A new chapter: La Croix United Methodist Church family to continue ministry in Kansas City area

Between Christmas and New Year's, Chris Nall and his family will pack their belongings and move to Kansas City, Mo., but they will leave part of their family behind.

Their church family at La Croix United Methodist Church will miss Nall and the music and arts worship he's brought to the congregation since 1993 through his work as a worship leader.

The Nall family will leave Cape Girardeau to see Chris fulfill a new mission to begin a church in the Northland region of Kansas City. Impact Northland United Methodist Church is in its first year of ministry under Curtis Huffman, who Nall met through networking in the Methodist faith several years ago.

In his new position, Nall will continue to oversee music for services and events but said he will focus on working with youth as he serves as the head of student ministry for the church.

Nall said he will be trying new things to bring students together for worship besides what he knows in music and arts, and plans on having to retrofit himself to meet the needs of a larger geographical area. He said he hopes to build a team to help him with the large task, and plans on asking the church's current youth congregation to find ways to bring in new members.

"I kind of want it to be a grassroots thing, like almost viral, or like social networking, you know, like how do we get these kids to bond together?" he said.

One of the things he said he likes about his opportunity at the new church is the idea of trying to regain some lost ground in the community.

In the past few years, Nall said the demands of his own family have taken him further from working with youth in La Croix's congregation, so he said he is looking forward to having more of a hands-on approach to student ministry in Kansas City.

Every year, he said, he takes a personal inventory to make sure he is still fulfilling his mission.

"This year, I felt different, I felt like God was saying it's time to move on and that this would be a year of change," he said.

On Dec. 5, the congregation of La Croix honored Nall and his family with a special celebration concert and presented him with a new guitar. They also surprised him with a visit from his first music group he had back as a teenager, whose members and original music influenced him to the point he said is a large reason for the way he uses music in ministry today.

Nall said he will miss his congregational brothers and sisters at the church, but that he and his family will visit often and attend services.

Senior pastor the Rev. Ron Watts said Nall is deeply loved and respected in the congregation of La Croix. Nall, he said, has helped shape the culture of the church in significant ways, helping it to become a worshipping church that glorifies God with excellence through music.

"Back when he joined we had about 150 in attendance and we've grown to 2,000, so the complexity and size of the music program is substantial, and he has been at the forefront developing the music ministries of our church from the beginning," Watts said. "He's been the one to build our music ministry into what it is today."