Arlene and Huberto Pimentel, center, receive the Harry T. Ice Distinguished Service Award from Foundation President Gary Kidwell, left, and Board Chair Jim Sullivan.
Foundation Honors Couple with Distinguished Service Award
The message Huberto and Arlene Pimentel proclaim is simple, and has two parts:
First, don’t fool around with God’s money. Second, if you want to lead people, you have to set an example.
Those combined messages, along with a long track record of devoted service to the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), were cited as the Pimentels received the Harry T. Ice Distinguished Service Award from the Board of Directors of the Christian Church Foundation. The award was presented as part of the Board’s meeting in Indianapolis in late April.
“Huberto and Arlene have committed their lives to the church, and along the way have mentored thousands about faithful stewardship,” said Foundation President Gary Kidwell. “They also embrace extending their stewardship beyond their lifetimes, providing a further witness to their devotion to the ministries of the church.”
Pimentel, a native of Puerto Rico, has been national pastor of the Central Pastoral Office for Hispanic Ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) since 2006. He previously served more than 30 years in pastoral ministry. His wife of 38 years, Arlene, is a social worker and educator, and served many manifestations of the church. She is currently in charge of planning efforts for the Disciples Women’s Quadrennial Assembly.
The Pimentels, who have three children, put a plan in place that, at death, distributes their assets into four portions, with each child and the church getting equal shares. The portion gifted to the church will be placed in their named Foundation permanent fund, which will distribute annual gifts for ministry into perpetuity. He relates his understanding of permanent funds to a conversation he had with his grandfather about planting a mango seed. A video of that, in English and in Spanish, is below.
“When I did this, I have to say to all my children and to all the members of the churches that I served, what is important to my life: the church,” Pimentel told the audience. “If you want to lead people, you have to set an example.”
“So if I tell someone that they need to put the church in their will, it doesn’t have any impact if I don’t do it, if I don’t set an example,” he said. “That’s what it’s all about.”
Mrs. Pimentel recalled a time, in some “lean years,” when she needed money for milk, and asked a son for help. He directed her to his bedroom dresser, and told her there were two containers. If she took money from the container on the left, he told her, the money did not have to be repaid. “If I took money from the right, it had to be paid back, because that was God’s money,” she recalled.
“You don’t fool around with God’s money,” she said.
The award honors excellence in service and philanthropy within the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Harry T. Ice, an Indianapolis lawyer, served on the original Blue Ribbon committee that led to the creation of the Foundation as a general ministry in 1969. He served on the first Board of Directors and was the Foundation’s general counsel. Mr. Ice died in 1982 at the age of 77.
The Board of Directors also elected the Class of 2015 to the Board of Directors. Re-elected to three-year terms, beginning in 2013, were Debra Clayton, Topeka, KS; Fred Harris, Hagerstown, MD; John May, Wilmington, NC; Suzanne Webb, St. Louis, MO; and Bob Williams, Dallas, TX. Newly elected were Glen Miles, senior minister of Country Club Christian Church in Kansas City, MO; and Ted Waggoner, an attorney and member of First Christian Church, Rochester, IN.
The Board of Directors will hold its next meeting Nov. 2-4 in Lexington, KY.