Village Ministry Center: Helping Convoy

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

CONVOY — When U.S. Representative Bob Latta toured Van Wert County villages last month, he was particularly interested in the story of how the Village Ministry Center in Convoy was created. The story is about a group of churches banding together to make its community a better place to live.

One of the principal organizers of the group, Pastor Mike Saylor of Redeemer Lutheran Church, said the VMC came about primarily because village churches asked themselves “what can we do to support our community, to make Convoy better?”

Although he said he wasn’t “a very pretty guy”, Pastor Saylor noted he was the “cheerleader” for the group, the person who facilitated getting people together and then cheering on their efforts to get the center off the ground. “The idea was to get the right people together and find out what they’re good at,” he said, “then let them do what they’re best at.”

The VMC currently offers a number of activities and events, including homework assistance after school and one-on-one tutoring for Crestview students, as well as a Women @ the Well book and coffee appreciation club, a community Bible study workshop, and a Stitched Together group comprised of people who like to knit and socialize. More activities are planned as community needs are identified.

The local pastor said area residents came together late last year to talk about the project and Convoy residents were then contacted to get their ideas on what could be done.

“The first thing, we knew, we had to invest ourselves right where the people are,” Saylor said of the decision to talk to community residents about their perceived needs.

The change in the village’s social structure was one thread that seemed to run through each discussion, with single families, drugs and economic instability changing the fabric of the Convoy community.

“Everyone that we talked to – from over at the bank to across the street at the flower shop to down at the school – they all said the same thing: Convoy is not what it was 10 years ago, or 20 years ago, and we want to try to get back to that,” Saylor noted. “This is something that, as Christians, we felt, if we don’t step up, who’s going to do this … let’s see what we can do, develop relationships, and see what happens.”

Saylor said the local school system one of the first to buy into the idea.

“They (Crestview) were more than ready to learn about this,” he said of the school’s involvement.

Pastor Saylor said Crestview High School Principal Mike Biro was one of the first people he talked to. “The school is such a big part of our community, the pastor said, adding that Biro was very interested in getting new teachers and staff to be invested in the community. “Not just to come in and work a year or two to pad their resumes … we want them to stay.”

Crestview Superintendent Mike Estes also acknowledged that

The Convoy area pastor said that group did some fundraising, receiving a couple of grants, as well as a number of donations from area residents and businesses.

“We have been very blessed,” Saylor said, noting that the group received grants from the Convoy Community Foundation and The Van Wert County Foundation, although he added that most of the funding has come from local individuals.

A local businessman also donated an empty storefront in the downtown Convoy area that could be used as a community center, and local churches got together to clean up the building and get the center ready for

The center is open after school and also plans evening events and activities, with Pastor Saylor

“The really interesting thing is that, the more people who come in, the more ideas that are generated,” the Convoy area minister said.

“Here’s what we’ve done already, if nothing else happens, a whole bunch of people – 50, 60, 70 people — from all the churches in this community and beyond have come together numerous times … they’ve worked together, they’ve gotten to know each other more,” Saylor said, adding, philosophically, “So, at this point, if it all goes away and all the programming stopped, at the very least we’ve made a building in downtown nice.”

But Pastor Saylor said the project has already exceeded his expectations.

“It’s gone way beyond what we thought it would be,” the pastor said. “We’re excited to see how it goes and how it happens.”

For more information on the Village Ministry Center, access its website at www.vmcconvoy.com.