WORLD MISSIONS HAS BEEN A PART OF OUR LIVES FOR MANY YEARS

Director Dr. David Griffis and Assistant Director Dr. M. Thomas Propes received correspondence from donors in Alabama, Tom and Betty Neely, who related how important missions is, and how they have been involved for many years. The Neelys enjoy reading globalCONNECT, a monthly insert in the Church of God EVANGEL that gives valuable information and updates on World Missions activities. Over 50 years ago, Betty taught a group of Junior girls in Sunday School at their church in Cincinnati, Ohio. A missionary spoke at their church, and the girls wanted to do something for missions. The class contacted someone who sent the missionary’s name to the class from Mexico—Thomas Chevez. Over time, the SS class members brought extra nickels, dimes, or quarters until they finally had enough money to send to the missionary. Thomas purchased a horse to get around in the mountains to minister, and Sister Chevez sent the class a photo of her on the horse. The impact of that missions giving produced a missionary from the Neely family … a great niece, Lily, who feels the call to missions with a Spanish emphasis. The Neelys sent her the letters and pictures kept all these years of Thomas Chevez. One of the girls in the SS class married a cousin of the Neelys and she still remembers the “Missions Horse Project.” Since the Neelys’ initial donation in 1985, they have given over tens of thousands to the cause of world evangelization. Truly, they have lived missions giving a large part of their lives.