Ministry Updates
The Church of the Brethren in Western Plains welcomes the following new pastors to our District:
- The Newton congregation took some important steps in its December 31 Congregational Business Meeting, calling Pam Schrag as pastor and recommending her to the District’s Set-Apart Ministry Team to be licensed to the ministry. That team has acted favorably on the congregation’s recommendation and she was formally installed on February 18 by District Executive Sonja Griffith.
Pam, and her husband Ronnie, are Moundridge residents and have been long-time members of the Eden Mennonite Church. Educated at Hesston College and Bethel College, Pam has been active in her local congregation and in the work of the Western District of the Mennonite Church, particularly in giving leadership to women’s ministries. Over the past year, she has been one of four regular preachers at Newton. The congregation recently discerned that it should move to a pattern with one lead pastor and then moved through a time of further discernment with Pam, affirming her gifts and passions for ministry.
Pam began her service as the Newton Pastor on January 1 and is making plans to enroll in TRIM this summer. She preaches three Sundays a month and shares leadership with Kenneth Davidson, Minister of Visitation. 
Pam Schrag (center), new pastor at the Newton Church of the Brethren
- Garden City Church announces new Interim Pastor
We are very excited to introduce our new Interim Pastor, Bob Bates, and his wife, Brenda. Bob has 30 plus years of ministry, doing preaching, teaching, leading, and pastoral care to all who need Jesus. Places he has served include Oregon, Florida, Tennessee, Australia, and for the last 12 years at Bible Christian Church in Garden City, KS. He was ordained in 1971 at Scio Christian Church, Scio, OR and received his Master of Divinity at Emmanuel Christian Seminary in Johnson City, TN in 2013. He has been the State Representative for Celebrate Recovery for western Kansas and has also been a mentor with the Kansas Department of Corrections.
Bob has a passion for God’s church and God’s people, especially for those far from God. His purpose is to use his preaching skills, gifts, and his passion for lost and hurting people to provide ministry to all he has opportunity to share Christ with in Southwest Kansas.
Bob and Brenda have one adult son, Clark who is married to Laci, and they have 3 children. Clark and his family also live in Garden City.
We look forward with joyful hearts to all that God has planned for our community of faith as we strive to become more Christlike, being obedient to Him, so that we can embrace the true peace that He blesses us with.
- Boulder Fellowship calls new pastorBoulder Mennonite Church announces its call to Randall Spaulding as our new pastor, as determined in a congregational meeting on Sunday, November 5, 2017. We anticipate a start date in January 2018.
Randy brings pastoral leadership experience in the Mennonite Church, expertise in music and worship, and years in chaplaincy ministry, which have deepened his gift for pastoral care. A lifelong focus on peace and justice, and relevant application of Jesus’ good news for our modern world are some of the gifts he brings. The community’s discernment followed a recommendation of Randy by the Pastoral Search Committee as the strongest candidate for Boulder Mennonite’s ministry goals in this chapter of our life together, as well as a series of listening sessions to come together for our communal decision-making process.
We are deeply grateful for Spirit’s leading in these past months of leadership transition, and grateful too for the love and listening we experienced in our sharing together in discernment.
Thanks be to God!