NEW MINISTERS AT IMPACT

Dimas Velazquez had, as a young boy growing up in El Salvador, a dream about working in the church. He tried to go to seminary and worked toward becoming a priest, but due to political reasons was not able to finish. Having moved to the States more than 20 years ago with his wife, Antonia, his dream was all but forgotten. In time, former Impact minister Calvin Henry knocked on his door seeing if he needed groceries and/or prayers. His wife started to attend Impact and soon convinced Dimas to check it out. At first uncertain about the church and the different customs, he became more and more involved, and was baptized within several months. Since that time, he has been one of Impact’s strongest members, serving as an elder for 8 years. He was living his boyhood dream, yet God was calling him toward more. He was invited to study at the Texas Gulf Coast Bible Institute and after two years of intensive training, graduated “with honors” as one of the Institute’s first graduates in December of 2007. Now Dimas’ dream is to serve God full-time at Impact as a Hispanic minister. He still serves as an elder. He still preaches, teaches, and helps out like he has been for years. The only difference is, this is all he does now. It is all he wants to do. He is living his dream. -Steven Wells

Audra Moore: This January we have been blessed to have Audra Moore join our youth team as a year-long girl’s intern. We have many young women in our youth group who are wanting to grow deeper in the walk with the Lord, and they have been in need of a solid Christian woman who can walk with them. We have many great women volunteers, and this addition of Audra to our staff is a tremendous blessing.
Audra first came to Impact 4 years ago with a group from Lubbock Christian University, where she received her bachelor’s degree. She interned with our High School Youth the following summer and was a wonderful mentor for our youth. Since graduating, Audra spent more than a year doing mission work in Uganda, and is now pursuing her master’s degree in public health at the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston. Audra joins us with full support from her home congregation, Central Church of Christ in Amarillo, TX, who we are very grateful to. We’re looking forward to all the amazing ways God will be using her here at Impact! -Dennis Jaeger

<— David Beegle: “COMINGS AND GOINGS” Barbara Mantooth has been our Director of the Distribution Center for only a short time, but has been outstanding in that capacity. Her husband’s work transfer has necessitated a move making her continued participation here more difficult. She will find another challenge closer to her new home requiring us to find a suitable replacement. God has provided!! Already here often in working with those in the process of recovery, David Beegle (wife, Margaret) was quick to place his name in for the vacant position. That being a part-time position, he is still seeking funding to devote more time to the recovery program and an added outreach for job placement. He will assume his duties on Feb. 1 following a month of training with Barbara. He brings a wealth of experience in this type of endeavor as well as a long history in sales to the retail food industry. He hopes to be able to utilize some of those contacts in enlarging our sources for commodities to offer in the distribution center. -Doug Williams