Thank you, Andrea!

Effective October 20th, 2026, Andrea Sowards will conclude a 5.5 year employment with New Heights Church to step into a full time position working at Heartwood Coffee. We’re so grateful for all that she’s done for our church as our kids ministry director. Make sure she feels that love from you, Church!

Here are some brief implications of Andrea’s departure:

SERVICE

Andrea has built healthy systems in our kids + youth ministries through the years to allow us to continue the work. But we always need more help. To adequately pour into kids and teenagers, we always need more volunteers. All of us can take one step up to ensure that we don’t miss a beat in these next-generation ministries. If you’d like to begin serving, serve more frequently, or consider leadership, contact Pastor Stephen at stephen@newheightswv.com.

BUDGET

At this time, we do not plan to re-hire at the kids ministry director position. After sending our Radiant Church, our giving base and volunteer base are both lower. As always, if you’re a covenant member, we would encourage obedience in generosity and that helps us prepare for healthy ministry years ahead. Your pastors are beginning a draft of the 2027 budget now, but we’re hopeful to be able to maintain youth and kids ministries without paid staff and will be able to allocate more financial resources to those efforts.

HONOR

Andrea has poured so much into the ministry here at New Heights as a staff person as well as a volunteer. We can all attest to the truth of her working well beyond the hours we have paid her for. Scripture calls us to out-do one another in honor and we plan to honor Andrea in an abundance of financial generosity to bless her family during the transition to a new job. We would also call you to honor Andrea as well as other class and ministry volunteer leaders.

Nursery (0-18 mo.) — Heather Wray

Toddlers (18 mo. - 3 yrs) — Heather Wray (interim)

Pre-K (4-5 year olds) — Stacey Corbin

K-1st Grade — Shandy Adkins

2nd-4th Grade — Jeremy Berry (interim)

Youth (5th-12th Grade) — Tanner Litz

Summit Kids (Wednesdays) — Jaycie Bias (prospective)