March 2013 – Page 3

Steve Schantz

Steve Schantz, pastor of GCI congregations in Orlando and Melbourne, Florida, grew up in the rural dairy farming community of Lowville, New York. “We enjoyed fishing and gardening in the spring, swimming in the summer, football in the fall, and ice-skating, sledding and snowmobiling in the winter. I took up tennis my senior year in high school and continued with it at Ambassador College in Big Sandy, Texas.”

At age 12, a large boil on his leg got Steve interested in the church his parents had been reading about—the Worldwide Church of God. “As the boil grew and became more painful, a red line of infection traveled up my leg. My mother had a year of nursing school before marriage and recognized the signs of blood poisoning.” Steve spent a lot of time praying and his parents asked for an anointed cloth to be sent. The boil burst and the healing began. “The red line disappeared and finally so did the boil without a trace. I knew that God had healed me and I was thankful! Although the habit of daily prayer would not be part of my life for several more years, I knew that God was with me and the incident was the beginning of a personal relationship with him.”

Because they lived far from church, Steve and his family were not able to attend often. “We spent most Saturdays that first year at home until a congregation was started in Syracuse, New York. When we could not be there on a weekend it was difficult for me. I would beg to attend events and social functions even if they were hours from home. I looked for ways to tie our faith and practice (as different as it was from that of my friends) to the rest of my life. The first fall festival we attended was in Mt. Pocono, Pennsylvania in 1967 under one of the ‘big tents.’ Our family was one of many who brought tent and camping equipment that first year and ‘roughed’ it at the Mt. Pocono camp grounds.”

Steve developed a passion to understand what it means to be “the people of God.” “Even when I struggled in later teen years with my sinful nature, it was a desire to be in fellowship with ‘the church’ that motivated me to pursue behaviors and interests that enabled this special spiritual/social interaction. I think without having a name for it all those years ago, what I was seeking and still love is koinonia.”

By age 16 Steve had fallen in love with music. “My love of music and playing saxophone in the high school band found an outlet at church dances, weddings, and festival entertainment shows. During my junior year in high school we traveled to St. Petersburg for the festival and attended an evening entertainment show put on by the Ambassador College, Big Sandy band and New World Singers under the direction of Gary Briggs. Listening to African American saxophonist Johnny Griffith perform a really cool jazz riff on tenor sax during one of the band’s more upbeat numbers had me hooked! I knew I wanted to go to Ambassador College and perform with that band! But my desire and reality didn’t coincide until the spring semester of 1974 after I finished a year as a music major at Onondaga Community College in Syracuse.”

Steve met Carol Allen at Ambassador College. “We dated in our junior year while serving in student government, leading in speech club and participating in the New World Singers (I played saxophone and she sang). I proposed to her in 1977, shortly before we graduated. We were married in July—this year we celebrate our 36th anniversary!”

The denomination did not hire any graduates into full-time ministry in 1977, so Steve and Carol sent out several letters of inquiry to WCG pastors in the southeast. “I was looking for employment and opportunity to serve in a local church. I heard back from Mel Dahlgren in southeast Kentucky, who was pastoring two rapidly growing congregations (London and Somerset) and had the potential for a third congregation without any ministerial help. Carol and I served congregations in the Appalachian region of the US for the next 11 years. Our son Benjamin was born in Lexington, Kentucky in 1982 and our daughter Brianna was born in Fairmont, West Virginia in 1984.”

At the same time Steve was searching for a church to serve, he was looking for employment. “I was hired in May 1977 as Personnel Director for Bell/Whitley, an agency overseeing programs for underdeveloped communities.” Steve was then ordained by Mel Dahlgren in 1978, and in 1979 hired into full time ministry as assistant pastor in Middlesboro, Kentucky. Since then, Steve has pastored in Clarksburg, West Virginia; Ft. Myers, Sarasota and Port Richie, Florida; and now in the Orlando and Melbourne, Florida.

When asked what he enjoys most about being a pastor, Steve said, “Everything (except filling out reports!): speaking, praying, fellowshipping, studying and equipping. If pressed for one thing in particular, I’d say theology shared in everyday settings.” Along that line, Steve mentioned that what he appreciates most about being part of GCI is, “the freedom to participate in what our triune God is doing in the world and the encouraging support we receive through education and equipping conferences that help us further our ministry skills.”

When asked what he would like others to know about him that we may not already know, Steve said this: “While at the fall festival in the Poconos during my sophomore year in high school, I completed a biology class assignment by gathering leaves and berries of trees unique to Eastern Pennsylvania. The teacher awarded me an A++. Now that I am older, I still enjoy the process of finishing a project. This probably comes with the turf of pastoral ministry, where your whole life is spent aiming for ‘in process’ goals. As a result, you ache to do something with a sense of completion. So I enjoy projects around the house—tiling, wainscoting and painting. I also enjoy surf fishing along the Atlantic coast (especially when the Blues are running!).”

Steve’s passion is to “learn more about the love of God and how to discover it in the ups and downs of everyday life.” He loves to share this passion when officiating at funerals. “I treasure the experience of naming and sharing the most powerful aspects of each person’s relational sphere of influence in ways that bring glory to God and draw us closer to him through his Son and by the Spirit.”

Health seminar

In an effort to reach out to people in Loma Linda and Redlands, California, John and Naomi Biswas of the Bengali Evangelical Association (BEA) sponsored a free health seminar on Sunday afternoon February 17, at the Loma Linda Civic Center.

One of the goals of the seminar was to reach out to new people by creating awareness of what the average person can do to improve their well-being. The event, entitled “Lifestyle Focus on Health,” focused on the control and prevention of diabetes.

The main speaker was Professor Susan Nyanzi who spoke about the major role that exercise and diet play in a healthy lifestyle and in the control of diabetes. She demonstrated simple ways this can be done by diet and walking, plus the use of simple inexpensive exercise equipment.

Also giving lectures were Dr. T. Sweeny and Dr. M. Westerberg who both spoke about diet and lifestyle in the management of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. Dr. Sweeny also discussed various ways that blood sugar levels are monitored and the drugs that are available to manage diabetes.

The informative evening ended with a lengthy question and answer session plus a simple meal. About 55 attended, making it possible to make new friends thus enabling BEA follow-up.

Rogers visit Bogota

GCI Church Administration and Development, USA director Dr. Dan Rogers and his wife Barbara recently visited the GCI congregation in Bogota, Colombia.

The visit began with a Friday evening informal meeting with the congregation’s ministry leaders. Dan described how our focus in ministry is not on what we do, but on what God is doing and how we participate with him as the body of Christ.

Bogota visit 3 — Barbara and Dan Rogers (front, left)

On Saturday, Dan conducted a seminar for the church, which was entitled “On Mission with God: Multiplying Disciples, Leaders and Churches.” On Sunday, Dan preached in the congregation’s two worship services. The first service was attended by 78 people and the second by 135. At the first service, Dan gave a sermon based on Luke 10, entitled “Involved in the Ministry and Mission of Jesus in the Power of the Spirit.” At the second service, Dan’s sermon addressed what Jesus taught about missions and why churches have strayed.

Bogota-visit-4 — Dan Rogers (right), Hector Barrero (left)

John Biswas mission trip

On March 15, GCI member Dr. John Biswas, who directs the Bengali Evangelical Association (BEA), will be leaving on a mission trip to Bangladesh. There is much chaos and political unrest there and so he asks for prayer concerning his safety and for open doors for the advance of the gospel.

Speaking of Life closed captioning

GCI Media has recently upgraded the Speaking of Life video series to provide a closed captioning feature. Here is how to use this feature.

1. Open your INTERNET BROWSER

2. Go to: youtube.com/speakingoflife

3. Select a video from the UPLOADED VIDEO LIST.

4. Locate the CC ICON at the lower right of the progress bar.

5. Select the ENGLISH–ENGLISH TRANSCRIPT option.

6. Continue playing the video. Notice that the closed caption transcript is activated in the lower 1/3 of the screen.

Holy Week preaching resources

On LifeWay’s website (at http://www.lifeway.com/Keyword/easter+sermons?type=learn), there are several Easter season sermon manuscripts posted. They provide some ideas and illustrations that you might find useful for your own sermons and studies during Holy Week.

Here are links to various GCI articles that address Holy Week topics:

Lecture about T.F. Torrance

GCI Media recently posted the video of a lecture from Greek Orthodox theologian George Dragas, who was a student and colleague of Thomas F. Torrance. Dragas currently serves as professor of patristics at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Dr. Dragas’ lecture, which was presented at the 2012 meeting of the T.F. Torrance Theological Fellowship, is entitled, “T.F. Torrance a theologian for our times: an Eastern Orthodox assessment.”

The lecture audio and video is posted at http://www.gci.org/media/torrance2012.

Los Angeles Filippino church plant

This update from Angie Tabin reports on the progress that she and her husband Saddie are making in planting a church for Filipinos in Los Angeles, California.

Building the team

Recently, we met with prospective members of our church plant core team. We reviewed our church planting vision and invited them to partner with us. We asked for a commitment that would extend for six months following the launch of the church scheduled for later this year. GCI church planter Heber Ticas will be training the team. At the same time, we are mentoring some participants in our existing small groups to prepare them to be facilitators of additional groups.

Outreach

Tabins 1 — Angie (right) with skin care company owner

Here are recent outreach activities where our focus is building friendships within our target community:

I am being seen on TV skin care commercials that are broadcast on a local Filipino cable station. This recognition helps me meet Filipinos in the area.
We volunteer at our daughter’s school where we befriend children and faculty members. The school gives us the food not consumed by the students, which we then share with needy Filipinos in the area. This helps us meet new people.
A senior we befriended asked that we visit a sick friend at the hospital and pray for her. Her daughter then asked us to visit her father, who is ill at home. In that visit, we shared the gospel and he accepted Jesus as his Savior. We continue to visit his wife in the hospital. When we do, we take bagels to the medical staff. They appreciate it.
A lady who attends one of our outreach Bible studies told us that our prayers for her were answered. She found a job! She told us that she will be taking her Bible to work to read on breaks.
We recently held a social gathering for our new contacts. About 80 attended. We enjoyed games, a raffle and dancing. During the event, one of the seniors asked to speak. She rallied participants to support our church planting efforts. Saddie spoke about how we Filipinos should help one another. I am grateful to several members of GCI’s NewLife Fellowship church for their help. The gathering was a beautiful picture of God’s inclusiveness as we celebrated friendship.
Social gathering

Speech training

To enhance our ability to communicate well in English, we are taking speech training from GCI Pastor Bermie Dizon and Willie Jacinto. We are learning public speaking, enunciation and grammar. We also are studying leadership and Bible interpretation.

Prayer points

We solicit your support in prayer. Here are some prayer points:

That we continue to be in good health
That we find more people to join our core group/launch team
That new small group facilitators be indentified and prepared
That people catch the vision as we present it to area churches

Living Water

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I encourage you to read the Mozambique prayer update linked at left, which updates us on the situation faced by our members in Northern Mozambique. Their homes have been flooded and their crops destroyed. They were already some of the poorest people in the world. I am thankful that we are able to help them come through this crisis through prayer and financial assistance.

The situation in Mozambique reminds me of how much we take for granted. In the developed world, we don’t really need to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Our supermarkets have great variety from which to choose. It is the same with water. Millions of people in the poorer parts of the world must pray, “Give us this day our daily water”—and then walk several miles to get it. We, on the other hand, are spoiled for choice. In the Western world, bottled water is a multi-billion dollar business. My local supermarket offers at least 12 varieties, each promising to be superior to the others. Some people argue that none of them is actually better than plain old tap water, which is one hundred times less expensive. Maybe that’s true. I don’t know.

Though I am not an expert on water, Jesus was. He not only turned water into wine, he walked on it. And in the beginning, he created it. You will remember the account in John’s Gospel, where Jesus met the Samaritan woman who was drawing water from a well. He told her he could supply her with a never-ending supply of what he called “living water.” This water was so superior that whoever drank it would never be thirsty again.

Clean drinking water was scarce in Jesus’ day, so the woman naturally asked him how she could get this exceptional water. The phrase “living water” usually meant moving, flowing water. The woman knew there was no flowing water nearby. The only water available locally was in that well. Jesus was using a play on words. He explained, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14). This was a great metaphor since water is essential to life. Just as the physical body needs water to continue living so does the spirit.

When we become physically thirsty, water satisfies us. However, we are not just physical creatures. We are made in God’s image and we have a spiritual appetite, whether we recognize it or not. We can become hungry and thirsty spiritually for a restored and right relationship with God. Jesus explained that he was the source of the “spiritual water” that can quench the thirst of the spirit. By drinking the living water one can live and never thirst again.

The woman was astonished, not only by his extraordinary offer. In fact, she may not have fully understood it at the time. What astonished her was that Jesus spoke to her in the first place. She was a gentile, a woman and had a somewhat dubious reputation. She was used to being shunned by her own people. A Jewish man should have gone to great lengths to avoid her. Nevertheless, Jesus accepted her and offered hope and encouragement.

This story teaches us that Jesus offers his forgiveness to everyone. No matter how many sins one has committed, Jesus offers new life—and he offers it to all humanity. By reaching out to an outcast Samaritan woman, Jesus showed that his kingdom is for everyone from every nation, every tribe and every culture.

Our denomination is greatly blessed to be truly “international”—not just in word but in fact. I am humbled that the Holy Spirit sees us as a “safe place” to bring people looking for grace and truth. We did not go seeking several thousand members in Mozambique. They were looking for a “well” to satisfy their thirst for truly knowing and worshiping God. Right now, their need is physical as well as spiritual and so we will continue to do what we can to help them. However, let’s not forget our own backyard. Physical food and drink is not the critical need for most Western nations. But they are spiritually undernourished and in desperate need of wholesome spiritual food and clean living water.

When Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well, he opened up a whole new perspective to his ministry. His disciples were shocked to find him talking to “that kind of woman” (John 4:27). But they eventually came to understand that Jesus had a ministry to all the world—not to just a select few.

We are privileged to participate in that ministry today. Think about it next time you see the array of rather expensive “superior” bottled waters on your supermarket shelf. Remember, the best water of all is free. You just have to know where it comes from.

Your brother in Christ’s service,

Joseph Tkach

Mel Dahlgren

Mel and Barbara Dahlgren — Barbara and Mel Dahlgren

Mel Dahlgren, who serves as the senior pastor of GCI’s congregation in San Jose, California, spent the first twelve years of his life as a Seventh-day Adventist in New England. Mel continues the story:

My parents began listening to Herbert Armstrong from a small radio station out of Wheeling, West Virginia Convinced of his message they sold our home in Massachusetts, packed everything we could into our ’49 Plymouth station wagon and drove across country to Pasadena, California, where the headquarters of the church was located. Arriving on the Day of Atonement, I wanted to fast but didn’t quite make it. I fainted in church and yelled out just before passing out. The ushers came and carried me to the water fountain for a refreshing glass of water. The next day we headed east – for the Feast of Tabernacles in Big Sandy, Texas.

We returned to Pasadena where my dad got a job as a tool-and-die maker. My parents were baptized in the pool in the lower gardens of the Ambassador campus. They gave me the option of attending a Seventh-day Adventist church. I wanted to do my own research so I took the 58 lessons of the Ambassador College Bible Correspondence Course and found myself embracing this new way of life. I attended Imperial School from grade seven to twelve.

In 1965 I was accepted to Ambassador College in Big Sandy, Texas. I met my future wife, Barbara, my freshman year while we both worked on the custodial crew. Barbara was transferred to Imperial Schools as a student teacher her sophomore year, but I remained on the custodial crew until my senior year, when I was moved to the mail reading department.

Forging a romantic relationship at college was challenging since the rules dictated you could not date the same girl more than once a semester until your senior year. I had set my eyes on Barbara, so at the end of my junior year I invited myself to her home in St. Louis to “check out her family.” They received my stamp of approval, but they were not all that impressed with me.

That did not deter my quest, so I proceeded to counsel with our dean of students about “us.” When I told Barbara my plans she said, “You can counsel if you want but just so you know – there is a ‘you’ and a ‘me’ but no ‘us.’” Undeterred by minor details, I pursued our relationship and by the grace of God, Barbara agreed to marry me. So began our 44 year adventure in the ministry.

My desire had always been to become a minister, but in college I was informed that I wasn’t ministry material. I blushed when I spoke and my voice was too raspy. Imagine my surprise when they announced that I was to be sent out into the field ministry.

Barbara and I graduated on one day, got married the next and headed to our assignment in Jacksonville, Florida. We served there for three years, followed by a year in Charleston and Parkersburg, West Virginia. Then we spent nine years in the London, Somerset, and Middlesboro, Kentucky areas. Next, we went to Tacoma and Olympia, Washington for six years and then to Detroit and Ann Arbor, Michigan for four years before ending up in California where we have been ever since. For the past 20 years we have worked with the Aptos, Salinas, Watsonville, San Francisco, San Leandro and San Jose churches. Currently we pastor the San Jose congregation where we live.

What I enjoy most about being a pastor is participating in the amazing transformation that Jesus performs in the lives of those he is calling. It is such a privilege to extend to others the incredible grace of Jesus Christ that he has so freely extended to me.

I haven’t really had a mentor in ministry, but I am deeply grateful to Michael Feazell for teaching me the true meaning of grace by his personal example in how he worked with me when I was recoiling after hearing about the changes in our church. I remember saying after our phone conversation, “Now that’s grace.” And from that point on, change became a joy rather than, “Oh, boy, here we go again.”

Being part of GCI to me is refreshing. Like Jesus, we are not afraid to tell it like it is and make whatever changes are necessary to be aligned with truth. I don’t see the favoritism and politicking in our denomination that used to be prevalent. I thank God for delivering us from all that and bringing us into the glorious light of the true gospel of grace and truth in Jesus Christ.

My passions in ministry (which means serving) are first to my family, second to the members and then to anyone I meet. Barbara and I have three beautiful children (Shelly, Sherisa and Matthew) and two wonderful grandchildren (Sophia, 5; and Dakota, 18). Since family is one of our highest priorities, we spend as much time together as possible.

Regarding my personal life, it’s pretty much an open book entitled Zorro and Me, which Barbara wrote a few years ago. I wish I could say it was a book of fiction, but all those humorous stories are true. After devoting much of her life to supporting me in ministry, it was wonderful to see Barbara blossom as a talented and entertaining writer. She is a major blessing to me, our family, our church and everyone she meets.

In conclusion, what I am learning in our wonderful church family is how our relationship with God is an ongoing way of life. It gives new meaning to praying without ceasing, because we can feel close to God all the time as we acknowledge him in all our ways. When we forget, he has not forgotten us and we can simply run to him and know we are always accepted because of who we are as his precious children.

Month: March 2013