Elders
Richard Bonner
My wife, Tacy, and I both spent our early years in Starkville, Mississippi. We started dating in high school and were married after our sophomore year of college. We graduated from Mississippi State University in 1989 and moved to Kingsport, where we joined the Northeast Church of Christ, and I started my career with Eastman Chemical Company. We have three children, Gill, Shelby and Kendall, who have grown up attending Northeast. As part of my career with Eastman, my family has spent 3 years in Europe and 2 in Columbia, South Carolina but we’re happy to be back at home in Kingsport. We are so grateful for the love, attention and teaching that we and our children have received from the wonderful members of Northeast over the years. God has blessed us with a loving church family and we are privileged to serve as part of the Northeast congregation. My prayer for the church is for unity and maturity while helping each other to serve God.
Bill Darnell
Tammy and I dated off and on through high school and after graduation we went our separate ways. She went to college and I went to work. We got together a couple of years later and realized we really loved each other. We married in 1979 and moved to Kingsport, TN. We were married ten years before we decided to start a family. Tammy already knew the importance of having God in your life, and she demonstrated Christianity in her everyday actions. God has truly blessed our lives with three wonderful children: Devin, Derek, and Alison. They are such an inspiration to us and we love to see their zeal to do God’s work. We moved from Valley Church of Christ to Northeast thirteen years ago primarily for the youth program. We became active immediately. I have served as a Deacon on the Brethren and Youth Ministries. Tammy and I coordinate our Lads to Leaders Program. Now as an elder, I feel it is an honor to serve the congregation in this capacity. I am committed to do the best I can to shepherd people along the way to mature in their Christian walk.
Prayer for the church: 1 Thessalonians 3:11-13
Frank Graves
Leslie and I are both native Mississippians. Leslie grew up in Starkville and I grew up in Brookhaven. We met at Mississippi State are we married in 1985 just before I graduated. I grew up in the church of Christ and was baptized in my youth. Leslie was baptized not long after we were married. We moved to Kingsport in January, 1986, and I have been working at Eastman Chemical Company since then. We have three adult children Daniel, Elizabeth, and Sarah and two grandchildren Sam and Abby, and another grandchild on the way. We love the congregation at Northeast and I am honored to serve as one of their elders.
Mark Mokry
I was born in Greeley, CO and am the seventh of ten children. Despite constantly moving all over the U.S. and having a wayward father; our conscience of God’s blessings, our mother and all the siblings pulling together kept our family intact. Although I met Karen my wife at an earlier age, we did not start dating until I saw her at the University of Memphis. I had always believed in Christ’s death and resurrection, but it was not until I started attending the Church of Christ with Karen and her family that I fully understood the greatness and simplicity of that gift; so I became a Christian. Karen and I have been married almost three decades and have three wonderful children; Cole, Tori and Ginger, who like for all parents keep one busy no matter how old they get. I have served as a deacon in our past congregations in Memphis, Las Vegas and here in Kingsport. It is a humbling honor to serve as an elder, and I ask for everyone’s continued prayers and support for all who serve in this role. With this I am reminded of 2nd Peter 1:5-9 that we all must strive to mature in our faith and love of God.
David Roff
Sally and I both grew up in northwestern Pennsylvania. We began dating while I was a junior and she a sophomore in high school. We married in 1976 and began our life as a family at my first permanent duty station with the Air Force, in Omaha Nebraska. We first became acquainted with the church of Christ while seeking to meet friends as newlyweds over 1000 miles from friends and family. After a few weeks of the Jewel Miller filmstrips, we both obeyed the Lord’s commands and were baptized for the remission of our sins and the Lord added us to his church/family. We really found a great wealth of friends and fellow family far beyond what we had thought may happen. Our family grew to include a son, Jacob who lives in Omaha with our granddaughter, and our daughter Rebecca and her son who also attend at
Northeast. Now that we both are fully retired, we began serving the lord in another
way. We started working with the Sojourners, AKA National Evangelism
with Sojourners.
Lynn Swallows
My wife, Liz, and I were both born in Tennessee and raised n Miami, Fla. We moved to Kingsport from San Diego, California in 1962 and raised our three daughters here. I am presently retired, first from what is now Eastman Chemical Company and then from independent consulting.
Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.
1 Timothy 5:17