Prairie Grove Pastor Leads Church In Faithfulness

Habitat for Humanity, Heifer Project, Life Ministry Food Pantry, Alcoholics Anonymous, Seven Hills Homeless Shelter, Haiti, Presbyterian Relief Fund, meals for seniors, supporting students in seminary, collecting coupons for education, a smoke-free building, preserving the 1907 church building … The list goes on and on - each an area served and supported by members of First United Presbyterian Church in Prairie Grove.

The Rev. John E. King, pastor of the church, described his congregation as one of faithfulness. “They are a faithful church,” he said. “They’ve never given less than asked, and usually they give more.”

For more than 30 years,the church has sponsored its rice and beans project. Every first Saturday of the month, members gathered in the church’s Bright Fellowship Hall give all comers a 2-pound bag of rice and a 2-pound bag of beans - no questions asked, King said. Cookies or bread made by members often will be sent along. Over the rest of themonth, members can access the stores for those in need.

“We took on hunger as a special project,” King said. “It goes on even if I’m not here.”

King said he heard of the project from his brother, an Episcopal pastor in Alabama, and a church in South Arkansas. “I took itto the Session (governing board of the church), and they said, ‘We can do that,’” King said.

Another important task for the church is supporting those with immediate, catastrophic, emergency situations. “We put a special needs item in the budget to focus on those who suffer unexpected tragedies,” said church member David Parks. He told of helping a family whose house had burned - and they were not members of the church.

Parks gave King much of the credit for the church’s community involvement.

“He’s certainly leading us there,” Parks said. “He reminds us of how we can help in those areas and continuing it on past the church. When I leave church, I’m looking for ways to serve.”

Marsha Shobe, director of the School of Social Work at the University of Arkansas, sings similar praises. “Everybody will tell you about John’s volunteer services,” she said.

She spoke of the many training sessions for social workers at which King taught - without pay. “And if hegets paid, he gives it back to the school.” CHANGING ROBES

King served since 1972 as a professor and emeritus professor for the School of Social Work and became the pastor of the Prairie Grove church in 1977.

But his service began many years ago.

King said he grew up in a Catholic church in Birmingham, Ala. “We were there at the crack of dawn,” King recalled. “We were there whenever the doors were open. People assumed (King and his younger brother) would go to seminary.”

Both were ordained as ministers in the Roman Catholic Church, and both left the priesthood to marry - King after five years of ministry.

That same brother convinced King to pursue a degree in social work and a minor in religious studies at Tulane University in New Orleans. Both meshed well with his previous work as a priest.

With his degrees complete, King served the Army as a drug and alcohol therapy counselor. His emphasis helped him lead programs to train lay people to be lay pastors and taught pastorshow to connect with social services when needed.

“We had an undergrad orientation this fall,” Shobe said. “We asked how many students knew John King. Then we asked, who had parents or friends who took one of John King’s classes, nearly everybody in the room had their hands raised.”

King said he has taught every class in the curriculum of the School of Social Work. But he also is credited with starting a popular course on death and dying, which he continued to teach after retirement. He mentored the new teacher of the class and helped make the class available online; more than 300 students now are enrolled, Shobe said.

“He projects empathy in all experiences as a minister and a social worker,” Shobe continued. “He worked with those who were dying. He had real-life examples of how to help a grieving family. He’s helped them with life choices, and he has helped them with death choices - which is good for the freshmen and sophomores because they think they’re going to live forever.”

“I’ve buried the dead and visited the sick,” King said. “Most students don’tknow I’m a pastor. I’ve been ordained for 48 years. I’ve got a pile of stories, and I keep accumulating more.”

Although his position at the university is one of “emeritus,” he still stops by once a week and asks how he can help, Shobe said. “We still see him around.”

“When I first became director, he helped me learn how to ‘navigate’ the university systems,” Shobe said. “He helps students fill out applications for graduate school.”

And she called him the social work school’s historian. He is currently writing a book on the school, which started in 1940. His goal is to have it published in time for the school’s 75th anniversary in two years.

“He’s very important to the school,” Shobe continued. “He knows everything, and he’s nice enough to share.” THE 36-YEAR CALL

“When my late wife and I moved here in 1972, we were looking for a church home. And here is a good church home,” King said of First Presbyterian.

He began his call when he was asked by then-pastor the Rev. Morris Springer to fi ll in one Sunday. “He took me to lunch and said, ‘They’ll evenpay you.’”

Next, Springer left the church for another call, and the clerk of Session took King to lunch and said Springer “didn’t want to preach any more. Can you preach every Sunday until we fi nd someone new?” King was asked.

“It was supposed to be temporary,” King deadpanned. The process for calling a new minister takes about a year in the Presbyterian church.

Six or seven years later, while King guided the congregation through the process of getting a new pastor, the pastor of the Lincoln Presbyterian church took him to yet another lunch.

“He said, ‘What is your intention, pastor?’” King related. “They kind of think they like you. They don’t think they’ll find anyone better.”

It took a year for the Presbytery of Arkansas (the governing body of congregations in the northern part of the state) to accept his Catholic ordination, so he could become the Prairie Grove pastor.

“I’ve been here virtually half my life,” King said. “That’s not a goal I had intended to reach.”

Parks, president and chief executive officer of Prairie Grove Telephone Co., is a fourth-generation member. His great grandfather, Dr. B.G. McCormick, was a founding member of the church.

Church can at times be a distraction - “especially in a smaller church with politics, dissension and unbelievable anger,” Parks said. “But not here, and John has been so much a part of that leadership. That’s important. That’s necessary.”

Parks said some people don’t attend church because they don’t want the involvement, don’t want to add more activities to their busy lifestyles. “But John focuses on what’s basic, what makes a good, spiritual life,” he said.

Activities are the right size for the congregation, said Parks, who has served in church leadership. His family doesn’t feel overburdened, he added.

“(King is) so dedicated, for anybody to stay with a job for 36 years - and be there every week …,” Parks said. “He’s so reliable. He does what a pastor is supposed to do. He’s always there.

“We tried to pay him more money, but he won’t take it,” Parks continued. “He’s in it for the right reasons.”

Religion, Pages 9 on 12/21/2013

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