Stories

My name is Reverend Irene Lewis-Wimbley. I am class of 2011 from Nazarene Bible College. I am currently a missionary from Pekin First Church of the Nazarene in Pekin Illinois to the Peoria South Side. I have been allowed the opportunity to plant a compassionate ministry center in the church in the second poorest zip code in the state of Illinois. 

The fact that I was already in ministry before I started going to Nazarene Bible College is part of the reason why I talk about it all the time. I was a single mom. I am a single mom to two teenage girls now, but then they were still in grade school. I wouldn't have been able to go back to school had it not been for Nazarene Bible College. I tried one class and realized, 

"I can do this." I enrolled and it's history.

The moment of graduation, when it all comes together that you've finally made it, is the most amazing experience. I didn't realize when they told me to prepare a statement for the graduation at Apostles Court and I couldn't get my mind around what they were describing because I live in central Illinois. I arrived and was welcomed so beautifully. The whole weekend was an amazing memory builder for my entire family. My parents came, my daughters were there, and my extended family, who live in Colorado Springs. The moment that I was handed the torch was just such a holy spirit moment. I still remember what I said. Isaiah 6:8: "I heard the voice of the Lord calling, 'Who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here I am, Lord, send me. And I am no ways tired.'" 

That was ten years ago. I got to participate in the prayer invocation in the inauguration of my former district superintendent. He was the former NYI president when I was a teenager: 
Scott J. Sherwood. It was a long time ago when he had hair and rocked a mullet. I knew him then. It was one of those big moments in your life that you can't ever forget and carry with you. I had four women in our district who are now attending Nazarene Bible College. I can't talk about it enough. You can't be a parent, pick up your kids and move, and do ministry. But you can because of Nazarene Bible College.

I'd like to thank Dr. Charles Self. I tell people all the time that the most important class I ever took at Nazarene Bible College was Spiritual Formation. I can't do this work in the margins, in the urban core, without having that liturgical rhythm and knowing that I have those rules of life: to be spiritually rooted, deeply. I talk about being deeply rooted all the time. I even have it tattooed on my arm. I can't thank him enough for his investment in a single mom who felt invisible. He made sure I made it. And I ask God to bless him regularly.