::Meet Our Director -

Rodney Neighbors

The article below is from the August 25, 2010 Webster County Citizen Newspaper:

Meet Rodney Neighbors

            Neighbors grew up in Ashville, North Carolina, a middle child with two older brothers and two younger sisters.  He describes himself as a “cool nerd” who made friends with people with a variety of interests.  He says his favorite classes in high school were physics and chemistry, not because of the subjects, but because of the teacher, Mrs. Barnwell. 

            “She was very creative,” Neighbors said with a smile, “and I admired her creativity.  Now, I like to take boring things and make them creative (like she did.)”

            In his spare time, he enjoyed playing piano and singing in the choir.

            After graduating from high school, Neighbors got his Bachelor of Arts degree in Christian Education with a minor in Church Music from Trevecca Nazarene University.

            With his college degree in hand, Neighbors worked as a youth pastor for many years and also served as Director of Admissions for Eastern Nazarene College in Boston, Massachusetts.  The positions he accepted caused him to travel throughout the southeastern part of the United States.  He is still in touch with many of the people he met during that time through FaceBook and Twitter.

            Now, as Neighbors looks around his new ministry opportunity at the R.O.C.C., he is excited because he looks forward to challenges.

            “The R.O.C.C. is in its infancy,” he said, “and I will have the opportunity to build it from the foundational level.  What I build will not be about me or built on my personality.  Instead, it will be built so that when I leave someday, I won’t even be missed.  It will be seamless so that things continue to happen in a better way than when I started here.  I guess you could say that I want to grow myself out of this position.”

            Neighbors considers himself to be an “incremental dreamer.”  What is that?

            “I am task oriented and detailed,” he said of his style of leadership.  “I like to build small dreams toward larger visions.  If someone else has a larger picture of what something can be, I can get us there. I visualize projects from the beginning to the end, (with all the steps in between.)”

            If Neighbors had one wish for the R.O.C.C., it would be that it would become known beyond its own walls or even Webster County as a refuge of compassion where people can come when their world is falling apart through financial, family or national disaster.

            He anticipates his biggest challenge will be learning to work with all of the different agencies with which the R.O.C.C. is affiliated, and becoming used to living in a totally different part of the country than he has ever lived before.

            “This is the farthest inland I’ve ever lived,” he said with a smile.

            But if the landscape is unfamiliar, working with people who have needs is not.

            “My father finished college late in life,” he said, “and he became a pastor.  So I’ve been a pastor’s kid most of my life.  That life exposed me to other people and events (in their lives.)  It really expanded my horizons.

            “In some ways, I guess you could say I am going back (through this position with the R.O.C.C.) to who I am, because I grew up appreciating families and who they were.”

            For more information about the R.O.C.C., check out their new You Tube video by visiting www.therocconline.com.  The R.O.C.C office, which is located at 437 North Main Street, is open from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.  Phone 417-935-9111 for more information.