Allen Shaver and John Hall recently certified
NASHVILLE, Tenn. –– North Carolina and Western North Carolina Conference churches that want to expand their ministries to men now have four persons who are qualified to provide that help.
Allen Shaver and John Hall, members of Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Durham, became the third and fourth North Carolina men to be certified as a “men’s ministry specialists.” Other men who previously qualified for the position are Neil Brown, Spruce Pine and Dick Strachan, Kings Mountain.
Following an intensive training experience, the men may lead a 12-hour training course titled “Understanding Men’s Ministry.” The course is based upon content and materials used by Orlando, Fla. based-Man in the Mirror in a 2½-day learning seminar. The condensed curriculum is packaged in four 3-hour sections.
Both men were certified as men’s ministry specialists in absentia by the General Commission on United Methodist Men at a March 5 commissioning service in Nashville.
In 2008, nine Aldersgate men participated in a No-Man-Left-Behind seminar led by Man in the Mirror. It was there they learned how to transform the local unit into an intentional ministry that focuses on discipleship.
Allen Shaver
Shaver, a seven-year member of Aldersgate UMC, has served as chair of the Stewardship Committee and president of United Methodist Men. In January, he was named hunger relief advocate for United Methodist Men of the North Carolina Conference. In this post he will serve as the link between the conference and the Society of St. Andrew, a hunger relief agency based in Big Island, Va.
A 23-year veteran of the communications technology industry, Shaver has held leadership roles in software development, product management, business development, engineering services, and technical operations. He is currently in charge of supply chain process management. The experiences have convinced him of the need to disciple men.
“Corporations and private businesses are filled with men who do not know the word of Christ, or who know the word but feel unable to live out Christ’s teachings in the work place,” he lamented.
Shaver and his wife, Kay, have two adopted children, Daniel in 2001 and Jonathan in 2004. “Both were open adoptions where two courageous young women decided to give birth and entrust us to raise their newborns,” he said. “Though this process, all of us grew in our faith in and understanding of God’s love.”
The couple has completed the four-part DISCIPLE Bible Study, a commitment Shaver encourages all UM Men to make.
Shaver says he would like to offer his own faith journey as a testimony to how God works and as encouragement to UM men who may not believe they can help other men.
He was not raised Christian and did not make a profession of faith until 2003. During the first two decades of his adult life, not a single man made a credible offer of Christ to him. “I believe I would have accepted God’s redeeming grace earlier if just one Christian man had reached out to mentor me and show me the way,” he says.
“My prayer is that the cycle of not knowing God and not living a Christ-centered life will be broken by men who are equipped to lead other men to know Christ and live a Christ-centered life. One man at a time, we will prepare the Kingdom for Christ’s return.”
John Hall
Hall, a 12 year member of Aldersgate UMC, serves as the lay leader of the 950-member congregation. He has also served on the Board of Trustees, the Staff-Parish Relations Committee, the Finance Committee and the Administrative Board. He also has taught DISCIPLE III and DISCIPLE IV, and he is a member of two small-group ministries.
Skilled in technology, he has led Aldersgate in the recording and distributing worship services, and he directed the audio, lighting, and production of special services such as Christmas and Easter.
He served as president of UM Men in 2004-2005, and has served as secretary/treasurer since then. He now serves as president of the Durham District UM Men.
He retired from Hewlett Packard in 2005 after 23 years as a technology development engineer, and he is currently a technical trainer at SAS Institute Inc. in Cary, N.C.
“My primary goal as a men’s ministry specialist is to expand the definition and outreach of men’s ministry, to meet men where they are in their walk with Christ and invite them to a deeper, more committed faith journey,” said Hall.
He and his wife, Holly, have two children: Kimberly, who lives in New York City, and Chris, who attends college at Durham Technical Community College in the college transfer program. They live in Durham with their Basset Hound, Bogey.