Pastor of the week: Craig Shepperd
This is Pastor Craig Shepperd from the Guymon Church of the Nazarene, and he has been there for the past three years. Pastor Craig is from Mustang, Oklahoma, and went to the Mustang Church of the Nazarene growing up. Shepperd
did not always know he wanted to be a pastor once he got older. “I felt a call to the ministry when I was 12. I was born with a congenital heart defect, and it raised a lot of questions about how God works or what we've been talking about (in the past few weeks on Sundays), why do bad things happen, or why life is sometimes just so difficult. Someone came to our church and shared their story...and for the first time, it clicked; maybe my own life story would be useful for someone who was struggling or someone that was facing similar situations. From 12 and on, I felt like this is what I am going to do.” Pastor Craig has been engaged in church ministry for 25 years now.
Every pastor has the same goal, to spread the word of God and to help those who are looking for spiritual guidance, but it can also be very different. Pastor Craig went on to say, “What makes me different from other pastors maybe my own experience I bring in. I spent four years living in Europe, and in terms of worldview, that has shaped not only who I am as a person but also even how I experience God and what it means to live in a somewhat diverse place, like Guymon and how a lot of our social issues are beyond maybe what we can see and sometimes they are very complex in finding solutions. I am very empathetic towards some of those things. Even my journey and experience to find out who I am, and I think all of us at some level are trying to figure out who we are, why we are here, and what we have to offer to contribute in life. More than how we get a paycheck but how we add value.” Just like pastors, every church has similar goals but are very different in their ways. “I think what makes this church unique is
we are in the process of creating an environment where people have space to come as they are, to investigate, and to experiment what it means to live in relationship with God while experiencing the love and warmth and love of God from the people who call this their church home.”
“My hope (for this section of the newspaper), as the first Pastor of the Week, is that through your willingness to conduct these interviews, people will sense the love of Christ in each pastor that is interviewed and would just be mindful when they feel a sense of hopelessness and that they feel hope, that the church,
not just the location but the Christan faith might not just be a little outdated or even relative but can be a place of peace for people to experience in life,” Shepperd said.
The Guymon Church of the Nazarene has a few events coming up. They have their Thanksgiving dinner on Nov. 20 at 6 p.m., and on Dec. 4, the church teams up with the Connection Church to put on the Christmas Village, which is excellent if you are looking to sell stuff, if you're a small business owner, or even in the market for Christmas shopping. Dec. 12 at 10:45 a.m., the church will be putting on a children's Christmas program, and after the first of the year, the church will have all sorts of events for New Year's, new learning opportunities, and new ways to get involved.