Jan. 20 chili cook-off will help fund mission trip to Cuba

In planning for a mission trip to Cuba, Jed and Beth Acker and their daughters Joy and Lucy have baked and sold dozens of cookies. Now they are helping stir up interest in a chili cook-off.

The Ackers are joining five others from Shreve Community Church, a Global Methodist family, including Pastor Nate Fugate, for a trip to Pinar del Rio, where they will attend the Methodist Seminary’s graduation ceremony and visit area churches.

On the heels of a Christmas cookie fundraiser, the church’s mission committee will hold a chili cook-off on Jan. 20 at the church at 430 N. Main St. The contest and accompanying lunch are open to the public. Entries must be homemade and brought to the church already prepared by 10:30 a.m. the day of the contest. Awards will be given for first and second place and People’s Choice. To enter, call the church office at 330-567-2051.

The chili will be served with cornbread and dessert from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tickets for the lunch are $10 for adults and $5 for children and will be available at the door.

Fugate challenged his congregation. “I have the best chili,” he said. “I will not be beat, but you can try for second place.”

Proceeds from the cook-off will help defray travel costs for the mission group and pay for supplies to take along.

“The economy in Cuba has gone from bad to worse,” said Pastor Bill Lawson, a retired Methodist pastor and trip coordinator. “Some of the most basic things that we take for granted — toiletries, medicine and small food items — we will pack in our bags and share with them.”

Beth Acker said her family will pack extra clothes, sheets and towels to leave with their hosts. Her daughters will pack hair accessories and nail polish to share with Cuban girls.

Additionally, the group will take funds for the seminary, which was in its infancy when Lawson first led a trip there 20 years ago.

“It really wasn’t much of a seminary,” said Pat Visocky, who has made more than 10 trips to Cuba with the Shreve Community Church. “We can do so much more.”

The seminary now has 265 students and will graduate 75 of them when the Shreve group visits Feb. 6-13.

Administrators hold one graduation a year. Lawson said, “And if they know we are coming, they schedule it for when we can be there.”

The group also will travel through the Pinar del Rio Province and visit various churches and mission stations — locations where people have been meeting for worship. If a station becomes large enough, Lawson said the bishop will designate it a church.

“Every time we go down, we discover there are more and more new churches,” Lawson said. “We go for support and encouragement and to worship with them. And all of us, if we are honest, go for selfish reasons because we get more than we take. The folks there are very loving, very gracious.”

Jed and Beth Acker first made the trip to Pinar del Rio in 2006. When their daughters were invited as youth representatives for this trip, they decided to go along for support.

“We want to go back and share the experience as a family,” Jed Acker said. “It’s a different type of worship there. They are on fire for Jesus.”

Joy and Lucy Acker, both Triway High School students, are excited to learn about the culture and worship with the Cuban people.

“I look forward to experiencing their love for the Lord and seeing what I can bring back from that,” Joy Acker said.

Visocky said she is drawn back to Cuba because of the uncontainable joy the Cuban church has for the Lord. She said she is always amazed by how effective the church is in reaching the lost.

Lisa Gress canceled a cruise to join the group, marking it her sixth time to travel to Pinar del Rio.

It’s the people who draw her back.

They share their lives and passionate worship, she said, “and it lingers.”