By Terry L. Hapney, Jr.
The Ironton Tribune

Some familiar faces and names from the past will gather at Ironton First Church of the Nazarene this week for the church’s 110th anniversary homecoming celebration.
The festivities begin on Sunday with services at 10:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. Food and fellowship follow the Sunday morning service. Rev. Ken Carney will preach Sunday morning and Rev. Curtis Sellars preaches Sunday evening. Rev. Bret and Beth Layton are the scheduled worship leaders for both Sunday services.
Revival services are at 7 p.m., Monday through Wednesday with Carney preaching and Rev. Steve Melvin serving as song evangelist.
Pastor Rob Hale said the church began in 1914 with a lady named Anna Howes who had a desire to teach children about Jesus.
“She started a Sunday school right across the street,” Hale said. “It became a church.”
It was known back then as the “Little White Chapel,” according to Hale who is in his 15th year as pastor of the church. The Church of the Nazarene officially became a denomination in 1908. This was only a few years before the new Ironton church joined the Church of the Nazarene.
The name “Nazarene” came from the fact that Jesus was from the town Nazareth.
“He was known as a Nazarene,” Hale said. “It wasn’t a very popular town, but it was prophesied that the Messiah would come from that area.”
The homecoming anniversary service is Sunday morning. Carney is the speaker. He was a pastor of the church in the past. Sunday evening, Sellars, another pastor from the past, will preach.
Hale said Carney will preach during the Monday through Wednesday revival, too.
“Those two were beloved pastors,” Hale said.
The other two ministers for the special events are Layton and Melvin.
“Brett’s first pastoral assignment out of Bible college was here as our youth pastor,” Hale said.
Melvin, “a remarkable musician,” was a children’s pastor in the church at one time.
“There’s a lot of history, a lot of love and a lot of ministry in those four men,” Hale said.
While working in the ministry, Hale said you never know whose lives you touch as a pastor or a friend.
“The first thing that a pastor has to be to people is their friend,” Hale said.
Hale, who is the second longest-serving pastor at Ironton First Church of the Nazarene just behind H.C. Little who served for 25 years, said the church has an active children’s ministry for those in fifth grade and below. Charlie Cameron is the children’s director.
“She is an amazing children’s director,” Hale said.
The youth ministry, for teenagers in sixth grade through high school, is active, too, according to Hale. It is under the direction of Shay Lynn Baker, who graduated from Mount Vernon Nazarene University.
“We’re a community-focused church,” Hale said. “Our church is used every day of the week—with different ministries and different groups that we allow to use the church.”
The church is located at 2318 S. 4th St. in Ironton. For more information on the church, anniversary celebration or revival, visit the church’s Facebook page or call 740-532-3413.