The standard teaching curriculum for GCI Generations Ministries (GenMin) camps this summer is titled Living Loved. GenMin is pleased to make this curriculum available to congregations for use as a series of sermons, discipleship classes or Bible Studies. Related downloads are as follows: Curriculum: http://genmin.gci.org/Web%20Documents/Curriculum%202011.pdf Song: http://tinyurl.com/3qaw36j Lyrics: http://tinyurl.com/3wpgqdg
Congratulations to first time grandparents Scott Wertz (a long time employee at GCI’s home office) and his wife Barbara! Their granddaughter, Emily Lorraine Wertz, was born on August 25. She is doing fine, as are her mother Dorothy Stephan-Wertz and her father Scott Wertz Jr.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Hurricane Irene has left a long trail of destruction and death through the Caribbean and along the U.S. East coast into Canada. Initial reports from Charles Fleming indicate that our members in Haiti and the Bahamas suffered only minimal damage, and so far our U.S. district pastors are reporting [...]
On June 24-26, leaders of GCI churches in Bicol, Philippines gathered for a leadership retreat. Senior pastors and pastoral team members of churches from Albay, Camarines Norte and Sur, Legaspi, Sorsogon, and Tabaco attended. Dr. Rey Taniajura, Area Superintendent for Bicol, and his wife June were facilitators. The three day event focused on learning debriefing [...]
The September issue of Equipper is now available online at http://www.wcg.org/mindev/Web%20Documents/Equipper6.9.pdf. This issue addresses the topic of FaithTalk groups. These groups focus on reaching out to unchurched people who have spiritual interest. To learn more about this tool for relational evangelism, see the GCI FaithTalk equipper blog at http://faithtalkgroups.blogspot.com/.
The Salt Lake City, Utah, congregation, Grace Fellowship, celebrated their 45th anniversary with a barbeque in the backyard of members, Bill and Bambi Patterson. Bill Bryce, part of the pastoral team in Salt Lake and one of the founding members of the church there, gave a brief overview of what’s happened in Grace Fellowship over [...]
The Exeter, England church celebrated their 35th anniversary on July 22. Twenty-two members gathered for a church service and garden party at Wadia Habashi’s home. The sermon was given by Bill Allen who comes with his wife Christina every year to the congregation’s annual garden party.
Jim Friddle gives us this update on the progress of his wife Marj: Dear ones, Marj and I thank you for the outpouring of love shown by your prayers, cards and e-mails. We ask you to continue your prayers for Marj. After Marj was released from the hospital on antibiotics on Aug 23, she began [...]
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, We hope you enjoy our new Weekly Update. We continue to make improvements based upon your suggestions, including the new archives feature, which makes it easy to find past articles (see the link above). Thanks for the suggestions. We email Weekly Update to our pastors in the U.S., and [...]
GCI pastor Rand Holm asks that we pray for Dr. John and Naomi Biswas. They were on their way to Rand’s congregation in Ventura, CA to give an update on their work with the Bengali Evangelistic Association (which John leads). As they travelled by car, they were rear ended and pushed forward into another car [...]
Base Camp, the Generations Ministries camp in middle Tennessee, was held recently in Nathan Bedford Forrest State Park near Eva. Dual themes of Pandamania and Living Loved brought a wonderful spirit of unity to the camp. The camp had several traditional activities and some new ones, including “Marshmallow Mania” where campers shot each other with marshmallows [...]
“Converge” is the theme for See You at the Pole 2011 (www.syatp.org/). This annual global day of student prayer is scheduled for September 28 at schools across the United States and in many other countries. For a related article concerning this prayer movement, go to www.youthworkers.net/index.cfm/fuseaction/blog.view/BlogID/354.
For the last several decades, many churches have conducted youth ministry by putting teens into classes and events that are separate from adults (including their parents). However, the results suggest that this approach has not worked: A very high percentage of teens leave the church when they leave home. And so churches are seeking ways [...]
The following report is from Heber Ticas, District Pastor of Spanish speaking congregations in Southern California. It concerns the starting of a new church in Los Angeles as a satellite congregation of Comunion De Gracia, the GCI congregation that Heber pastors in San Fernando, CA. Over the last three months God’s grace has been evident, [...]
Camp Connections, a GCI-Canada camp, just completed its sixth year. This year the camp had two sessions, held at Providence Point, in Lanark, Ontario. Campers come from Ontario, Quebec and New York. The camp welcomed Pastor Dennis Lawrence for a couple of days. Dennis (pictured at far right), who co-directs the camp with his wife Lynn [...]
The following update concerning Marj Friddle is from her husband Jim: Marj went in for a routine colonoscopy Monday, August 15. The doctor found a colon mass just above the appendix. This was a shock since there were no symptoms of a problem. She was immediately hospitalized and scheduled for surgery on Tuesday. The doctor [...]
We received many comments on last week’s video about the 87 churches that joined us in Mozambique, Africa. Here is another video, narrated by Tim Maguire, the GCI National Leader for southern Africa:
Announcements Philippine pastor commissioned GCI News Report on Mozambique churches Prayer & Updates Death of Hector Espinoza Hospitalization of Marj Friddle Death of Fred Bailey Church Development Report on Y.E.S. camp in Louisiana Report on Higher Ground camp in North Carolina New CMM website Events Dells Celebration GCI Events Page On Mission with God Resources [...]
87 churches in Mozambique, Africa recently affirmed their affiliation with GCI. Here is a video telling the inspiring story (click the arrow on the picture below):
Retired GCI pastor, C. Fred Bailey, died at age 70 on August 3 at his home in Southaven, MS. The cause of death was apparently heart failure. Fred was born on July 26, 1941. He graduated from Ambassador College in Pasadena, CA in 1973. Upon graduation, he married Diane Yoho. They entered the field ministry as a [...]
Randy Bloom, director of GCI Church Multiplication Ministries (CMM) announced last week the launching of CMM’s new website. The web address is the same as the old CMM website: http://cmm.gci.org/. The new site provides a wide array of resources useful to church planters and to congregations and church districts that want to actively support the [...]
Marj Friddle, wife of GCI retired pastor Jim Friddle, had surgery this week to treat colon cancer. Her doctor told her that the cancer in her colon is apparently related to the breast cancer she battled in 2001. Please pray for Marj’s healing and for encouragement for Jim and the rest of the family. Cards and [...]
Higher Ground, the GCI Generations Ministries camp in Swannanoa, NC just celebrated its 10th anniversary with a camp session that included 145 campers and 70 staff. The camp theme was “Oasis”, with chapel messages focused on how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are an Oasis of Love, Family, Friendship, Life, Light and Safety. The [...]
GCI Philippines director, Eugene Guzon; and Mindanao area superintendent, Jerome Manriquez recently commissioned Ted Natividad as the new pastor of the Zamboanga City, GCI church. Pastor Ted assumes this responsibility from Pastor Joven Jaralve who is moving from the area.
Youth Extreme Summer Camp (Y.E.S.), the GCI Generations Ministries camp in Louisiana, was held last month at Chicot State Park in Ville Platte, LA. Participants included 110 campers and 65 staff. The theme for the camp was “Planning a Road Map with Jesus.” Chapel messages helped campers understand that Jesus is always with them, including through [...]
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Last week I was in Ottawa, Canada, for two conferences. Pastor Bill Rabey did a super job coordinating both. First was the International Mission Developers’ Conference, attended by 25 elders and wives from Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, North and South America (see picture below). We discussed the advance of the [...]
Hector Espinoza, age 18, was killed last week in a gang related shooting. Hector was a new member of Communion De Gracia, the GCI Spanish-speaking church in San Fernando, CA pastored by Heber Ticas. Though Hector had a troubled past, he was turning his life around. He was a first time camper this summer at [...]
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I greatly enjoyed our recent U.S. regional conferences held in Dallas and Orlando. The theme of these conferences is “On Mission with God.” Many mentioned that the training provided is starting to ‘click’ for them. They are excited about applying what they are learning. This week I am in [...]
At the regional conferences in Dallas (July 23) and Orlando (August 6), three Grace Communion Seminary students were awarded Advanced Diplomas in Christian Ministry: .
Announcements Death of Leonard Schreiber Seminary diplomas awarded GCI News South Africa: Leadership Seminar & Summer Camp Planning Prayer & Updates Pray for Janna (Kissee) Jones Church Development SEP Florida report U.S. regional conferences in Dallas and Orlando Ministry coach training Events Dells Celebration GCI Events Page On Mission with God Resources For Pastors GCI [...]
Gary Moore, GCI-Canada director, reports on his recent visit to South Africa: Wendy, Tim Maguire and I visited Durban, South Africa where we conducted a day long seminar with several church leaders driving a number of hours to attend. On Sunday we enjoyed church services with a packed Durban congregation. As a result of outreach [...]
CAD ministry developer Ted Johnston conducted a day-long ministry coach training workshop on July 30 for 32 pastors, ministry leaders and ministry workers from several GCI congregations located in Northern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. Participants were equipped to coach others who are active in congregational ministries. Some of the participants are continuing training to be [...]
U.S. regional conferences were held on July 22-24 in Dallas, and on August 5-7 in Orlando. The theme of this year’s conference, held in eight locations, is “On Mission with God.” One more location remains: Denver, CO on September 23-25. For information click here. Planning is underway for a new round of regional conferences in 2012. It [...]
GenMin’s SEP Florida camp was home to 54 campers and 24 volunteer staffers on July 27-30. The camp was held at Camp Kulaqua, in High Springs, FL. In addition to daily worship and Christian leadership classes, campers enjoyed an on-site water park, go-karts, mini-golf, basketball, volleyball, flag football, arts & crafts, and music and talent presentations. [...]
Leonard Schreiber died on August 4 at the age of 86 at his home in Aguanga, CA. His wife, Stella was at his side. Leonard is also survived by his son Randy Schreiber and his daughter Terry Schreiber Beaver (wife of John Beaver). Leonard, a long-time Elder, was a friend to many in Southern California. He [...]
Here is a prayer request from GCI pastor and district leader Jim Kissee: Kaye and I learned this past week that our daughter, Janna (Kissee) Jones has thyroid cancer. Such notifications always bring a deep note of sadness, and even more so now for Janna and her husband, Nate who are expecting a baby girl [...]
Announcements Tribute to John Stott Hazel Roberts ordained Printing Weekly Update Church-Next Training in October GCI News Manhattan church outreach New Hope baptism service Update from South Africa Update from Gary Moore Update from Hector Barrero Church Development GenMin camps and missions Events Dells Celebration GCI Events Page On Mission with God Resources For Pastors [...]
Church Administration and Development announces the upcoming Church-Next Training event. What? Church-Next Training provides resources for starting new churches and helping established churches become more effective on mission with Jesus. Topics covered include: Theological foundations for starting new churches Determining a focus group or community Developing culturally relevant ministries Developing church planting teams Starting new worship services [...]
On July 9 we held a graduation dinner in Bogota for nine couples who completed a church sponsored marriage class. Three of these were leaders of other denominations who took the class so they could use it in their own congregations. One couple and their family, who are new to the gospel, have begun attending [...]
Silver Meadows Camp Silver Meadows is our youth camp in Western Canada. It recently completed its 2011 camp session with 30 workers, 35 teen campers and 11 pre-teen campers. Daily Bible studies covered the Living Loved curriculum provided by Generations Ministries. It was well received, and resulted in the Ask the Pastor sessions having some deep [...]
Here is a report from GCI-Canada National Director Gary Moore concerning his recent trip to South Africa. Wendy and I joined with Tim Maguire (GCI’s National Director for South Africa and Missions Director for Southern Africa). We presented two day-long leadership training seminars, one in the Johannesburg area and the other in the Cape Town [...]
The Sunday worship service on July 24 at New Hope Christian Fellowship (the GCI congregation in Eagle Rock, CA), was particularly joyful. Six youth and one adult were baptized! Each newly baptized person was given a baptism certificate and a white towel with the New Hope logo and the word Servant in gold lettering. The [...]
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, As you will see from the reports in this issue of the Weekly Update, summer is a busy time for our churches and denominational ministries. Many churches are involved in community outreach, camps and mission trips. This summer the denomination is hosting training conferences around the globe. In all [...]
Some Weekly Update readers wish to print out hard copies of all or part of each issue to give to others. Here’s how: 1. Go to the online version of the Weekly Update at http://update.gci.org and print from there. 2. To print just the text from the “From the President” cover letter, click on the [...]
Great Commission Trips: Bahamas, Zambia and Malawi Click here for a report on the work of our young GCI missionaries who recently returned from a short-term mission trip to the Bahamas. And click here for the details about another group of missionaries heading out soon to Zambia and Malawi. Pathways camp GenMin’s Pathways camp was [...]
GCI member Hazel Roberts was recently ordained Minister of Congregational Care at Christ Presbyterian Church (CPC) in San Leandro, CA. Hazel’s husband, Jim, pastors One in Christ Community Church (CCC), the GCI congregation in San Leandro. CCC rents space from CPC, where Hazel has worked for twelve years as parish administrator. Among other duties, Hazel [...]
John Stott, one of the most significant Christian leaders of the 20th century, died at age 90 on July 27. Time Magazine named Stott alongside Nelson Mandela and Bill Gates as one of the “most influential people” of 2005. He was once described by Billy Graham as the “most respected clergyman in the world today”. [...]
Nearly 200 people from the West Harlem community of New York City joined GCI’s Manhattan Community Church (MCC) for an Independence Day celebration on Saturday, July 2. With the theme “Freedom in Christ,” MCC members served free hot dogs, hamburgers, and bottled water outside on a beautiful day in the city. Children of the community [...]