Helping The Helpers

Local Churches Help Church Of God Repair Parsonage

Jack Coleman, Nate Todd, Seth Widner, Pamela Sims and Hollie Sims in the basement of the Harrodsburg Church of God’s parsonage. The parsonage is need of serious repairs.

Jennifer Marsh

Herald Staff

jmarsh@harrodsburgherald.com

Several churches have come together to help Harrodsburg Church of God repair their parsonage for their new pastor and his family.

Pastor Nate Todd, his wife, Raechel, and their two young children took over the parsonage in June of 2018 when Todd started as pastor at Harrodsburg Church of God.

“The previous pastor was able to pay off the property and renovate the church, but he was not able to repair the parsonage,” said Todd. “The property was built in the 1950s and is in need of several costly repairs.”

Although the church building is in good shape the parsonage is not. At first they could only live in two rooms of the house. On their own they replaced flooring, windows, kitchen cabinets and re-tiled the back splash.

In February, the first community team consisting of Daryl Catlett from Harrodsburg Baptist Church, Ricky White from Flatwood Baptist Church in Garrard County and Pamela and Hollie Sims from Saint Barnabas Church of the Encourager, showed up to help Todd replace the bathroom sub floor.

On Saturday, March 2, Jack Coleman with a team from Harrodsburg Christian Church ripped out and replaced old paneling.

The biggest project on this house is the basement/foundation. The whole foundation needs serious repair that will cost upwards of $30,000. They have already raised over half of the funds needed for the foundation through community generosity and a church in Florida.

Many area churches have responded to the call for help and even organized a benefit concert at the Danville Church of God on Sunday, March 31 at 6 p.m. The church has a Go Fund Me Page as well.

Todd, a native of Garrard County, said he grew up in the Danville Church of God and started preaching when he was 9 years old.

“I spent my childhood preaching to whoever would have me until I went to college,” said Todd. “I was living and working in a church in Florida when I felt a calling to come home to Kentucky. So, in February of 2018 we came here on faith alone.”

Todd said the church has started a community meal on Wednesday evenings and have grown their congregation significantly since he started.

“Ministering is truly a business of loving people,” said Todd. “We are part of a great community and are extremely blessed to be here.”

Pamela Sims, Reverend of Saint Barnabas Church of the Encourager said many area churches have participated in the repair of the parsonage and she anticipates more involvement.

“Our community is all about unity and working together,” said Sims “It is no surprise that everyone is getting involved to help this precious family and their church.”

Jack Coleman said his mission first team has been helping on Saturday mornings but work is moving slow and sharing the load is necessary.

“It is important to help the helpers of this world,” said Coleman.” When I was called about this project my mind immediately wandered back to several past experiences. I kept finding was that the Pastors, and their families were many times just as adversely affected as the general population and their congregations.”

Coleman said he has been blessed with opportunities to volunteer with many mission trips throughout the years.

“My trips to Katrina really opened my eyes to this idea and began what we coined as help the helper,” said Coleman. “While the Pastors, shepherds tending their flocks, were providing the much needed support many times their lives and families were impacted as well.”

Coleman said many times diverse congregations can seem at odds, but common ground can always be found in Christ.

“As God’s chosen people we are asked to clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience,” said Coleman. “How much better if we come together as a body of Christ in unity. We can only hope this is the beginning of a movement.”

For more information, visit https://www.gofundme.com/from-the-ground-up.

To learn more, check out this week’s issue of the Harrodsburg Herald.