'Minister' has grown from noun to verb

For the better part of a half-century, Frank and Marlin Poynor were the always-genial proprietors of Poynors’ Home and Auto, a sprawling store on the 400 block of South Avenue C in Portales where you could buy anything from refrigerators and fishing tackles to car tires and casserole dishes.

What made the place exceptional was the customer service. Frank and Marlin were masters of it, and so were their long-time employees. When you walked through the doors of that business, you were genuinely welcomed.

Poynors’ closed in 2001, and two years later Frank was tragically killed in a bicycling accident, but his legacy of kindness — which is really what customer service is all about — lives on in an organization he helped establish in our community.

It should come as no surprise to anyone who knew Frank that he was a founding force behind the Portales Ministerial Alliance, according to Don Thomas, pastor of Central Christian Church and current president of the organization.

“Frank Poynor is one of my all-time heroes,” Don told me. “Rarely a week goes by that I don’t recall a comment or the way he mentored me. Frank wanted all the churches to work together and get along, especially in the area of how they dealt with benevolence.”

Frank was an elder at Southside Church of Christ in the 1980s when the idea was born for a formal collaboration of local clergy.

“It has gone through many changes of personnel through the years,” Don said, “but the concept has always been the same … help people from Portales get through tough times.”

While it began as a coalition of ministers, “in recent years, we have expanded to include organizations that want to impact the community like United Way of Eastern New Mexico, Habitat for Humanity of Roosevelt and Curry Counties, the Portales Dream Center and others,” Don said. “The Alliance is made up of people who care about Portales.”

The Portales Ministerial Alliance is conducting a city-wide Thanksgiving service at 6 p.m. Sunday, hosted by Central Christian Church in its sanctuary at 1528 S. Main Ave. Don said it will be a “one-hour worship assembly” open to all, as well as the kick-off of the annual Salvation Army Red Bucket campaign.

It sounds like “minister” has grown from a noun into a verb. I think Frank Poynor would approve.

Betty Williamson loves it when people come together for the good of a community. You may reach her at [email protected].