WHEATLAND — For two years the congregants at the Wheatland Church of the Nazarene have been without an in-person, local pastor. The former Nazarene pastor, who filled the pulpit for many years, moved on to Idaho, and members of the Wheatland church began joining those services via live-stream on Sundays. It can be uncomfortable for church members to be without a pastor; and finally, after two years, a man was called to Wheatland from Freetown, Indiana: Dale Braker and his wife June.
Braker and his wife pastored in Freetown for about eight years before coming to Wyoming. Nazarene Rocky Mountain District Superintendent Bob Skinner from Billings, Montana, was on hand for the official installation service. “I am thrilled to be in Wheatland, as they have been waiting so long. Today is a good day for the Wheatland church,” he said. Skinner spoke briefly but ardently about the definition of church and the calling to gather. “We tend to think of the church as a building or a place where we also understand traditions and rituals; but the church is really people. People called out to follow God — like the disciples did. He has called us to follow Him. It is not OUR church, but His,” said Skinner. “We now see a man being called even further to lead and shepherd this church. A man that will help build up and strengthen those who gather. And that man is Dale Braker.”
Sunday, December 17, was Pastor Braker’s first official day in the pulpit. The congregation joined in singing old-time Christmas hymns, and advent reading and prayer before Braker delivered his first sermon of many to come.
