{"id":8280,"date":"2005-12-23T01:00:29","date_gmt":"2005-12-23T06:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?p=8280"},"modified":"2011-07-06T08:29:22","modified_gmt":"2011-07-06T13:29:22","slug":"4657","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2005\/12\/23\/4657\/","title":{"rendered":"MS President Reflects on Father’s Influence"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Stan Friedman<\/p>\n

CHICAGO (December 23, 2005)\u00a0 – Joyce Nelson says she always was a bit\u00a0 rebellious and a challenge for her parents.<\/p>\n
“We were a raucous bunch of kids,” says Nelson. “Three of the four of us\u00a0 fit the stereotype of pastor’s kids.”<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/a>The president and CEO of\u00a0 the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Nelson says she now has more\u00a0 respect for her parents, Margaret and the late Wesley Nelson, a\u00a0 well-known Covenant pastor and former North Park Theological Seminary\u00a0 professor. (To read Joyce’s reflections during a memorial service to her\u00a0 father in January 2003, please see Wesley Nelson.)<\/a><\/p>\n
“My appreciation and connection with my folks and the admiration\u00a0 continue to grow,” Nelson says. “They, for me, really modeled a calling,\u00a0 and you don’t find that much anymore, where people feel called to a\u00a0 certain work.”<\/p>\n
Called is exactly what Nelson feels in her job. “When you’re called, you\u00a0 don’t worry about the hours you put in. I don’t think I realized at the\u00a0 time how much of an influence they were on me.”<\/p>\n
Nelson was elected by the Board of Directors in December 2004 and became\u00a0 president in January after having spent 21 years working her way up\u00a0 through the organization. Though she had been the national director of\u00a0 field operations for five years preceding her election, she says she is\u00a0 surprised by the demands of the job.<\/p>\n
Once thinking she knew almost all there was to know about the job,\u00a0 Nelson says, “I’m learning I didn’t know as much as I thought I did.”\u00a0 She adds, “What I didn’t know is how much I would love this work.”<\/p>\n
The work this past year has meant earning a lot of air miles as she\u00a0 travels from her home in Denver to numerous locations in the country.\u00a0 Not only is she learning more about the job, she is gaining a better\u00a0 understanding of her father’s work.<\/p>\n
“There’s quite a lot of speaking in my job,” Nelson says. “That’s why\u00a0 I’ve gained a whole new appreciation for my dad. And he had to come up\u00a0 with something different every week. At least I can use the same speech.”<\/p>\n
When Nelson graduated from North Park University in the early 1970s, she\u00a0 never imagined herself leading a large nonprofit organization. Having\u00a0 graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English and secondary education,\u00a0 the newly graduated student discovered she didn’t care much for the\u00a0 classroom.<\/p>\n
She began looking to work for a nonprofit agency when she learned the\u00a0 Multiple Sclerosis Society chapter in the San Francisco Bay area was\u00a0 looking for someone to coordinate its read-a-thon, in which children\u00a0 secured monetary contribution pledges for the books they read. She began\u00a0 recruiting teachers and schools and got her first taste of fundraising.<\/p>\n
Two years later she became the executive director of the office in\u00a0 Kansas City, Kansas. “When I first started, it was just a job. After a\u00a0 year or two, I saw that it could really be a career,” Nelson says.<\/p>\n
“I got to get involved in community development, building coalitions,\u00a0 advocacy,” Nelson recalls. “Now I get to spark the challenge in others.\u00a0 That’s why I’m enjoying the job so much.”<\/p>\n
Nelson’s drive and desire to help others is quickly apparent when\u00a0 speaking with her. They have been a major part of her life, even as a\u00a0 teenager, when her father’s involvement in the civil rights movement\u00a0 influenced her.<\/p>\n
She relates one story of being a high school senior in 1968 and deciding\u00a0 she wanted to know what it was like to be a minority. To gain a better\u00a0 understanding, she transferred in the spring to an all-black school on\u00a0 the south side of Chicago. During the final weeks there, Martin Luther\u00a0 King was shot and when she arrived at school, she learned it had been\u00a0 closed due to rioting. Her friends got her out safely, however, so that\u00a0 she could catch a bus back home.<\/p>\n
She wrote an article about the experience called “Blue Eyes” that\u00a0 appeared in The Covenant Companion.<\/em> As a result, she and the\u00a0 magazine each won the 1969 Brotherhood Award from the National\u00a0 Conference of Christians and Jews.<\/p>\n
During her years at North Park University, she traveled as part of a\u00a0 folk gospel team and became the school’s first female student body\u00a0 president in 1971-1972. She worked for years at Camp Squanto, part of\u00a0 the Pilgrim Pines Conference Center in West Swanzey, New Hampshire.<\/p>\n
She also worked as a youth minister at North Park Covenant Church in\u00a0 Chicago. “What I always will treasure about that (experience) was that\u00a0 my dad was the interim pastor at the same time,” she says. “That was a\u00a0 real special opportunity for me.”<\/p>\n
Today, Nelson says is experiencing another kind of special opportunity.\u00a0 “When you get into this kind of work, you are blessed and very fortunate\u00a0 about the kind of work that you are doing.”<\/p>\n
(Editor’s note: to learn more about MS, please see Multiple\u00a0 Sclerosis.)<\/a><\/em><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
Copyright \u00a9 2011 The Evangelical Covenant Church.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/span><\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Stan Friedman CHICAGO (December 23, 2005)\u00a0 – Joyce Nelson says she always was a bit\u00a0 rebellious and a challenge for her parents. “We were a raucous bunch of kids,” says Nelson. “Three of the four of us\u00a0 fit the stereotype of pastor’s kids.” Report This Post<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nMS President Reflects on Father's Influence - Covenant Newswire Archives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2005\/12\/23\/4657\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MS President Reflects on Father's Influence - Covenant Newswire Archives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Stan Friedman CHICAGO (December 23, 2005)\u00a0 – Joyce Nelson says she always was a bit\u00a0 rebellious and a challenge for her parents. “We were a raucous bunch of kids,” says Nelson. “Three of the four of us\u00a0 fit the stereotype of pastor’s kids.” Report This Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2005\/12\/23\/4657\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Covenant Newswire Archives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2005-12-23T06:00:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-07-06T13:29:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/74\/2011\/06\/1207.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2005\\\/12\\\/23\\\/4657\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2005\\\/12\\\/23\\\/4657\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8\"},\"headline\":\"MS President Reflects on Father’s Influence\",\"datePublished\":\"2005-12-23T06:00:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-07-06T13:29:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2005\\\/12\\\/23\\\/4657\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":848,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2005\\\/12\\\/23\\\/4657\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2005\\\/12\\\/23\\\/4657\\\/\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2005\\\/12\\\/23\\\/4657\\\/\",\"name\":\"MS President Reflects on Father's Influence - Covenant Newswire Archives\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2005-12-23T06:00:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-07-06T13:29:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2005\\\/12\\\/23\\\/4657\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2005\\\/12\\\/23\\\/4657\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2005\\\/12\\\/23\\\/4657\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MS President Reflects on Father’s Influence\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/\",\"name\":\"Covenant Newswire Archives\",\"description\":\"Evangelical Covenant Church\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/author\\\/covwebster\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"MS President Reflects on Father's Influence - Covenant Newswire Archives","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2005\/12\/23\/4657\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"MS President Reflects on Father's Influence - Covenant Newswire Archives","og_description":"By Stan Friedman CHICAGO (December 23, 2005)\u00a0 – Joyce Nelson says she always was a bit\u00a0 rebellious and a challenge for her parents. “We were a raucous bunch of kids,” says Nelson. “Three of the four of us\u00a0 fit the stereotype of pastor’s kids.” Report This Post","og_url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2005\/12\/23\/4657\/","og_site_name":"Covenant Newswire Archives","article_published_time":"2005-12-23T06:00:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-07-06T13:29:22+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/74\/2011\/06\/1207.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2005\/12\/23\/4657\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2005\/12\/23\/4657\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#\/schema\/person\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8"},"headline":"MS President Reflects on Father’s Influence","datePublished":"2005-12-23T06:00:29+00:00","dateModified":"2011-07-06T13:29:22+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2005\/12\/23\/4657\/"},"wordCount":848,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2005\/12\/23\/4657\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2005\/12\/23\/4657\/","url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2005\/12\/23\/4657\/","name":"MS President Reflects on Father's Influence - Covenant Newswire Archives","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#website"},"datePublished":"2005-12-23T06:00:29+00:00","dateModified":"2011-07-06T13:29:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#\/schema\/person\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2005\/12\/23\/4657\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2005\/12\/23\/4657\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2005\/12\/23\/4657\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MS President Reflects on Father’s Influence"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#website","url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/","name":"Covenant Newswire Archives","description":"Evangelical Covenant Church","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#\/schema\/person\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/author\/covwebster\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8280"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8806,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8280\/revisions\/8806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}