The Joplin Globe

August 14, 2007

Slain pastor wanted to bring islanders together

By Joe Hadsall

and Jeff Lehr

news@joplinglobe.com

Kernal Rehobson, a transplanted South Pacific islander, found life in Southwest Missouri almost like island living.

The 43-year-old married father of four children told the Globe six years ago that he had found a similar “sense of peace here.”

That sense of peace was tragically disrupted Sunday when Rehobson and two other transplanted islanders lost their lives, and four people were wounded, in a shooting rampage inside a church in Neosho. The alleged shooter is a fellow islander.

Kelson Rehobson, a brother of Kernal and a nephew of Intenson Rehobson, another of the shooting victims, said Monday that his family is hurting from the losses. The uncle left behind a wife and two children.

“We’re not doing too well,” Kelson Rehobson said. “We’re going to miss them.”

He remembered his brother as a great person who never turned down a request for help.

“He was like a father to everybody, all of the islanders,” Kelson Rehobson said. “He helped out everyone, and did it without saying anything about what he gave.”

A former teacher in Micronesia, Kernal Rehobson eventually followed his brother to Southwest Missouri after graduating from California State University at Fullerton. He worked for eight years at Wal-Mart in Neosho before opening a grocery store, L&KS’ Island Market, in Goodman in September 2000.

The grocery caters to islanders, and sells imported varieties of noodles, rice, seafood, palm nuts and other items of South Pacific cuisine.

Kernal Rehobson also had served as senior pastor of the United Church of Christ Pohnpei, Missouri — named for the South Pacific island of the family’s heritage — for the past three or four years since becoming a Christian about five years ago, his brother said.

Kernal Rehobson and Intenson Rehobson preached regularly at services. A Micronesian group has been meeting at the First Congregational Church in Neosho for about three years, with services conducted in the native language during the afternoons, according to church pastor Thomas Thorne.

Thorne said the Micronesian services, which take place after the English church services conclude, were initiated when some of the Micronesians in his congregation approached him about doing a second service to reach out to more members of their ethnic community.

“They are members of our church, but they’re basically their own entity,” he said. “They were trying to upgrade the outlook of the Micronesian community. They’re just some good people trying to better themselves and better other people of their ethnic group.”

According to a press release from the United Church of Christ, one of the branches of Congregational churches, the Micronesian group was preparing to join the organization.

“Rev. Rehobson is well known among our Missouri Mid-South Conference family, having spoken at several gatherings,” wrote the Rev. Char Burch, interim conference manager for the group. The release stated that the First Congregational Church is not affiliated with the United Church of Christ.

The church was just one part of Kernal Rehobson’s larger mission of uniting Micronesians, Kelson Rehobson said. He also organized an annual get-together in Neosho, where Micronesians from all over the country meet on July 4.

“He wanted everyone to be like a family, and he succeeded,” Kelson Rehobson said. “He brought all the islanders together.”