Post by Todd B on Apr 12, 2009 21:46:59 GMT -5
Home to serve
monroenews.com/article/20090411/NEWS01/304119997
by Jeff Meade
IDA - When Tim Iocoangeli surrendered to the ministry as a high school senior, he figured his vocation would take him a long way from home.
Instead he found himself returning to his hometown of Ida.
The Rev. Iocoangeli, 26, became the new pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church last month. The Southern Baptist church, at 4000 Lewis Ave., is not far from the home where he grew up.
"I love Ida," he said. "I like the small atmosphere and knowing everybody. I always felt safe there. My only complaint was in basketball. Since you're smaller, you don't get as much recognition."
The Rev. Iocoangeli was an All-Region basketball standout at Ida High School and played one year of college basketball at Mid-Continent College in Mayfield, Ky.
He spent all of his growing-up years as a member of Monroe Missionary Baptist Church and eventually married the pastor's daughter. Basketball was huge in his life, then he felt a calling to the ministry.
"The summer before my senior year of high school, I was challenged to start reading my Bible daily," he said. "I had been a Christian since I was 7 and accepted the Lord as Savior, but I wasn't reading the Bible daily or praying a lot. God started showing me things. I ran from it for a little bit."
That changed the middle of his senior year when he attended a Christian youth rally in St. Louis and committed his life to full-time Christian ministry.
Shortly after high school, he became interim youth pastor at Monroe Missionary Baptist for a year and also served there as a deacon and Sunday school teacher.
He took a basketball team on a missions trip to the Philippines, where they ministered to 150 kids as a basketball clinic.
"I actually felt a calling to sports ministry (at first). God really used sports in my life to teach me different things," he said. "But I felt a strong calling in my life to families. I was not searching out a pastorate. I sort of put my name out there and was filling the pulpit at churches that were without a pastor."
He had married the former Amanda Southerland while still in college at William Tyndale. When that school closed, he graduated from Rochester College with a major in biblical studies and a minor in ministry.
He was invited to preach at Cornerstone last September, then was invited back two more times. The elders recommended him and the church members voted him in as their new pastor.
"They had been without a pastor since March, 2008," he said. "The church is 16 years old. They bought 14 aces here and built this building in 1999. The church members did all the building work themselves. I watched it being built because I lived on Stein Rd. I had some friends who I knew came here. The church was growing."
The Rev. Iocoangeli's first service as the new pastor was March 8. The church has Sunday school at 9 a.m., Sunday worship services at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., and a Wednesday evening service at 6:30.
The people of Cornerstone Baptist liked that their new pastor was from Ida.
"I didn't know too many people, but the parents of some of the people I graduated from high school with were here," he said. "The members are mostly local. We have some local farmers who are involved with the township. We have people who have been here their whole life. They know the ins and outs of Ida."
The Rev. and Mrs. Iocoangeli live in Monroe, where she teaches fifth and sixth grade at Waterloo Elementary School. They have a 3-year-old son, Jackson, and are expecting a daughter in August. Mrs. Iocoangeli's father is the Rev. Roy Southerland, pastor of Monroe Missionary Baptist.
"Because of my wife's father, I did get to see it sort of from the inside," the Rev. Iocoangeli said. "It's more work that I could have expected. You're very busy. The people here have great enthusiasm. They said, ‘We want to reach out to this community and let Ida know we're here.' It takes time, but we're going to get there."
He said he most enjoys "watching God use people in a way that awes and shocks other people. The people here want what's good. They want to do right. We have a lot of young families, a lot of kids around here.
"I feel very comfortable preaching. It hasn't always been that way; I've never been a person to go up to a stranger and start chattering. I've tried to get better on an individual basis."
Cornerstone's ministries include junior church, a youth program, a ministry to senior citizens, a men's ministry and vacation Bible school.
"They try to do a lot and reach out," the Rev. Iocoangeli said. "They do a lot with the (Ida) fire department and they distribtuted backpacks for kids who needed them at the school."
He will be officially ordained by his father-in-law in a ceremony at 6:30 p.m. April 19 at Monroe Missionary Baptist Church. Cornerstone requested that the ordination be conducted at his old church.
"I'm really excited about being here. I'm very sure that this is where God wants me," Pastor Iocoangeli said from his church office. "I don't know how long I'll be here - I hope a long time - but you never know what God has in store."
monroenews.com/article/20090411/NEWS01/304119997
by Jeff Meade
IDA - When Tim Iocoangeli surrendered to the ministry as a high school senior, he figured his vocation would take him a long way from home.
Instead he found himself returning to his hometown of Ida.
The Rev. Iocoangeli, 26, became the new pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church last month. The Southern Baptist church, at 4000 Lewis Ave., is not far from the home where he grew up.
"I love Ida," he said. "I like the small atmosphere and knowing everybody. I always felt safe there. My only complaint was in basketball. Since you're smaller, you don't get as much recognition."
The Rev. Iocoangeli was an All-Region basketball standout at Ida High School and played one year of college basketball at Mid-Continent College in Mayfield, Ky.
He spent all of his growing-up years as a member of Monroe Missionary Baptist Church and eventually married the pastor's daughter. Basketball was huge in his life, then he felt a calling to the ministry.
"The summer before my senior year of high school, I was challenged to start reading my Bible daily," he said. "I had been a Christian since I was 7 and accepted the Lord as Savior, but I wasn't reading the Bible daily or praying a lot. God started showing me things. I ran from it for a little bit."
That changed the middle of his senior year when he attended a Christian youth rally in St. Louis and committed his life to full-time Christian ministry.
Shortly after high school, he became interim youth pastor at Monroe Missionary Baptist for a year and also served there as a deacon and Sunday school teacher.
He took a basketball team on a missions trip to the Philippines, where they ministered to 150 kids as a basketball clinic.
"I actually felt a calling to sports ministry (at first). God really used sports in my life to teach me different things," he said. "But I felt a strong calling in my life to families. I was not searching out a pastorate. I sort of put my name out there and was filling the pulpit at churches that were without a pastor."
He had married the former Amanda Southerland while still in college at William Tyndale. When that school closed, he graduated from Rochester College with a major in biblical studies and a minor in ministry.
He was invited to preach at Cornerstone last September, then was invited back two more times. The elders recommended him and the church members voted him in as their new pastor.
"They had been without a pastor since March, 2008," he said. "The church is 16 years old. They bought 14 aces here and built this building in 1999. The church members did all the building work themselves. I watched it being built because I lived on Stein Rd. I had some friends who I knew came here. The church was growing."
The Rev. Iocoangeli's first service as the new pastor was March 8. The church has Sunday school at 9 a.m., Sunday worship services at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., and a Wednesday evening service at 6:30.
The people of Cornerstone Baptist liked that their new pastor was from Ida.
"I didn't know too many people, but the parents of some of the people I graduated from high school with were here," he said. "The members are mostly local. We have some local farmers who are involved with the township. We have people who have been here their whole life. They know the ins and outs of Ida."
The Rev. and Mrs. Iocoangeli live in Monroe, where she teaches fifth and sixth grade at Waterloo Elementary School. They have a 3-year-old son, Jackson, and are expecting a daughter in August. Mrs. Iocoangeli's father is the Rev. Roy Southerland, pastor of Monroe Missionary Baptist.
"Because of my wife's father, I did get to see it sort of from the inside," the Rev. Iocoangeli said. "It's more work that I could have expected. You're very busy. The people here have great enthusiasm. They said, ‘We want to reach out to this community and let Ida know we're here.' It takes time, but we're going to get there."
He said he most enjoys "watching God use people in a way that awes and shocks other people. The people here want what's good. They want to do right. We have a lot of young families, a lot of kids around here.
"I feel very comfortable preaching. It hasn't always been that way; I've never been a person to go up to a stranger and start chattering. I've tried to get better on an individual basis."
Cornerstone's ministries include junior church, a youth program, a ministry to senior citizens, a men's ministry and vacation Bible school.
"They try to do a lot and reach out," the Rev. Iocoangeli said. "They do a lot with the (Ida) fire department and they distribtuted backpacks for kids who needed them at the school."
He will be officially ordained by his father-in-law in a ceremony at 6:30 p.m. April 19 at Monroe Missionary Baptist Church. Cornerstone requested that the ordination be conducted at his old church.
"I'm really excited about being here. I'm very sure that this is where God wants me," Pastor Iocoangeli said from his church office. "I don't know how long I'll be here - I hope a long time - but you never know what God has in store."