Former general secretary for the Church of the Nazarene Jack K. Stone was appointed interim district superintendent for the Arizona District this week.

The appointment was due to the resignation of Byron Schortinghouse, current district superintendent, in May.

The action of appointing an interim district superintendent was taken by General Superintendent J. K. Warrick with approval by the Board of General Superintendents and in consultation with a district committee.

The appointment will be effective July 1, 2011.

Stone, who retired as general secretary in April 2007, recently served as interim district superintendent for Kentucky (2009-2010).

He and his wife, Edna, reside in Winter Haven, Florida. 

Stone served as general secretary/Headquarters Operations Officer for the Church of the Nazarene for nearly 17 years. Prior to this service, he was district superintendent for Northeast Oklahoma from 1987 to 1990 and served as a pastor for 24 years in Tennessee, Florida, Kentucky, and Illinois.

Stone has been a retreat and revival speaker and contributed articles for pastoral and church publications. He taught classes in the master of ministry program at Olivet Nazarene University and at Lake City Community College in Florida. He also has served as a member of several district, regional, and general boards.

As general secretary, Stone served on various boards of directors and executive committees. He was the Headquarters Human Resources officer and was also responsible for official denominational statistics and records. In February 1994, Stone was also named Headquarters Operations officer and served as the on-site operations administrator for Headquarters.

Stone successfully coordinated four international general assemblies of the church in Indianapolis, Indiana (July 1993, June 2001, and June 2005), and San Antonio, Texas (June 1997). Related to each assembly, his responsibilities included preparing four or five professional books and journals in that year, including the official Nazarene Manual.

He is a graduate of Trevecca Nazarene College (now University). Stone did his graduate work at the Universities of Florida and Kentucky and earned his D.Min. at Luther Rice Seminary. He also received an honorary doctor of divinity degree from Trevecca.