April 1, 2023, I will celebrate my first anniversary as the director of the Iris B. Vest SpiritCare Center.  There are immeasurable days of grace and mercy which have been evident from the first day until now. When one of these precious saints have a smile on their face, or a grim look because of something they are personally dealing with, they readily make it known of their faith and steadfastness in God who has been by their side for many years of ministry.

In one of our projects, I asked the question as to how long each individual had served in ministry. So many of our residents (because of current age) have gracefully served at least 40 years in ministry in some capacity. When you multiply this by just 25 of our residents the number of years served collectively is astounding. That’s a calculation of approximately 1,000 years of ministry. This includes women of God who taught Sunday school, children’s workers, builders, men and women who have been worship leaders, pastors, pastors' wives, janitors, Bible teachers, even those who served as greeters or whatever was needed in their ministry assignments. 

Their service unto the Lord has not stopped. It may be at a slower pace but their heart-felt love of the Lord is stronger today than the day before. They are living examples of the song, It gets sweeter as the days go by. I personally can repeat the words of the song as my tenure at the SpiritCare Center is getting sweeter as the days go by. And I might add…quickly, the days are going by. 

Dr.Pamela Kay Overbey

Executive Director