On the day he was elected to the Board of General Superintendents, David Graves expressed feelings of both unworthiness to serve and deep love for his church. “I’m very humbled by your vote of confidence in me,” he told the delegates to the 27th General Assembly. “I feel unworthy. I have a great love for God and a great love for the family called the Church of the Nazarene.”

That was 14 years ago. Since then, Graves has trotted the globe serving the Nazarene family he loves.

David W. Graves was elected the 38th general superintendent of the Church of the Nazarene on Wednesday evening, 1 July 2009. He was elected on the 22nd ballot at the 27th General Assembly of the Church of the Nazarene in Orlando, Florida, USA. He retired from the Board of General Superintendents at the 30th General Assembly in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.

Graves was born a fourth-generation Nazarene. One of his great aunts on his father’s side was affiliated with the work of pioneer holiness minister J. O. McClurkan, the inaugural president of Trevecca Nazarene University. On his mother’s side of the family, one of his great uncles made the trip in a horse and buggy all the way from Kansas to the second General Assembly of the Church of the Nazarene in Pilot Point, Texas, in 1908. This is the General Assembly that Church of the Nazarene points to for its founding. When his great uncle returned from Pilot Point to Kansas, he told his family, “We have found our church.” Generations later, that man’s great nephew was elected to that church’s highest elected office.

Graves has always approached his ministry as a general superintendent with a pastor’s heart. “All my life,” he told the General Assembly of 2009, “the only thing I ever wanted to hear was someone to call me ‘pastor.’ There is no higher honor than to preach the Word of God and for someone to call me ‘pastor.’”

This love for shepherding and leading the local church was heavily influenced by his father, Harold B. Graves Sr., who served for many years as a Nazarene pastor and then as the superintendent of the San Antonio District and the Southwestern Ohio District. David Graves grew up in a parsonage family. He has spent most of his ministerial life leading local churches. He was ordained an elder in the Church of the Nazarene by General Superintendent William Greathouse on the North Carolina District in 1980.

De 1979 a 1981, ele serviu como pastor da First Church of the Nazarene (agora Cornerstone Community Church of the Nazarene) em Monroe, Carolina do Norte. De lá, ele foi chamado para Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, onde pastoreou a Broken Arrow First Church of the Nazarene de 1981 a 1986. Depois, mudou-se para Marion, Ohio, para servir como pastor sênior da Marion First Church of the Nazarene de 1986 a 1989.

De Marion, ele foi chamado para servir como pastor sênior da Grace Church of the Nazarene em Nashville, Tennessee, onde pastoreou de 1989 a 1993. Sua próxima atribuição pastoral o levou à Springdale Church of the Nazarene em Cincinnati, Ohio, onde serviu de 1993 a 2001.

Em 2001, Graves foi eleito pela Junta Geral da Igreja do Nazareno para servir como diretor do Ministério de Escola Dominical (agora Discipulado Nazareno Internacional). Nesse papel, Graves liderou o desenvolvimento de ministérios de discipulado nas igrejas locais ao redor do mundo.

Ele serviu a igreja nessa função até 2006, quando retornou ao pastorado para servir como pastor sênior da College Church of the Nazarene em Olathe, Kansas. Graves estava servindo como pastor dessa congregação no campus da MidAmerica Nazarene University quando foi eleito para a Junta de Superintendentes Gerais em 2009.

O ministério de Graves como superintendente geral o levou a todo o mundo. Ele serviu à família global da Igreja do Nazareno por 14 anos nessa função. Embora possa ter se sentido não merecedor no momento de sua eleição, ele tem sido fiel ao chamado. Seu grande amor por Deus é evidente, e seu grande amor pela família chamada Igreja do Nazareno é tão claro hoje quanto era na época. A ele, à sua amada esposa, Sharon, e a toda a sua família, a Igreja do Nazareno estende sua mais profunda gratidão.

--Cortesia de Holiness Today