The weather may be a little cooler than Pastor Bill Wing is accustomed to, but he and his family have quickly warmed to life in Chatham.
Wing, 34, is the new pastor of Thames Christian Fellowship Church on Park Avenue East in Chatham.
He arrived here with his wife Barbara and two children, Elijah, 6, and Sarah Grace, 3, on New Year’s Eve, after travelling from near Raleigh, North Carolina.
“People are very friendly, even compared to southern hospitality — but I won’t say it’s better,” he joked.
Although the Wing family has received a warm reception into the community, he is still getting acclimatized to winter in Canada.
“It’s been cold,” he said, adding he can’t believe how everyone around here says the weather has been warm over the past few days.
“You guys are hilarious.”
Wing, who has been in ministry for 16 years — beginning with a youth ministry in Knoxville, Tennessee — had been looking for church, but never thought he would end up in Canada.
After being invited to Thames Christian Fellowship for a few visits, he said, “we liked this church the best. This is where the Lord is leading us.”
Wing said the goal of any church is to bring people to faith and God, but he also hopes to do more.
“We want to help make a difference in Chatham,” he said. “God didn’t put us here by accident.”
He said one thing a pastor does a lot of is counselling. He hopes to help people “mend fences,” be it bringing a marriage closer together or help repair a relationship between a child and their parents.
A former teacher, Wing also plans to reach out to residents nearby the community, particularly youth, to invite to receive what the church has to offer.

The plant manager of Greenfield Ethanol, Angelo Ligori, will go to great lengths to help out the United Way.
He helped lead the local plant to raise a record-breaking $62,626.68 for this year’s campaign.
Shortly after announcing this year’s donation on Thursday, Ligori took one for the team, by having his head shaved, with proceeds going to next year’s campaign.
He was inspired by the plant manager he used to work for in Windsor, who raised several thousands of dollars by having his head shaved, and decided to try it himself.
“I’m really happy to do that,” Ligori said, before losing his locks.
However, he said his wife wasn’t too happy about the idea.
“She’s going to have to rearrange the social calendar,” he joked.
Ligori, who could be considered for a Just for Men commercial, hopes something one of his employees told him comes true: “Your hair will grow in thicker and darker.”
Despite some good-natured ribbing, Ligori said it was well worth it.
“We are part of your community, we belong here and we contribute,” he said.

Did you read in The Chatham Daily News about Chatham-Kent being pre-selected for the online voting process to have the municipality included in the 75th anniversary of board game in Canada?
Chatham-Kent mayor Randy Hope was surprised when he received word of the honour from Hasbro, producer of the popular game.
I was talking about this with Steve Brent, area manager for the local Heart and Stroke Foundation. Brent said he and some other friends began a campaign on Facebook to have Chatham-Kent put in the running.
Sounds like mystery solved.
Don’t forget to vote by going to www.monopolyvote.ca. Voting closes on Feb. 7.

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