Chambers Honored at General Assembly
Rev. O. Wayne Chambers was recently honored with a resolution of appreciation during the General Council at last month’s Church of God International General Assembly in Nashville. The resolution was presented by immediate past general overseer, Mark Williams.
Chambers is a former administrator at the Church of God International Offices, serving, among other posts, as director of pensions and legal services and the first president of the Church of God Benefits Board, Inc., the renamed entity of the Church of God Ministers Retirement Fund.
Immediate past general overseer, Mark Williams (left) presents a resolution of appreciation to O. Wayne Chambers while his wife, Carolyn, looks on (click to enlarge photo)
The resolution stated that Chambers first broached the idea in 1977 with the Executive Council, “for the creation of a Pensions Department at the International Offices.” The proposal was to replace the former Aged Ministers Plan, which, “with an estimated monthly benefit of $200.00, had proved inadequate to meet the retirement needs of its qualified members.”
Chambers’ proposal became a reality in 1982 with the launch of the Ministers’ Retirement Plan. He became director of the plan in 1988 and was named President/Chief Executive Officer of the Benefits Board when it was formed 12 years later as its own entity in February 1994.
According to current Benefits Board president, Art Rhodes, at the time Chambers was installed the assets under management were approximately $45 million – having grown from nothing in 1983 to $45 million by 1994. In the next five years, from 1994 to 1999 when Chambers retired, the assets under management doubled to over $90 million.
“The Board saw phenomenal growth during those first five years under Bro. Chambers’ guidance and leadership,” Rhodes stated. “Today the total assets under management at the Benefits Board have grown to $346 million and 5,200 members – with about 4,000 ministers and 1,200 church-related employees in the program.”
“Without the drive and determination that Brother Chambers brought to the effort, there is no doubt in my mind that the Ministers’ Retirement Plan or the Church of God Benefits Board would have never existed,” Rhodes continued. “For years, Brother Chambers single-handedly fought for a better retirement plan than the church was offering through the Aged Ministers Fund.”
“Hardly a month goes by that I do not hear from someone who tells me or the staff a story about how much they thank Brother Chambers for making the retirement plan possible, or someone who tells us about him convincing them to join the plan,” Rhodes said. “In my own family, Brother Chambers was responsible for convincing my dad as a struggling pastor in Mississippi to start setting aside funds for his retirement. Although my dad has now been gone for over six years, my mother is still benefitting from those contributions that my dad made years ago…Brother Chambers is a hero to all of us at the Benefits Board. He and Carolyn are dearly loved.”
