ASHTABULA — Members of the GO Ministries’s congregation and others joined together to celebrate two days at once on Sunday — of the 23rd anniversary of GO Ministries and of Pastor John Salters’ new Bachelor’s degree in Biblical Studies.
“We founded GO Ministries 23 years ago,” said Salters. “Now we have a soup kitchen, a recreation center and gym, a clothing bank and other outreach activities. We work with Birthcare, Helping Independent Parents (HIP), NarAnon and other groups. We also have an annual free Thanksgiving dinner, a Christmas party where we give out free toys and gifts, plus food giveaways at various times throughout the year.”
He said also the Cleveland Food Bank brings food to GO Ministries twice a month. He said GO Ministries works with the local Community Development Corporation (CDC) regularly. He said there are also regular church services on Sunday, and the Ministries will soon see a daycare center called “Thrive.”
“I also just graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in biblical studies from Maranatha Christian College in Cleveland, so we thought it would be nice to celebrate that with our anniversary. We had a dinner and some speakers and it turned out to be a very fine event.”
He said GO Ministries started in the old Ashtabula Hotel, then moved to the party center on E. Prospect near JD’s Pizza, then the sewing factory, then at its current location at 3703 Station Ave.
“Now I’m going to go for my Master’s degree,” he said. “That will be in Christian Counseling studies. I enjoyed going to college and learned a lot. I’ll be happy to see our childcare place getting started soon.”
He said his wife Mae, who passed away in 2014, was instrumental in getting GO Ministries going. He said he also appreciated the work of his five children in helping make GO Ministries a viable community resource.
‘We’ve had some tough times along the way but God has blessed us,” he said. “A lot of community-minded area churches have helped us, especially with helping feed the community.”
Lenora Boysaw, of Ashtabula, is a member of the congregation and a Ministries volunteer. She said the GO Ministries grows every year.
“Pastor Salters is growing the Ministries,” she said. “Thanks to his ideas and leadership it gets bigger and better every year. The GO Ministries has helped people with a lot of things and will continue to help them as long as he’s here.”
Martha Richardson, of Painesville, said the anniversary was a “beautiful thing.”
“Pastor Salters’ work has been a blessing to the community,” she said. “He loves to help others.”
Denise Green, of Ashtabula, said she’s been with GO Ministries for almost 10 years now.
“We think what Pastor Salters has done for the community is awesome,” she said.
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