Ministering to the Student Body

Cornerstone Assembly of God in Pender, Nebraska, is a small church looking to make a big impact in the village of 1,000 and the surrounding area.

Recently, the church of about 50 attendees has been doing just that by sponsoring a local immigrant family and helping to feed international students at the nearby Western Iowa Tech Community College on the weekends, when food service is unavailable.

“If following Jesus doesn’t lead you to hurting, hungry people, then you’re not following Jesus,’” says Randy L. Nelson, lead pastor. “That’s the motto that we’re trying to follow at Cornerstone.”

Nelson and his wife, Muriel, who are both originally from the area, stepped into the role 2½ years ago following nearly four decades of pastoring in various metropolitan churches. Since then, Nelson has made reaching the entire community his focus.

“I’ve got 1,002 people in my church,” he says. “They just don’t all attend yet.”

When he’s not behind the pulpit, Nelson drives a school bus for the Pender Public School District, transports area college and professional sports teams, and serves as chaplain of the Sioux City Bandits, a local indoor football team.

The church’s relationship with Western Iowa Tech in Sioux City, which lies about an hour’s drive to the north, began when the church partnered with other local organizations to sponsor a Nigerian family of five who moved to the United States to protect themselves from the threat of Boko Haram, a terror group in north central Africa. Both the mother and father attended classes at the college, and the church helped to provide food and to meet other needs.

A few months ago, a new opportunity arose when Juli Albert, who serves as vice president of learning at the college, approached Nelson with a burden for the international students at the school who eat meals there throughout the week, but don’t receive food service on the weekends.

“International students for the most part don’t have vehicles, nor do they bring in a lot of extra money with them,” Albert says. “I was afraid that our students were going without meals on the weekends, or at least not having much to eat.”

After consulting with the church board, Nelson invited the students over for a potluck dinner the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Twenty students representing about nine countries attended. For many, it was their first traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

Following the meal, the church sent all the rest of the leftovers home with the students. Albert says the gesture meant a lot to the young people, and not just because of the food.

“They were amazed that this church out of nowhere would come forward and offer up a meal and also that level of hospitality,” Albert says.

Nelson says the congregation wants to help the students more consistently. Cornerstone AG sponsored another meal in January, and has started providing students with grocery store gift cards.

“I told them one of my goals is for them to get sick of my face,” Nelson says. “I think this is just the beginning.”

Ian Richardson

Ian Richardson is a 2014 graduate of Evangel University and former intern with the Pentecostal Evangel. He is originally from Afton, Iowa, where he grew up as the son of an Assemblies of God pastor.