GCS graduation

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We all love to celebrate milestones in our lives—birthdays, baptisms, weddings and anniversaries in particular. Another milestone is graduation, whether from grade school, high school or college. I vividly recall my graduations from high school and Ambassador College. Both marked significant achievements—and also brought feelings of relief!

At our recent GCI Denominational Conference in Orlando, we celebrated an important milestone. Eight students formed the first class to graduate from Grace Communion Seminary (GCS). Seven of those graduates walked across the stage to receive their diplomas, signifying their completion of the Master of Pastoral Studies (MPS) degree. Congratulations to them all!

As chairman of the GCS board of directors, I receive much satisfaction knowing that our seminary is accredited by a national accrediting commission, the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC). On their website (detc.org), you’ll find our seminary listed among the institutions they have accredited.

Why expend so much time and effort to educate our pastors, ministry leaders and other members? As Mike Feazell put it in 2003 at the initial GCS planning meeting: “Every thriving denomination has a formal mode for educating its pastors.” Because we are committed to providing quality education and training to our pastors and ministry leaders, many people within our denomination have worked hard to develop two formal online education programs:

Ambassador College of Christian Ministry (ACCM), which offers ten courses in leadership development, leading to a non-accredited undergraduate-level diploma. ACCM is administered from our office in Australia and is available to anyone with a high school or college-level diploma, or equivalent. Go to ambascol.org.

Grace Communion Seminary (GCS), which offers an accredited MPS graduate-level degree with courses in biblical studies, theology and ministry. GCS is administered from our office in Glendora, California and is open to anyone with an accredited bachelor’s degree no matter what the person’s major was. Go to gcs.edu.

GCS faculty and recent graduates — Faculty, administration and (in the second row) students in the first GCS graduating class

As befits a fully accredited seminary, we celebrated our GCS graduation in Orlando in a formal manner as seen in the pictures here and at www.gcs.edu/course/view.php?id=37. Graduates, faculty and administration wore the appropriate academic regalia (robes, hoods and colors), representing the collective learning gained from GCS’s fourteen-course program, which concludes with a carefully researched Theology of Ministry thesis as its capstone project. These papers add significantly to the contribution of scholarship in the topics selected by students and can be accessed on the GCS website by all GCS students.

Graduate Sam Butler (center) with GCS board members Dr. Joseph Tkach (left) and Dr. Dan Rogers (right)

The ceremony included the traditional “Pomp and Circumstance” processional and the singing of hymns. GCS President and GCI Vice President Russell Duke gave an academic address entitled “Reconciliation through Transfiguration,” reminding all present of what we learn of God and Jesus Christ in worship and in life. Participating in the hooding ceremony of our first graduating students was an emotional experience!

We are but one seminary among many that seek to understand our God and Savior and live at one in him. A distinctive feature of GCS is our emphasis on incarnational Trinitarian theology. Our intent is not to disparage other seminaries or denominations, but to rejoice in what we have learned from the Spirit, Scripture and centuries of “faith seeking understanding.” We intend to celebrate again at our next international denominational conference in three years with our second group of graduates. We hope that you will join us.

GCS president Dr. Russell Duke with graduate Ken Williams — GCS president Dr. Russell Duke congratulates graduate Ken Williams

Let me encourage those with bachelor’s degrees to take a course from GCS. You can take one or two of your choice, or you can take a series of courses toward the master’s degree. To enroll, you must first fill out the application to be accepted into the seminary. Then you will be given access to register for courses. We believe that all pastors and many ministry leaders, should be pursuing some form of continuing education. To serve this need, we are pleased to offer our courses at an affordable price. We encourage local congregations to provide tuition assistance for their pastors.

We plan to expand GCS course offerings over the next three years as we continue to enroll more students. GCS faculty and administration are working toward adding courses in the next year in church polity/administration, preaching and theology. I’ll keep you informed of growth in courses as time goes on. The fall semester starts on September 9, so new students need to apply immediately. Here are the courses offered this fall (go to gcs.edu/course for a detailed description of each one, including required textbooks and assignments):

TH05 Doctrine of the Trinity – Gary Deddo
BT01 Pentateuch – John McKenna
NT01 New Testament Background – Mike Morrison
NT03 Acts of the Apostles – Dan Rogers
CH02 Church History: The Second Millennium – Neil Earle
CM01 Ministerial Leadership – Russell Duke
CM06 Trinitarian Youth Ministry – Ted Johnston
CM07 Experiencing the Trinity (begins Aug. 29) – Larry Hinkle
CM08 Church Planting & Development – Randy Bloom

As we move forward as a denomination, we seek to help our pastors and ministry leaders maintain a deep relationship with Jesus Christ and grow in their understanding of our Christian Trinitarian faith. GCS and ACCM are some of the primary ways we do this—helping our leaders faithfully live and then share God’s love and truth so that the body of Christ is built up in the Spirit. Through our educational resources we seek to bring our pastoral leadership into a deeper understanding of who God is and what he is doing today. These programs are an important part of the way we join with Jesus as he ministers to us and through us to the wider world.

With love, in Christ’s service,

Joseph Tkach

PS: GCI Weekly Update is automatically distributed each week by email to all GCI pastors. We now are making this automatic email distribution available to any GCI member. Please let your members know of this opportunity and invite them to sign up by emailing their request to Ted Johnston at Ted.Johnston@gci.org. Please also let your members know that the current and all past issues of Update may be read online at update.gci.org.

Jeffrey Broadnax

Family and Christianity are the two things that mark the childhood of Jeff Broadnax, pastor of GCI congregations in Columbus and Chillicothe, Ohio and member of the GCI Generations Ministries leadership team. “I spent my formative years within 15 miles of virtually all my extended family. We saw each other at least twice a month. Family togetherness thus shaped my view of relationships. My father’s parents were devout Christians and expected their six children and all their grandchildren to be at First Church of God on Sunday mornings. Thus at an early age I found myself convinced of my need for time with God.”

Jeff grew up in Cincinnati in the house his parents still live in. “My father began listening to the Radio Church of God in the 1960s. In the mid-70s he sought out the church for a visit. We began attending the Festival of Tabernacles when I was 12 years old in 1977.” Jeff then left for Ambassador College in 1983. “After graduating on a Friday and getting married the following Monday, May 25, 1987, my wife, Karen and I spent the next three years working for WCG/GCI in Pasadena, California. Karen worked in the Spanish department and I first worked in the travel department and then as a ministerial trainee (intern) in the headquarters church.”

Broadnax children: Kassidy, Jasmine and Kyle (Kristen is with the Lord)

Jeff and Karen, who celebrated their 26th anniversary on May 25, have four children. “Our eldest, Jasmine (22), recently graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh with a double major in psychology and sociology and a minor in criminal justice. Our second, Kristen, went home to the Lord in 1994. She would have been 19 this year. Our son, Kyle (15), is going into his sophomore year in high school and is an honor student and passionate basketball player. Our youngest, Kassidy (5), is heading into kindergarten and ready to take the world by storm.”

Jeff was ordained an elder on March 4, 1989 and served another year in Pasadena before transferring to Big Sandy, Texas. “We spent three years serving as an associate pastor in the local church and the college campus and then we transferred to the Manhattan and Westchester (county) New York congregations in 1993. We were blessed over the next 17 years to serve five GCI congregations in the greater New York City area (Manhattan, Armonk, White Plains and Middletown, New York; and Hillsdale, New Jersey). In 2010 we moved back to the Buckeye State (Ohio) and currently serve the CenterPointe (Columbus) and Voice of Hope (Chillicothe) congregations of GCI.”

Jeff attributes a lot of his spiritual growth to his parents and mentors. “My parents (Earl and Bettie Broadnax) and my wife’s parents (John and the late Judy Hunter) have been amazing examples of faithful Christians. Their love for God and willingness to grow and learn has always served as an anchor for us in our faith. I have a number of folks who have actively mentored me in transformational ways but John Halford, Joseph Tkach and the late Dr. Kermit Nelson and Harold Jackson are four men who have intentionally taught me to be more like Jesus.”

Speaking of being a pastor, Jeff said, “I absolutely love being used by God to help others learn and tell the story he is writing in their lives through Jesus. So many of us have no clue of the divine appointments he is setting up for us each day and how he wants us to use our story to help others see that he loves them, really likes them, and has God-sized plans he wants to fulfill through their lives and stories (warts and all).”

Jeff’s most memorable moment as a pastor is personal, but one he wants to share because it is something we all can learn from. “One day in August 2004, God changed forever the way I understood him and Scripture. He had convicted me and challenged me to let go of some bitterness that I was carrying. I told him that I had tried but was unable to do so on my own. I asked him to take that anger and bitterness from me, and when I verbally offered the forgiveness I was withholding and verbally let go of the bitterness I was carrying, it was like scales fell off my eyes. I was able to love in deed and not just in word because he showed me the difference in real life and in Scripture. I will never forget the moment because it was proof that God so loved ME therefore I must love him and others with his kind of love.”

Transformation is important to Jeff, not only in his own life, but also in GCI. “I enjoy being a part of an organization that knows it needed and now has been transformed by God himself. The journey I/we have taken is proof of the kind of God we serve. Our story helps me read the stories of the patriarchs, apostles and people of the parables through God’s eyes not just my own. My training, experience and lessons within GCI make the word of God come to life in real time and I love it.”

When asked what he would like others to know about him that they may or may not know, Jeff said, “That even after 26 years in the ministry, I am still coming to grips with God’s destiny for my life. I am so excited about what’s ahead because I feel God has placed gifts inside me that I haven’t even begun to unwrap in his grace yet. I am soooooo ready!”

Jeff shares that he gets his passion from Luke 4/Isaiah 61. “God has placed in my heart a burden to let him use me to help others discover their destiny in Christ and know that he wants to use every part of their lives. It doesn’t matter if one is incarcerated or incorporated, harassed, helpless or helpful, wise or washed up, Jesus has plans for us all. He wants us to not just find freedom but to experience jubilee in him!”

When does Jeff feel closest to God? “When I read Scripture because I know God is telling every story to me for a purpose. Everything is there to show me something about how he thinks, loves and operates in the lives of people. There are also times when I know his presence through music.”

Back to school blessing of children

This update is from James Humphries who pastors GCI’s congregation in Mt. Sterling, Kentucky.

Before leaving for the GCI Denominational Conference in Orlando, we held a worship service that focused on a back-to-school blessing for school-age children and included a baptism ceremony. Our efforts were wonderfully affirmed at the conference when Gerrit Dawson said in one of his presentations that one of the things we could do to reach out as a church is to provide a back-to-school blessing for the children!

Realizing that parents and grandparents who do not normally attend church would be present for our special service, we did all we could to feature their children. They helped with the offering, gave prayers and sang special music. We also had a baptism ceremony at the end of the service, and then a potluck meal following the service to encourage fellowship. All these elements powerfully presented the gospel, providing testimony to God’s love and goodness.

In keeping with the blessing theme, my sermon was titled “God Has Blessed Us.” I noted that the gospel really is good news for all—that all have been blessed by and included in Christ. I concluded with Romans 10:9-10, showing the simplicity of the gospel. Since we had scheduled a baptism ceremony that day, I asked if any others desired baptism. We were prepared with extra clothing, and were thrilled when five people came forward to be baptized. So we baptized six people (five adults and one preteen), including my youngest brother, Nelson. Since that service, three others have requested baptism!

We had 72 people attend our blessing service. Most stayed to fellowship and to enjoy the meal. We still are rejoicing. What a wonderful day it was!

Report from US church planters

In the video below, some of our US church planters report on exciting recent developments.

Watch this video on YouTube at http://youtu.be/v3gv_TxwrNk.

John Kehn

GCI district pastor David Weber reports that GCI pastor John Kehn in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, underwent surgery this week to have some tumors removed from his neck. Though benign the tumors were pushing up against vital areas in his neck. We are thanking God that the surgery was successful. Please pray for John’s complete and rapid recovery.

Cards may be sent to:

John and Linda Kehn

1150 R Street

Gering, NE 69341-2431

Thanks from Alvah Pyle’s family

On behalf of the family, we would like to express our love and appreciation to those who reached out to all of us in so many kind and thoughtful ways following the death of our mother Alvah Pyle. Your words of remembrance of a life well lived, your prayers for the family as we grieved our loss, the flowers and the lovely cards were all a reminder of the lives she had touched.

What a blessing it is to be a part of the body of Christ that is living out his commission to “love one another.” It is with great anticipation that we look forward to the day when we will join her and all our loved ones to be with the Lord forever.

– Norva (Pyle) and Ron Kelly

– Kaye (Pyle) and Jim Kissee

Flemings’ daughter wed

GCI Caribbean mission developer Charles Fleming and his wife Carmen recently celebrated the wedding of their daughter Annie Fleming to Michael O’Donnell. The couple honeymooned in Jamaica.

Anne Mike and Michelle — Left to right: Michelle Fleming, Annie (Fleming) O’Donnell and Mike O’Donnell

Wedding families — Families of the bride and groom (Charles and Carmen are on the bride’s right side)

Fort Worth 50th anniversary planned

GCI’s congregation in Fort Worth, Texas invites GCI members and friends to join them in celebrating their 50th anniversary next year. They will be hosting a dinner-dance on July 4, 2014 and a special worship service on July 5. For further information, email Tom.Pickett@gci.org.

Mike Feazell launches pod-cast

Retired GCI vice president Mike Feazell recently launched With Mike, a personal podcast that interviews “ordinary people with extraordinary experiences.”

The podcast is found at www.withmike.org. Current episodes include interviews with GCI members Ruth Matthews, Pat Halford, Tim Maguire, and James and Shirley Henderson.