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Essex Golden Oldies

GCI’s congregation in Essex, England is pastored by Tony Goudie. It’s a lively church, with an average attendance of about 55 people of various ages. Among the members are five couples that all have celebrated their gold wedding anniversaries—50 years of marriage! We offer them our hearty congratulations on this wonderful attainment and extend to them our best wishes for many more such celebrations in the years ahead.

Golden oldies
Left to right: Alan and Lore Riley (married March 1962); Martin and Mavis Brown (married March 1963); Ted and Gwen Beech (married October 1963); Philip and Gillian Stevens (married February 1964); Edward and Irene Smith (married July 1964).

Death of Robert Haycraft

Bob Haycraft

We are saddened to learn of the recent death of Robert Haycraft, a member of the pastoral care team in our Bowling Green, Kentucky congregation. Robert died within ten days of being diagnosed with terminal cancer. He was 80 years old and is survived by his wife Judy, five children, five step-children and several grandchildren.

Cards and letters can be sent to:

Judy Haycraft
338 Clark Circle
Bowling Green, KY 42103

Online books from GCI

In addition to posting on our website (GCI.org) and here in GCI Weekly Update, we also publish some of our writings in the form of books that are published online (e-books). These books can be read online or downloaded (often at no cost) to be printed or stored on your computer or other device. Here are four e-books now available for free:

The Trinitarian Conversations books are also available for purchase in paperback form, go to https://www.createspace.com/pub/simplesitesearch.search.do?sitesearch_query=trinitarian+conversations&sitesearch_type=STORE.

Ruel Guerrero

Ruel and Marilou Guerrero
Marilou and Ruel Guerrero

Ruel Guerrero, our pastor in Las Vegas, Nevada, learned at an early age that fighting has consequences. “My father was a boxing enthusiast. One day when I was about five years old, he coaxed me to punch our neighbor’s kid on the arm. The kid, who was about a year younger than I, was standing right in front of our house. I went outside as he instructed and punched him. The kid wailed so loud, I ran back inside and felt so sorry for him. From then on, I realized I don’t like hurting other people. I never got into a fight after that even when I was bullied at school.”

Ruel grew up in Manila, Philippines and stayed there until he was 16. “After graduating from high school in 1977, I immigrated with my parents to San Francisco, California. I then moved to Daytona Beach, Florida, where after eight months I enlisted in the US Air Force. On my first tour I was stationed at Nellis AFB, Nevada, where I first was involved with WCG. My sister and brother-in-law were attending WCG in the Philippines when I became interested. While stationed at Nellis, I found The World Tomorrow radio broadcast and began attending the Las Vegas congregation where I was baptized by interim pastor John Halford.”

After obtaining an early honorable discharge from the Air Force in 1980, Ruel applied for Ambassador College. “I attended there from 1980-83. After graduation I returned to Manila with the goal of serving the church there. Marilou (pronounced “Malou”) and I were married in 1985 and I gave up my US green card to continue serving the church in the Philippines.” Ruel and Marilou have four children: Jether (28, who is married and lives in the Philippines), and Joshua (26), Jonathan (23) and Janine (21) who are single and live in Las Vegas.

Speaking of Marilou, Ruel said, “She is my constant companion in ministry, whether at the weekly service, visitation, praying for the sick, teaching home groups, sharing Jesus on the streets, or just listening to God in the park. She is in charge of the congregation’s prayer ministry and helps with teaching worship in the children’s ministry. She is a constant reminder to me that God wants to see us free and that he is the God of miracles.”

Ruel was ordained an elder in 1992. “Around that time God had sovereignly opened my eyes leading to spiritual rebirth. I became assistant pastor of three congregations south of Manila. In 1994, I became pastor of two of those. But my stint as a pastor in WCG was short-lived. In the time of doctrinal turmoil within WCG in the mid 70s, we felt led to leave WCG and become members of Vineyard Christian Fellowship in the Philippines. We planted a church in that fellowship in southern Manila and sponsored another plant in southern Luzon island. We also participated in prison ministry, feeding malnourished children, serving the urban poor and an inner healing ministry. In 2003 I was asked to lead and chair the national board of the Association of Vineyard Churches (Philippines). We thoroughly enjoyed the work God gave us in that fellowship.”

A few years ago, Ruel re-connected with long-time friend, GCI district and church pastor Bermie Dizon. “He invited me to return to GCI and apply to become pastor of the Long Beach, California congregation. My wife and I prayed about it for a couple of months, then we were informed that the position was no longer available but Las Vegas was about to need a new pastor. It took six months of prayer before I finally heard clearly from God that he wanted me to apply for that position. I did so in October 2012 and was installed there as senior pastor in June 2013.”

Ruel and his family love camping. “We try to go at least twice a year. My children and I love to hike, and when we can, we join local hiking groups.” Ruel and Marilou also love to tour, “especially when we can combine sightseeing and missions.” He shared a story about a recent trip to San Diego, California. “We met a homeless man in front of the Catholic church, shared the gospel with him, led him to follow Jesus and baptized him. We gave him the local GCI pastor’s contact information so he could connect with Christians in town.” That evening, the couple was at the marina waiting for what felt like another mission opportunity when a Filipino family approached them. “They invited us to share in their picnic meal. When Mark and Anne Stapleton (pastors of the San Diego congregation) arrived to meet us, they also were invited to the meal. Before we left, we had opportunity to pray for the whole family and to give them Mark’s business card.”

When asked what he enjoys most about being a pastor, Ruel said, “Having the opportunity to point people to Jesus and help them develop a close and personal relationship with him. I especially enjoy helping stir the spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit, guiding people towards the appropriate use of those gifts; also helping them realize the deep and personal love of the Father and encouraging them to share that love with others.”

Speaking of GCI, Ruel said he loves seeing the Father at work in GCI and following his lead. “I believe I am here for a divine reason—to discover that reason and join God in his mission. In Las Vegas, we are experiencing God’s favor in the congregation. We are learning to share the love of God with unbelievers, to connect with other believers, and to encounter Jesus 24/7, including gathering in small groups throughout the communities where our members live.”

Ruel says that his passion is “helping others understand that our worship of God is, more than anything else, the laying down of our lives for others on a daily basis. In that we follow Jesus who gave up his life for us all on the cross. This worship involves every facet of our lives and every facet of church life, including church gatherings. I want to see the planting of churches that express that kind of sacrificial love for others.”

Ruel’s most memorable moment was when he was invited to preach at a church in Manila. “I asked God what he wanted me to speak on, especially since I did not know the congregation and had no idea what they needed. God told me to speak on love and gave me John 15 as my text. I had to reread the whole chapter several times before it finally dawned on me that the central verse in the chapter was verse 13. That incident launched me into a lifelong search in the New Testament as to how the early church obeyed the New Commandment in verse 12 and followed Jesus’ example of laying down his life in verse 13. That search changed my entire ministry, ecclesiology and approach to following Jesus.”

Ruel feels closest to God when he is “walking out in nature and just listening to God’s voice. Sometimes he speaks to me ‘out of the blue,’ when its least expected. I realize it’s from God, because it’s so like how he reveals himself in Scripture and so unlike me in my brokenness. Generally, my whole day is spent talking with God. But the communication is profoundly intimate when he calls me to walk with him outdoors.”

Developing leaders

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

joeandtammyHow do you feel about being evaluated or evaluating someone else? I imagine many of us are uncomfortable with both. Maybe we’ve had a painful evaluation at work or in the church. Perhaps a little humor will help—here are quotes from actual employee evaluations (the employees probably failed to see the humor!):

  • Works well when under constant supervision and cornered like a rat in a trap.
  • Slipped into the gene pool when the lifeguard wasn’t watching.
  • She brings a lot of joy when she leaves the room.
  • Some drink from the fountain of knowledge—he only gargled.
  • If brains were taxed, he’d get a rebate.
  • Gates are down; lights are flashing; but the train isn’t coming.

Though evaluations within the church might seem at odds with respecting and loving our brothers and sisters in Christ, it’s our responsibility as leaders to appropriately evaluate those we are called to lead. Why? Because through processes of discernment, which include evaluation, we respond to what the Spirit is doing in the lives of those we lead. We acknowledge how they have been gifted (and not gifted), and observe their level of maturity (the presence in their lives of the fruit of the Spirit and wisdom—see Galatians 5:22-25 and 1 Timothy 3:6). With this understanding, we then work to provide clear and accessible “pathways” into opportunities where they are enabled to use their gifts to share in Jesus’ mission, through the church, to the world.

Leadership Training
© 1986, used with permission of Erik Johnson & Leadership Journal

A lack of evaluation has, at times, led to appointing people to the wrong ministry roles. It also has contributed to a lack of intentionality in developing new leaders. Perhaps worse, failure to evaluate has led to a lack of discerning the rich variety of the Spirit’s gifting, evidenced by “yellow-pencil,” assembly-line approaches to developing leaders.

By pointing out these deficits, I’m not suggesting that all we did in the past was of the “yellow-pencil,” cloning ourselves variety. I was blessed to work under leaders who recognized that my gifts and skills were quite different than theirs. One pastor saw that I was a better speaker than he was and gave me more preaching assignments than he gave himself. Another saw that I had more administrative talent than he did and helped me get more involved in that area. I recall him saying to me, “Nobody likes paperwork, but you know how to get it done!” I have fond memories of all the people who supervised me as a ministerial trainee, assistant pastor and associate pastor.

It delights me that we‘re now taking a more comprehensive approach to leader selection and development. In the U.S. we’re now using a comprehensive system that includes assessments to help employed pastor and church planter candidates confirm that their calling, gifting and experience is a good fit for their prospective ministry role. These assessments are conducted by leaders who have been appropriately trained.

10903
© 1998, used with permission of Stanley Elliott & Leadership Journal

I encourage our pastors to have in place within their congregations a process for identifying and developing new leaders (assistant pastors, ministry leaders, etc.). I know there often is pressure to recruit people to fill ministry slots, but it’s usually best to leave slots unfilled than to force-fit the proverbial “square peg into a round hole.” Developing leaders takes time and focused care that includes appropriate evaluation.

I recall that in one church I attended, a musically-challenged elder was appointed to lead the choir. It wasn’t a matter of not having gifted and qualified people to serve in that role, it was just a bad discernment-appointment process. The results were disastrous.

As one author put it, “What the Lord anoints, the church appoints.” I like that, because it reminds us that raising up new leaders is about spiritual discernment (Who has the Lord anointed, and how?), and about investing time and other resources to develop those individuals, leading to appointing them to roles within the church that are consistent with their divine calling. I’m grateful to see that many of our established leaders are investing time and other resources in this way. A wonderful example is our U.S. Intern Program directed by Jeff McSwain (you can read about that program at www.gci.org/internprogram).

As we follow the Holy Spirit’s lead in developing leaders, it’s important to remember that leadership within the church is not limited to a special, professional class. Christ’s ministry, including roles of leadership, is to be shared by all of his followers in accordance with the way the Spirit fosters in them both gifts and fruits. My deep thanks to all who serve, and special thanks to those called to lead who understand that a big part of that calling is to identify, equip, mentor and then release other leaders. That is the way of Jesus, and I’m delighted it’s becoming our way more and more.

It’s vital to the joy and health of each congregation that its members participate in mission with Jesus–most as ministry workers, some as ministry leaders. Every member and thus every congregation is like the vine to the branch, organically connected to and dependent upon Christ for its life (see John 15). As a living organism, the church’s concern should not be, “What do we want to do?” but rather, “What is Christ doing and how may we get involved?” The difference may seem subtle, but it’s critical.

I pray that we all work together to follow where Jesus leads, doing what Jesus does, and bringing with us others whom the Spirit is calling to active participation.

On mission with Jesus and with you,

Joseph Tkach

P.S. For some helpful resources on our website related to developing leaders, go to http://www.gci.org/content/competency-multiplying-leaders-ministries-and-churches.