By Herb Reese
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.
Teams of four men serving widows, single moms, fatherless children and others with long-term pressing needs in their churches and communities.
