By Kathy DeMott
ChapNaz Lead Pastor Dave Downs has served this congregation for over 26 years. He and his wife, Kelly, are retiring at the end of December and have passed the leadership baton to a new team. Kelly has also served ChapNaz in many different capacities throughout the years, including children’s ministry, community engagement, and women’s ministry.
The new lead pastors are Brian and Ashley Robbins, who have attended ChapNaz since they were teens. They have been working with youth and serving as associate pastors since returning to Vicksburg in 2018. Brian has an MBA degree from Olivet Nazarene University, a master’s of divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary, and is currently working on a doctorate of ministry at Duke Divinity School. Ashley has a master’s of social work degree from the University of Illinois and is a licensed counselor.
“Having grown up in Vicksburg, we love our small town, the schools, and the broader community. I attended Vicksburg schools from kindergarten through 12th grade and now our three children are doing the same,” Brian says. “Caleb attends Vicksburg Middle School while Grace and Cora both attend Indian Lake Elementary.”
“We are so excited to minister in this new capacity. We see it as an opportunity for our entire family to serve in a place where our hearts are firmly planted. We value building relationships with all people. While the world promotes doing life alone, our goal is to help others feel loved by God and our church community,” adds Ashley.
As lead pastors, Brian and Ashley are committed to shared leadership. They will both carry the responsibility of pastoring, communal decision making, and have an equal voice in ministry as a co-pastoral team. They are the first spousal team to co-pastor at ChapNaz. Historically, the Church of the Nazarene has ordained women in positions of pastoral leadership since its establishment in 1908.
“We are stepping into something new, but we have been sharing leadership roles for quite some time already. If there is a decision to make that we don’t fully agree on, then we probably haven’t reached the right solution yet,” shares Ashley. Although Dave Downs has held the title of lead pastor, he and his wife Kelly have modeled shared leadership as a couple to their daughters, Ashley, Chelsey, and Kati, along with their church family for decades.
Dave and Kelly love their community and are excited for the future of the church. “We have a thriving congregation with a growing children’s ministry, youth ministry, young adult ministry, and an active Encore ministry for those 55 years and up.
We have several other ministries that engage our local community including Kids Hope and our Clothes Closet, which serves the entire south county area. While we do provide free clothing, diapers, hats, coats, gloves, and the like; it is the relationships we foster with the many different families we get to serve that is the greatest gift,” shares Kelly.
While a completely separate entity, ChapNaz is located one mile from the Michigan District Campground (Indian Lake Nazarene Campground, ILNC). Different church groups and individuals come from all over the Midwest to visit ILNC. However, “ChapNaz is a local church serving Vicksburg and her neighboring communities. Everyone is welcome here,” states Pastor Dave.
Dave and Kelly plan to move to North Carolina this winter to spend more time with their family and grandchildren who live on the East Coast. However, they will return to Michigan and enjoy the summer months in Vicksburg. The hardest part of retiring will be missing their church and community family.
The community is invited to attend the Retirement Celebration Open House for Pastor Dave and Kelly Downs on Sunday, December 10th from 2-5 p.m. at ChapNaz Church.
