Ponder Woodrow Gilliland passed away on July 11, 2009. Born on February 23, 1918 in Rosston, TX to Ervin and Tunzel Gilliland, he was the 5th of 10 children who grew up on a sharecropper farm in the western Oklahoma town of Delhi. As a teen he was active in 4H Club & Future Farmers of America serving as county president of both. He won many state & national contests judging poultry & livestock. Ponder attended Oklahoma A&M playing basketball for Coach Hank Iba until a sidelining injury. He transferred to Bethany Peniel College & later graduated from Pasadena College, CA. He married Floy Cantrell of Porterville, CA in May of 1941. While at Pasadena College, Ponder won many national speech & debate tournaments as well as set track & field records that stood for over 20 years. He pastored several churches in California: Oakland, Dinuba, Bakersfield, Torrance, & Long Beach; as well as in Calgary (Canada), Little Rock & Dallas. He pastored at Bethany 1st Nazarene for 15 years (1970-1985) and preached for 11 years on the weekly TV program A Life Worth Living. This program carried a record 48% in its time slot. He also served his denomination as a District Superintendent and as head of their international youth work beginning a quadrennial youth meeting in 1958 that still exists today as Nazarene Youth Conference. He began the first international servicemens retreat in Germany in 1958. In 1973, Rev. Sam Stearman and Ponder began a retreat for seniors called NIROGA. As a member of the Nazarene General Board for many years he was the first pastor to serve as chairman of the denominational finance committee. He also served as head of the Nazarene Court of Appeals for 16 years. Ponder was the first chaplain of the Oklahoma Senate and served as the chairman of the Pastoral Committee for the Oklahoma Billy Graham Crusade. In l985 he was elected President of (then) Bethany Nazarene College and during his years there instigated the change of name to Southern Nazarene University. After losing his wife, Floy, in 1994, Ponder married Ellen Anderson of Laguna Beach, CA in 1996. He is survived by wife Ellen; daughter Marsha Gilliland of San Jose, CA; son Ron & wife Verlyn of Blythe, CA; daughter Sheri Gilliland of OKC; granddaughters Christa Reese & husband Chad of San Clemente, CA; Cara Kime & husband Nathan of Hermiston, OR; and his seven precious great-grandchildren he loved being Granddaddy to: Damien, Chelsey, Olivia, Vivien, Kaylee, Jonah and Mya. He is also survived by his brother Leon Gilliland of Yukon, and sisters Val Lackman of Bakersfield, CA and Grace Head of Sayre. Ponder was preceded in death by his wife of 53 years, Floy, and his daughter, Glaphre. Memorial services will be held Tuesday, July 14 at 11:00am at Bethany 1st Church of the Nazarene. Donations, in lieu of flowers, can be sent to Southern Nazarene University c/o the Dr. Ponder W. Gilliland Ministerial Scholarship (attn J. Michael Crabtree).