online sexual abuse training. MinistrySafe is a tool to help churches begin the process of protecting the children and youth in their ministries. The West Texas Ministry Safe Training Team (MST) will be working with each church on the district that ministers to children to begin (or update) this process at their local church.

We will be taking the following approach.
Step 1 – Every Senior/Lead Pastor communicates with the West Texas Ministry Safe Training Team (MST) a list of pastoral staff, leaders, or volunteers who minister with children or youth (18 years of age or younger). All Senior/Lead Pastors are required to complete the training regardless if they directly minister to children/youth or not.
  • Provide First/Last Name, working email, preferred language, and identify if Sexual Abuse Awareness Training (AWT) or Skillful Screening Training (SS) is required.
  • Please note, Skillful Screening is required for all senior/lead pastors and anyone who screens/hires/fires staff or volunteers who will be ministering to children/youth.

Step 2 – The MST will send a training email to each person’s email provided from Step 1. This email will include a link for each individual to complete the training. If there are individuals who do not have a working email, the senior pastor (or delegate) can contact the MST to discuss an alternative approach for training.

Step 3 – Each individual will open the link provided (open the link only once). They are to watch all seven videos and then complete the online quiz. This will take approximately one hour to complete the entire process for Sexual Abuse Awareness Training. (Senior Pastors are provided a separate link to complete the Skillful Screening Training).

Step 4 – The MinistrySafe system will notify the MST that the training is completed. The Team will update records and notify West Texas Kids Treasurer to initiate payment from local churches.

Step 5 – West Texas Kids Treasurer, Candace Clem ([email protected]), will coordinate with each local church to pay for the training. (Training costs $5 per MinistrySafe Awareness Training; $50 for Skillful Screening Training).

The MST is prepared to work with you as you conduct this process on the local level. See team contact information:

Mary Brewer - 817-915-5034 [email protected] Zones: Fort Worth, Lamesa, Metro Mid-Cities, Wichita Falls

Connie Lincecum - 817-240-4474 [email protected] Zones: Abilene, Amarillo, Arrowhead, Denton, High Plains, Lubbock

Jennifer Sommers – 817-919-8078 [email protected]
 
Regards,
Jennifer Sommers
West Texas District Children’s Director
Our district bookkeeper, Griselda Sierra, has prepared the West Texas District 2022-2023 "Funding The Mission" report as of August 18, 2022. Pastors, please pay close attention to your church's contributions so far this year. Please make every effort to encourage your people to faithfully maintain their giving for others. 

Click here to download the report.
Amarillo North Beacon COTN will be hosting the Bible League for ESL training

Friday, August 19, 2022 at 7:00 pm through Saturday, August 20, 2022.

1601 N Nelson
Amarillo, TX

If you are interested or have any questions please contact
Pastor Steve Kochersperger at 812-774-3686
HISPANIC MINISTRY
Curso Ministerial: La Teología de Juan Wesley
Fecha: 13 de septiembre - 25 de octubre
Profesor: Dr. Pedro Cruz

Para inscribirte al curso o para más información comunícate con el pastor José Palacios - [email protected]
NYI
Youth Summit!

Are you planning on attending youth summit this year? If not I definitely think you should! SNU hosts this awesome events for youth pastor each year. The past several years that I have been able to attend we have had some awesome speakers who have not only given us great information but been a huge support to those involved in Youth Ministry,

This year they have it planned a little different where Youth Summit and Pastors Forum is happening at the same time. We are able to participate in the Forum as well as have specialized breakouts just for us as Youth pastors. Eric Samuel Timm is one of the key speakers during the forum as well and the breakout speaker for youth ministers. This is a time for us as pastor to connect together but also to discover new ideas on how we can do youth ministry. I’m not that far removed from our high schoolers but I feel like I am lightyears away with how things have been changing and attending summit these past 4 years has been a huge encouragement for me in my ministries and I also love the time of fellowship with my fellow youth pastors/ ministry workers! I love Youth Summit so much I attended last year with my 3 week old son! It is a conference I never want to miss and I am excited that this year it is being partnered with the Pastors Forum!

The West Texas NYI will cover the registration fee of those who attend and we hope you will join us this year! I will include a couple of links to hotels that I have stayed at or that are close to SNU for you to take a look at! I hope to see you in Bethany on Monday Sept. 19th!






Pastor Rebecca Aleman
Northside Church of the Nazarene
West Texas District VP
West Texas we are going to Tampa Bay, Florida for Nazarene Youth Conference in July summer of 2023!!!

I’m your NYC Coordinator for West Texas and I wanted to try to get you all the details! 

TRAVELING TO NYC:
Believe it or not we will be flying to Florida for NYC! With the cost of travel right now it is actually cheaper for our group to fly rather than drive. With this I know you will have so many questions. Know that we are still in the planning phases and can not even purchase our flight tickets as we are too far out. Know that you can not use your own mileage / flight rewards for this trip. We work with someone who helps us find group rates as this is such a large trip and we will be keeping the planning all together. Please note that there is no requirement to be vaccinated to fly. Since we are flying if you have students who are going to be the younger age; they will need to start planning to get their student a Texas I.D. card as they will not have a drivers license to be used for flying. (A passport will work fine too). 

STUDENTS ATTENDING NYC:
Nazarene Youth Conference 2023 is for students who have completed 8th - 12th grade by time of event; July 2023. (So teens who are going into 8th grade fall of 2022 and Senior class of 2023 are eligible to attend as a student!)

SPONSORS ATTENDING NYC:
This is a big question. Please note that NYC Headquarters are very strict about our Student / Sponsor ratio. This is going to come down to each church’s number of students they have attending. Please be aware that it is recommended that the Youth Pastor / Spouse are the first two chosen to attend as sponsors for their group. Our ratio is 8-10 Students to every Sponsor. You must be at least 23 years old to attend as a sponsor. 

WHAT TO DO FIRST:
Right now the most important thing is to start TALKING about NYC ’23 to your students, parents and your church!! I suggest you plan a Parent / Student meeting to go over all the things and get them talking about NYC. Have former students come and share their experience. Some parents/teens are going to know exactly what this is. For some this is going to be the very first time they hear about this event! Please get posters / make postcards / flyers anything to spread the word to your church!

ALL REGISTRAION / PAYMENT / WEBSITE LINKS:

Register by October 15th 2022 to lock in the $450 registration price.
Registering October 16th 2022 - January 15th 2023 price is $550.

Must be registered by January 15th to attend NYC ’23.

Must have at least $650 paid towards trip by January 15th 2023. 

Trip must be paid in full by May 15th 2023. (Student + Sponsor prices are the same $1,550 total)

In this email you will notice there are a few documents:
- West Texas NYC ’23 Links (registration, payments and website)
- WT NYC ’23 Letter to Parents 
- Price of NYC Breakdown
- NYC Promo Video
- NYC23 Flyer
- QR codes for Registration, Payment + website
- A flyer with QR on them for your printing purposes
- NYC Payment Plan (EXAMPLE! Please note this is an example to try to help stay on top of payments for NYC. The only two dates that are non negotiable are: getting registered by January 15th, 2023 and having at least $650 paid towards trip by this date. May 15th 2023 trip must be paid in full.)



If you would like to get some of the design elements for your own designs purpose please let me know. This will be for your advertising / communicating materials. Know that as a whole district at the event we will have Gear / Shirts made to wear during the conference. 

I hope this gets you off on the right start and you are excited!! I encourage you to please spread the word to your church leaders! We want to make sure everyone is aware and ready for this once in a lifetime experience!

I ask that you ask your Youth Pastor / Leader questions first. And then if they are unsure you can always reach out to me.

Thank you kindly, 

Kelsea Gale Beville
Communication Director | Graphic Designer
Lubbock FCN
NDI
CNMC
‌
NMI
As I think about missions and our district, I think about what the heart of missions truly is about. I am always brought back to the fact that each and every one of us is a missionary. We are all called to spread the good news of the Kingdom of God to every person we meet. We are all called to go and make disciples.

In the past month, our lives have been deeply touched by the passing of some very precious women that we have had the honor of knowing. Their lives were a testament to the fact that they were just ordinary people who were dedicated to living their lives, honoring their Heavenly Father, and spreading the Good News of the Kingdom of God. These women didn’t want recognition or accolades, they just wanted to honor God and their family.

Vera Elizabeth Brown was 94 when she was called home. Vera was the wife to Reverend Harold Brown for over 60 years and she was his faithful partner in ministry. Harold and Vera were the parents to three boys. They served many congregations through the years of their ministry, and they even served as missionaries in South Africa, Ireland, and the Philippines. They retired to Denver city and that is where we met. Harold and Vera were in their late 70’s when we arrived, and they took this rookie pastoral family (who were in their 50’s) into their lives with tender loving care. Vera lived every day serving the Lord and the people around her. Her life was an example of faithful service and dedication to the Lord; she loved and served him wholeheartedly. She made a profound impact on her children, her grandchildren, and her great grandchildren. There were endless testimonies at her funeral of her impact on these precious souls, but more importantly, she impacted all who knew her dedication to the mission to be the hands and feet of Jesus no matter the cost.

Belva Yeager also passed from this life just a few days shy of her 94th birthday. We only had the honor of meeting Belva in February of this year, but we have been deeply touched by her family. As we learned about the life of love and faithfulness of this dear woman, my heart was overwhelmed with the power of a life well lived. She was raised and lived her entire life in West Texas. Born in Leuders and then when she married lived on a farm outside Cisco until moving into town in the 1990’s. She was married to Master Sargent Claude Yeager until his death in 1992. She was a mother to three children, but her son Brett was born with disabilities and lived only until he was 13. She did travel with her husband as he served in the Air Force, but they settled near Cisco. The impact of this woman’s life was powerful. She was dedicated to serve her family and her community.  She honored the Lord in everything that she did. She never served on a mission field, but her mission field was her family, and the testimony is a powerful one.

I believe that both dear women have heard, “Well done, my good and faithful servant!” from the Lord they served and dedicated their lives so powerfully. Their lives were very different, but the impact of both lives is far reaching. The Lord calls us to serve those around us with the same enthusiasm and dedication. May each of us recognize that we are all called to be missionaries.

Robbin Hollon
WTD NMI council member
DISTRICT RESOURCES

CALENDAR OF EVENTS
[806 Airport Fwy., Suite 206, Hurst, TX 76054 ]  [817-479-8611]  [westexnaz.org]