Ten months has passed since Keith Feerer left Mary Ellen and Harvester Church of Christ and now they have a new preacher.
Zachary Green took over as pulpit minister, and he is very familiar with not just the congregation, but the stage from which he will be preaching.
“Since I moved here (in 2012), I would fill in for Keith when he was on vacation or sick,” Green said. “I was the youth minister for about a year (several years ago). Last summer, when we had our water park party, it was Keith’s last Sunday. One of our elders, Gary Turley, kind of joked that I should put my hat in the ring.”
After Keith left, Green and Church Elder Frankie Lemons took turns preaching to fill in and Green became more comfortable.
“Since I got used to doing it more and more, it was probably about October I got a little more serious and the longer the search went on, the more I just wanted to help this church,” Green said.
Green and the elders worked out an arrangement where he could still work at Pampa Learning Center and be the part-time preacher.
“I just feel like this church is my family and I want to help them,” Green said. “They are very supporting, loving and encouraging. They want to see young people step up and lead. Not just preaching but song-leading, prayer-leading, etc.”
Feerer offered his full support of Green as the preacher.
“He was my choice from the beginning,” Feerer said. “I was really hoping he would get a shot at it. In the years we’ve worked together, we’ve shared many of the same beliefs and interests as far as the Church is concerned. He’s sound in the faith and a strong preacher. I love him very much and I thought of him as my own son.”
Green started college at Southwestern Oklahoma State University and in the summer at Mullinville, Kan. he interned at a church as a “youth minister.”
“They wanted a youth intern to see if their church could support a youth minister,” Green said. “We did a work camp at Wichita and a church camp at Silver Maple. There, some people I already knew and I were talking, so I transferred to Harding (Searcy, Ark.) in the Fall.”
Green earned his bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism and had several Bible classes. He has also done Leadership Training for Christ programs through Church of Christ.
“It is to help encourage young people to get involved in the church,” Green said. “It’s a competition, but you’re not competing against other people. There’s different categories like course, drama, song-leading, scripture-leading and preaching. My parents encouraged me to do that.”
Green came to Pampa in 2012 when he became the sports editor at The Pampa News. He found MEHCOC as his church home immediately. Shortly after he met the woman who would become his wife (the pair married in September 2013), Lynsie.
Like many young adults at their first job out of college, Green was going to use The Pampa News as a stepping stone.
“I wasn’t planning on staying,” Green said. “This will be the first place and then I’ll move to Oklahoma City or Dallas to a bigger paper.”
Green later became the youth minister at MEHCOC and also went back to The Pampa News as the sports editor.
“It was the second time I was at the paper I wondered if I really wanted to stay in Pampa,” Green said. “I was already married, but Lynsie didn’t want to leave because her family is here.”
Green then took a job at Pampa High School and after finishing his fifth year now in Pampa Learning Center, he feels like Pampa is where he belongs.
“It’s God’s timing,” Green said. “With Keith leaving and starting at PLC coinciding together, my whole outlook has changed. PLC is great, it’s just like church. It feels like a family and there is no judgment on anything.
“After the first semester, between that and by that time I had 10 sermons under my belt, I felt like I could make a difference here and not go anywhere else.”
As for the elders, Green said they have been supportive and from the beginning encouraged him to be patient.
“When they first started looking they wanted a full-time guy with experience, which I understand,” Green said. “In the meantime I got more comfortable in front of everybody and I’m happy it happened this way because it gave me 10 months to get comfortable and decide if that’s what I want to do.”
One of those elders, Gary Turley, said Green’s heart for the Lord will make him a great preacher not just for the Church, but for the Lord.
“We are delighted to announce that God has answered our prayers for a new minister,” Turley said.
“We welcome Zac Green as our new minister. Zac moved to Pampa about 10 years ago and has filled in preaching often during that time and did a really good job. Zac has a huge heart for the Lord and will be of great service to Him.
Green said the congregation is full of people helping people.
“Every time I’ve preached there have been members that have come up to me and encouraged me,” Green said. “I feel like there’s several members that would help me anytime I needed anything. The same goes for them. If they need me, they can call me.
“That’s what a church needs for a preacher to feel at home: love, support and encouragement. Not just from the members to the preacher, but the preacher to the members.”
Especially after working at the school, Green said it’s the people in Pampa that makes it easy to stay.
“We can go to United, Walmart or a fast-food place and there is always a student there who wants to come and talk to me,” Green said. “Or there is someone from church, or another teacher. You don’t get that at bigger places.”
Green added his wife has been very supportive of this endeavor he has taken on and appreciates her.
The pair have been married nine years in September and have three dogs.
For more information on Mary Ellen and Harvester Church of Christ, call 806-665-0031 or visit their Facebook page.
