SCHOON LAKE, N.Y. – The Rev. Duane Waite and his wife Joan Waite were honored in August at the Village Mission’s annual staff conference for their 40 years of involvement with the organization that is committed to keeping country churches alive.

The couple serves the Wesley Community Church on Airline Road.

Their son, the Rev. Steve Waite, who is a Village Missions missionary serving the Wytopitlock Baptist Church, created a DVD featuring pictures of their work over the years.

Duane and Joan Waite have served all of their 40 years in ministry in Maine. The couple once served four rural churches at once.

Over the past four decades, they have served churches in Northport, Sidney, Springfield, Wytopitlock, Haynesville, Andover and Bowdoin.

Village Missions, based in Dallas, was founded in 1948 to meet the spiritual needs of rural communities in the United States and Canada. The nondenominational group’s goal is to provide a Christ-centered community church program capable of involving the entire population of a local, mostly rural, community.