Ministers

Bill Allen
PREACHING MINISTER
 
Dr. Bill Allen and his wife Joyce came home to Texas and to us in July 2015. Bill received a Bachelor’s degree in Bible from Oklahoma Christian in 1978, a Masters in Bible from Abilene Christian (ACU) in 1988, and a Doctor of Ministry from ACU in 1992. Bill served as youth minister and then preacher for his home congregation, the Lackland Terrace Church of Christ in San Antonio, from 1978 to 1985. He was the preacher for the Woodland West congregation in Arlington, Texas for 17 years from 1985 to 2002, and then was the president for the Center for Christian Education (formerly the Preston Road School of Preaching) from 2002 until 2005. Before coming to West Erwin he had served as the preaching minister for the South Fork Church of Christ in Winston-Salem, NC for 9½ years. Bill has served on the Board for women’s shelters in Arlington and Fort Worth, and has been to Ukraine for six mission trips with the Woodland West and South Fork congregations.

Bill and Joyce met and became friends in seventh grade in their hometown of San Antonio, started dating their senior year of high school, and married in 1977. Bill and Joyce have two married daughters—Amy and Brian Tindell in Virginia, and Amanda and Paul Adkison in Arlington. They have given their parents four wonderful grandchildren—Sam, Isaac, Ella Mae and Will. Joyce has cheered Bill through eight marathons, and they enjoy music and movies, family and friends, and serving the Lord, His church, and His world.

Bill’s personal mission statement is taken from Colossians 1:28-29: “We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.”
Danny Snell
FAMILY LIFE MINISTER
 
Danny moved to Tyler from Granbury, Texas to begin work with the Youth Ministry of the West Erwin Church in August of 1988. Danny attended Texas A & M two
years and graduated from Abilene Christian University with a B.A. degree in Bible in 1986. He grew up in Cleburne, Texas and married Lisa Strickland from Midland, Texas in 1985. They are the parents of Shannon, Jordan, Jordan “Bubba” Lyons and proud grandparents of Gemma, CeCe Lyons.
 
In 2013 Danny transitioned from Youth Minister to the new role of Family Life Minister with a focus on Adult Education, Men’s Ministry, Disaster Response, and opportunities for families to serve our community and world.
 
It is the Mission of the Family Life Ministry to “Make Disciples who Believe in God, Connect with God’s People and Serve Others.”
 
Donnie Carnathan
BENEVOLENCE MINISTER
 
Donnie lived in the Houston area all his life before moving to Tyler in August of 2012. He worked for the E.I. DuPont company for 31 years. While working for DuPont, he also worked part time with the youth at the Channelview Church of Christ for 15 years and from that experience, he developed his interest for ministry. After his retirement from DuPont, he then went into the ministry full time with the Lake Houston Church of Christ as their Youth and Family Minister. He served in that capacity for 8 years. Donnie and his wife Suzie have three children.  They have been blessed with eight grandchildren.
 
Davy CarterDavy Carter
OUTREACH MINISTER
 
Davy moved to Frankston from Tulsa, OK, where he served as youth minister for 19 years at Tenth & Rockford Church of Christ. He graduated from Oklahoma Christian University in 1980 with a BA in Bible. He is married to Sonja and they have three grown children, Brice, Brittany and Barrett. They also have four grandchildren, Savanna, Griffin, Vivian and Canaan.
Donni Cook
CHILDREN’S EDUCATION COORDINATOR
 

Donni began working as the Children’s Education Program minister in January 2018. Donni and her husband Tom have been members of the West Erwin Church since 2006.   Donni has spent her lifetime working with and around children. In addition to teaching elementary classes at West Erwin Church of Christ since 2006, Donni comes to the children’s program at West Erwin after working as an educator in the public school setting for over 30 years. During that time, Donni taught elementary and middle school students, served as a curriculum director, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction and recently ended her career in public education after serving eight years as a Superintendent of Schools.   Donni attended Abilene Christian University, the University of Texas at Tyler, and Texas A&M Commerce. She has earned her bachelors, masters and doctorate degrees in the field of education which she plans to use in her new role as the Children’s Education Program Coordinator/Minister. Donni and Tom have been married since 1987 and have two children. Caitlin, their daughter, is a graduate of TAMU and has two precious sons, Ralph and Emerson. Chandler, their son, is a graduate of TAMU. Chandler lives in Odessa, TX and works as an engineer in the oil industry.

 
David Keen
YOUTH MINISTER
 
David Keen has been our Youth Minister since July of 2017. He is originally from East Texas, by way of Ohio, by way of North Carolina, by way of God’s grace, he has made it back home to Texas here in Tyler. He comes to us from serving almost 12 years at the South Fork congregation in Winston Salem, NC. He graduated from the University of North Carolina Greensboro, with a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in Religion and Humanities. He and his amazing wife, Kiera (pronounced Kear-uh), along with their two sons Tyler and Tucker, and princess Emerson, are involved in the daily opportunity and blessing of working with our teenagers and their families here at West Erwin.
 

Statistics show it and I believe that parents are the greatest influence in a child’s life. No one loves your child more than you; therefore no one will be more invested in their lives than you. No one will make the sacrifices that you will make to better their lives. However with this influence comes great responsibility to disciple your child and we are all about equipping and enriching your walk with Christ so that you are in a better position to minister to them. When our kids are super little, our role is to instill in them love and trust so that there is no doubt in their minds of our love for them and they should be confident in trusting us. We then move on to being “Police” to them, probably not in the sense your imagining but in the sense of “protecting and serving” them. They need us to give them boundaries, correction, discipline, but also they need us to look out for their best interest by modeling the behavior we want them to live out. Although we can’t protect them from everything we can be the first ones to be there where life throws them a curve ball. The teen and young adult years are when we get to switch roles again, but only if we have fulfilled the first two roles. We now become their coach. This is a time of specialized training and instruction where we hone in on their gifts and equip them to be their best! We are the first ones to celebrate success, and also the first ones to help them back up after failure. We stay close to them during this time, but we don’t hover. We gradually show them and allow them to become young adults and discover the freedoms that come with that, but also instill in them the freedoms of a life in Christ. Youth Ministry falls into this stage, so therefore we get to do this together! WE want to serve you in any aspect of your lives that you need us to and in hopes when it is time for your child to leave the nest they are equipped and ready to stand on their own two feet but firmly planted in their faith in Christ.