Members of the Board of General Superintendents were the recipients of the first six Centennial Heritage Awards on February 24 as an inaugural portion of the Centennial Celebration of the Church of the Nazarene. The presentation ceremony took place at the meeting of the 85th General Board of the Church of the Nazarene in Overland Park, Kansas.

Dr. James H. Diehl, Dr. Paul G. Cunningham, Dr. Jerry D. Porter, Dr. Jesse C. Middendorf, Dr. Nina G. Gunter, and Dr. J. K. Warrick were all recognized as a modern segment of the holiness heritage of the Church of the Nazarene, replete with men and women of vision, faith, service, and sacrifice, without whom the church would not be the body that it is today—1.7 million Nazarenes in 151 world areas. Each general superintendent was honored as a global leader and especially as a holiness preacher of the Word of God.

The Centennial Heritage Award is a one-time honor that will be presented throughout the Church of the Nazarene only during this Centennial Celebration year. Every local church will have the opportunity to honor its own heroes of the faith with the Centennial Heritage Award.

The award is an original, limited edition lithograph, matted and framed, each piece signed and numbered by the artist. The Board of General Superintendents received the first six numbered pieces. Designed specifically for the Centennial, the lithograph is a collage of photos tracing unity and diversity across the history of the Church of the Nazarene—the Hallelujah March around the Pilot Point tent in 1908, the first Board of General Superintendents, an unnamed pastor delivering the gospel through translations provided by World Mission Literature, and more than a hundred images of individuals spread across every continent of many nations, many languages, many cultures, many races, all united as one in our first 100 years. Every person it depicts, every scene, carried the church one step closer to where we are today. A certificate commemorating the award was presented to each general superintendent as well.

“Each of our more than 20,000 churches has its own heroes, past and present, who sacrificially committed to establish the church, held it firm in a time of testing, gave beyond their means, and lived out the mission to make Christlike disciples in the nations, as well as in their own rural areas, villages, and cities,” said Gay Leonard, Centennial Celebration coordinator, in presenting the awards. “It is fitting that as Nazarenes around the world prepare to celebrate our unity as the family of God, we tonight honor these six persons as global leaders whom God has called out to guide and set the vision for the worldwide Church of the Nazarene.”

Local churches may order the Heritage Award lithograph while supplies last from Nazarene Publishing House for presentation on Centennial Sunday, October 5, 2008. More complete information for selecting persons to be honored is given in the Centennial Celebration Leader’s Guide, which pastors will be receiving from their district superintendents or regional leaders.