Articles:
| Volunteer Profile: Dick Naves |
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| Saturday, 12 June 2010 08:32 |
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A Pleasure by Tanya Byl
It all started with a sponsor child. Now Dick Naves has been on Word & Deed’s Board since 2000, with his entry into that position initiated by a field trip to Haiti with Bernie Pennings. Since the beginning, “it has been a pleasure to watch God work and use Word & Deed in so many ways.”
Volunteering for Word & Deed is just one more commitment for an already busy husband, father and teacher. Dick and his wife Carolyn are raising their four children in Ancaster, Ontario, and Dick teaches at nearby Rehoboth Christian School (RCS), where he is also vice-principal for the secondary school.
Besides his service on the Board, Dick enjoys the annual challenge of a 24-hour fast. After reading about a similar event at another school, he thought it would be “both fun for our school…and beneficial for Word & Deed” to raise funds with a student fast. “I was younger then,” says Dick. Don’t forget that a 24-hour fast involves a big sleepover at school along with the food deprivation. The fast has developed to include two more local Christian schools and almost 100 students. The proceeds have also increased from about $3,000 the first year to over $10,000 the last few years, with the latest funds going to the salary of two teachers at John Calvin Christian School in Colombia.
So why Word & Deed and not something else? Dick points out that he has “grown with Word & Deed and … it is hard to imagine not being involved in some capacity.” When asked what motivates him to keep volunteering, the enthusiasm and conviction familiar to all his students surfaces. “Word & Deed is a ministry that aligns with what Scripture teaches and what I fully agree with. It is so important to be sure that when we go into other countries to help with relief work that we must bring the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the only way that we can bring true hope that will last forever. God has clearly instructed us to bring both word and deed to those in need and He has blessed this ministry … in ways that keep us humble.”
Tanya Byl is a copy editor at Word & Deed magazine.
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