Nancy Shuman
“As members of the Body of Christ, we are all necessary. God has given us spiritual gifts to fulfill His purpose, yet there are different seasons to our lives and our ministries may change.”
Retired WGM support staff member Nancy Shuman has gone through times of great change herself throughout her life, but she always sought after God’s direction and followed Him.
Born in Anderson, Indiana, Nancy came to know the Lord under the ministry of Max Morgan, the father of Sarah Harriman. Nancy’s husband had been saved in Anderson during the 1970 revival that was sparked by a witness team from Asbury College (Kentucky). In response, Nancy offered to go with him to church. Until that time, she was a self-described “modern American heathen who knew more about Eastern religions than Christianity.”
After accepting God’s call on their lives, Nancy and Randy studied at Wesley Biblical Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi, and went on to serve in churches in Indiana, Michigan, Alabama, and Mississippi. During that time, they adopted their son, Jeremiah. In 1997, Nancy suffered deeply when her husband left the ministry and their family.
“But God—the two most life-changing words I know—has provided in ways I never could have imagined,” Nancy shared.
Nancy worked as the director of Community Development for the Jackson Corps of The Salvation Army for five years before returning “home” to Indiana to join WGM in 2004. At WGM, she served as the director of Development and as the Media Relations coordinator. She visited donors in their homes and at camp meetings, wrote appeal letters and gift acknowledgements, wrote and edited articles, and served as liaison with media and various WGM communities.
She especially loved visiting various mission fields; she traveled to Bolivia and Japan on prayer teams and to Peru and Kenya on media teams, visited Honduras, and served as the cook on a Taylor University (Indiana) team to St. Croix. As a lover of books and reading, Nancy has a passion for teaching literacy. Most recently, in 2013, she helped with English instruction at the missionary training camp in Córdoba, Argentina.
Nancy semi-retired in 2009 and began serving as hostess for the Abbott Center, a guesthouse on WGM’s campus. She enjoyed welcoming missionary families, ministry partners, and community guests and helping them feel at home. “I just put the names on the board; God made the reservations!”
In 2014, after an injury forced her to cut back her activities, Nancy retired again, 10 years to the day after first coming to WGM. She lives in Muncie, Indiana, with one of her sisters and continues to seek opportunities for ministry as she is able.
Nancy added: “Psalm 138:8 (ESV) says: ‘The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.’ I’m thankful for those promises!”