Fifteen years ago this May, my church – Crossroads in Northglenn, Colorado – started a men’s team ministry to its widowed and single parents with twelve men, three teams and three care receivers. The ministry has been going strong all these years and today we have fifteen teams, twenty-five care receivers and sixty men involved.
While I had been doing men’s team ministry in my pastorates and in other churches prior to Crossroads, this church was the first large church with over 1,000 members to start the ministry. So I was excited to see how the concept would work in that context. I’m thankful to Pastor Kim Skattum and the staff at Crossroads for letting me use the church as a testing ground for what was then a fairly new and unproven ministry.
Sadly, I received word last week that one of our first three care receivers, Dorothy Nickerson, passed away. Her team started serving her in 2003 and even kept in touch with her on a regular basis when she moved away a few years ago. I want to thank Mike Davisson, John Akers, John Schweizer and Bill Nicholson for their very faithful service. They have exemplified exactly what it means to love their care receiver with the love of Christ by identifying with her, committing to her and sacrificing for her. Thank you, Men!
Below are some pictures of their ministry to Dorothy. They exemplify the pure joy of serving widows and single moms.
Want to memorialize your care receiver who has passed away, or celebrate a milestone, such as 5, 10 or 15 years of service? Send me your pictures and story and I’ll publish it here.
This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.
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Learn how to form teams of men for every widow, single mom
and fatherless child in your church at NewCommandment.org.
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4 thoughts on “Today We Celebrate Dorothy Nickerson and Her Team at Crossroads Church, Northglenn, Colorado”
Dorothy Nickerson was my grandmother. She was a strong and independent woman. That said, she loved her Faithful Hands. These 4 men started helping her out after my grandfather passed away. They approached her with such kindness and love. They were wonderful to her and definitely made her laugh. To this day, I am still in contact with 2 of these kind men and am happy to call them my friends. I would like to thank them all for everything they did for my grandmother. Mike, John, John and Bill you made a huge difference in the life of someone so special to me. For that I am truly thankful. The Faithful Hands is a wonderful program and I hope to see it continue to grow.
Thank you, Carolyn, for this wonderful tribute to your grandmother and her team. Our goal over the years has been to practice the love of Christ as it applies to people in our churches and communities who need it the most: the widowed and single parents. Mike Davisson, John Akers, John Schweizer and Bill Nicholson have been wonderful examples of how valuable the love of Christ is in everyday life. Their love for Dorothy has been evident in so many ways. We teach men to identify with, commit to, and sacrifice for their care receiver just as Christ has done for us. And that is exactly what they did. Please keep this ministry in your prayers as it is much needed throughout America and around the world.
My team, led by Roger, has been helping me since 2004 – 14 yrs – & l’m so grateful, because they have gone above & beyond the call of duty. They stopped my workshop roof from falling down. They are my heroes! Roger, especially, has stuck with me thru thick & thin! Thank you, Roger, 2 Jerrys, & John, & all the others who are no longer on the team.
Dear Herb Reese, I and my kids were visiting my Aunt Dorothy in 2003 and she raved about these wonderful, helpful men. I was so happy to see her happy and that she was able to keep her home up and running. What a wonderful team ministry! God Bless you and those men that remained her friends over the years. She was a VERY special person in our family and will be missed.