Pastor to fete 32 years at church

Christ Temple Apostolic Church will celebrate 32 years of pastoral ministry by Pastor Laurence Nevels and his wife, Elect Lady Dolorus Nevels on Sunday, Nov. 8.

The celebration will include guest speakers Chaplain Michael Swiger of the Gospel House Church in Walton Hills in the 11 a.m. service and Apostle Austin Mitchell of Via Dolorosa Gospel Temple in Detroit, Mich., in the 6 p.m. service.

Nevels first filled the pulpit at Christ Temple on the second Sunday of November, Nov. 13, 1977. But it was far from his first exposure to Christ Temple or to Oberlin.

"From 1957 to 1962, I accompanied my father, Elder Joseph L. Nevels as he pastored Christ Temple, commuting twice a week from Akron," Nevels said. "Actually it started before 1957, because my maternal grandfather, the Rev. Charles Mack Lee, pastored Rust United Methodist Church in the early 1900s."

When Elder Joseph Nevels resigned the pastorate in 1962, he recommended, and the congregation elected Elder G.G. Benton to succeed him. Then, when Benton accepted a position at the Apostolic Home Assembly in Los Angeles, Calif., he recommended Nevels succeed him.

"The congregation unanimously elected me on Oct. 7, 1977," Newels said. "Elder Benton stayed until the first Sunday of November, them my wife and I filled the vacated pulpit on the second Sunday in November 1977. This second Sunday in November marks our 32nd year in Oberlin."

When Nevels arrived as pastor, the church had recently moved from 278 S. Pleasant St. to its current location at 370 Lincoln St. But the new building was only about 75 percent complete.

"I had to complete the building and pay for a large mortgage. The parsonage had a mortgage also," he said. "The members rallied and we paid off the parsonage. And then, 20 years later, the church mortgage was paid off. We bought a 15 passenger bus, and it is paid off. We are basically debt free."

The anniversary celebration will be Sunday at the church, 370 Lincoln St. at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.