Faith and perseverance at the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 2 years, 5 months AGO
Stacey A. Scott, basketball coach and speaker, tells his story at the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast Tuesday.
JOEL MARTIN/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Attendees at the Moses lake Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast sing a medley of hymns and praise songs Tuesday morning.
Moses Lake Mayor Dustin Swartz speaks during the 2024 Mayor's Prayer Breakfast. Swarts urged those present and the community as a whole to take care of one another during his comments.
Attendees at the Moses Lake Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast sing a medley of hymns and praise songs Tuesday morning.
State Rep. Tom Dent, R-Moses Lake, speaks at the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast about the importance of watching out for each other.
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | May 8, 2024 2:00 AM
MOSES LAKE — “God’s not done with you yet.”
That was the theme of this year’s Moses Lake Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast Tuesday morning at Pillar Rock Grill in Moses Lake.
“God is continuing to work on me and sanctify me and change me,” said Danny Stone, a Grant County commissioner and retired minister. “(He’s) not done with us yet … In Grant County, in the cities of this county, in the homes of this county, greater things are yet to come. And we need to walk forward in faith knowing that God's still at work. God still has great things to do in your life, in my life, in our community and in our county.”
This year marks the 29th year the Kiwanis Club of Moses Lake has put on the prayer breakfast. About 180 people came to hear the speakers and pray for the Moses Lake community. Speakers included Moses Lake Mayor Dustin Swartz, State Rep. Tom Dent, State Sen. Judy Warnick, and several ministers from local churches.
Swartz spoke a little bit about Kiwanis and its precepts and purpose, then put the business of running and improving the city in spiritual terms.
“A man once wrote, ‘I never just sit and do nothing while waiting for (God) to tell me what to do. Rather, I do whatever it is in front of me to be done, and I leave the results up to him. However, it turns out, that's God's will for me,’” he said.
For a person of faith, Swartz said, that’s how human intelligence and abilities are to be used: Prioritizing doing what’s right over concerns with what the consequences may be.
“On Nov. 21, 1944, my grandfather went out to do chores,” Dent told the crowd. “When he didn't return, my grandmother sent my father to find him. And he found him dead in the barn, in what was ruled a suicide … So this is my ask this morning to all of you: Watch your friends and your neighbors and your families and when you see a change in behavior, reach out, touch them, love them. I don’t care if you like ’em; just love ’em. Because we can make a difference.”
The keynote speaker was Stacey A. Scott, a basketball coach who had a brief professional career. About 12 years earlier, Scott had become close to Moses Lake Kiwanians Dr. James and Frances Irwin, who considered him another son, Frances Irwin said. He spoke openly about his journey through a rough childhood, two failed marriages and a couple of near-fatal accidents to find God waiting for him at every turn.
“Scripture says bad company trumps good morals,” Scott said. “It crushed my morals. I was into some things I shouldn't have been into. I was around guys I shouldn't have been around, and having that association led me down a path that God didn't want me to go down.”
Scott said his second marriage was very toxic and caused a lot of heartache with some seriously concerning behaviors in the relationship.
”But this is the deal, guys. It's my fault. I never should have allowed myself to be in yet another relationship that was based on me (and not on God).”
Rather than fall into another relationship, Scott said, he focused his efforts on establishing Never Alone Ministries, an online ministry aimed at helping people damaged by abusive or narcissistic relationships. A woman contacted the ministry who had also suffered through an abusive marriage, he said, and volunteered to help. The two slowly developed a friendship and then a relationship. Only when James Irwin passed away in 2020 did Scott learn that the woman who was helping him through his grief was a well-known Christian singer, Nicole C. Mullen. The two married that year.
About a year later, Scott was in a car accident that nearly cost him his life. He found out later, he said, that Nicole and her whole band had been praying for him in the wee hours of the morning the night before.
“So when people tell me that God is not real, prayer doesn't work, that doesn't sit well with me,” Scott said. “At the end of the day, I look at this and say, God, you're still not done with me yet.”
Joel Martin may be reached via email at [email protected].
Attendees at the Moses lake Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast sing a medley of hymns and praise songs Tuesday morning.
Moses Lake Mayor Dustin Swartz speaks during the 2024 Mayor's Prayer Breakfast. Swarts urged those present and the community as a whole to take care of one another during his comments.
State Rep. Tom Dent, R-Moses Lake, speaks at the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast about the importance of watching out for each other.ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
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BASIN EVENTS: Oct. 16-24
COLUMBIA BASIN — Whether you feel like shopping, crafting, learning or seeing a show, there’s something happening for you this week in the Basin. Oct. 16 ‘My Family (Mi Familia)’ screening Spanning three generations, “My Family (Mi Familia)” is a heartfelt drama that follows the Sánchez family as they build their lives in East Los Angeles. Through love, hardship, triumph, and sacrifice, the film explores the immigrant experience, the strength of family bonds, and the traditions that connect one generation to the next. Lowrider show and taco truck before the screening. Sponsored by Columbia Basin Allied Arts, EDUBS C/S and the Moses Lake Creative District. $12 per person. Doors open at 6 p.m., film begins at 7 p.m. at the Moses Lake Civic Center Auditorium, 401 S. Balsam St. Tickets and info: www.cba-arts.org.
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