KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — She’s a voice of compassion for thousands of people at home and around the world. Nora King is co-pastor of Redemption Church, and an author of two books that are timely right now. She is certainly a remarkable woman, one of our four finalists out of dozens of nominations.
“You may not be feeling too good about yourself,” King says during a sermon. “Let me tell you, God has placed treasure on the life He gave you. Did you hear me?”
Her message is heard in the pulpit, on stage, and in a pre-COVID crowd.
“It’s just a wonderful church,” King said. “It really is. The people are great.”
Sunday services are back with safely spaced seating, but there is a pandemic silver lining: an ever-growing online presence.
“We’ve increased our viewers which has been wonderful, ” King said. “We made new friends and people that tune in, not just in Knoxville, but everywhere.”
Nora and her husband Ed have worked together since the beginning of Redemption Church 42 years ago. Back then, Nora did not share the title of co-pastor.
“When we started the church, it was not our intention for her to be a co-pastor with me, but her involvement in the church; the church insisted on her taking the title pastor,” Ed King said. “That wasn’t our scheme in the beginning but that’s what it became because her life exemplifies all the things that a pastor would be, and so the congregation saw it and became insistent on it. Wasn’t our plan. It was their plan.”
Nora King is most proud of the congregation’s community support that never wavered during COVID, like the annual Thanksgiving outreach.
“We put the cars in a line and they were wrapped around the property everywhere,” she said.
From food to other basics, like the free Car Care event, there’s a message behind these simple acts of love.
“Kindness, see, that’s what the outreaches that we do, that’s what it’s all about, to show kindness to people and compassion,” Nora said. “People are hurting and they’re in need and right now with this virus, we need it more than ever before.”
She also calls for more compassion in how people interact with each other. This remarkable woman’s message is as strong in person as it is from the pulpit.
“Sometimes when you see injustice, it’s not the easiest thing to stand back and, you know, the love of Jesus doesn’t mean you’re weak. It means you choose to do it God’s way, rather than the lashing out, the words in anger, and I’ve seen some posts and I can’t believe this comes out of people, but it does. It really does.”
“What we have to do, as an individual, as Christians, is demonstrate the love of Jesus,” Nora said. “When people are unlovely, don’t respond back in the same fashion.”
Nora King has authored two books “Overcoming in Difficult Times,” published in 2020, and “30 Days to a Better Prayer life,” published in 2010.
