Bob Miller and his wife Ruth are pleased to announce the birth of another grandchild, Lily Renee Miller. According to Bob, who pastors GCI churches in Birmingham and Good Hope, Alabama, “Our son Brian and his wife Kristin report that the delivery went well and Lily is a healthy little girl—born on April 20, weighing 7 pounds, 4 ounces; 21 inches long. Brian and Kristin are exhausted and the grandparents are doing great!”
GCI Pastor Kernani Cheny and his wife Juliette of Martinique are ecstatic in welcoming to the world their first child, Keynan Josue. He was born on April 15, weighing eight pounds and 20 inches long. Though the pregnancy and cesarean-section delivery were difficult, baby Keynan is well and lively. New mommy Juliette is very tired but happy to welcome this wonderful gift.
We were saddened to learn of the recent death of Joseph Horchak, the father of Mike Horchak who pastors GCI churches in Hammond and New Orleans, Louisiana.
Joseph died on April 10 in Mountain Home, Arkansas, at the age of 93. During his last hours, his daughter, Jacqui Blackwood, was by his side.
Born in Breziner, Pennsylvania in 1922, Joseph married Betty Wargo in 1944. She preceded him in death. Joseph is survived by three sons: Joseph C. Horchak (Jackie) of Roseville, CA, Michael Horchak (Pam) of Hammond, LA, and Douglas Horchak (Tanya) of McKinney, TX; daughter, Jacqui Blackwood (Fred) of Holly, MI; ten grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Cards to the family may be sent to:
Mike Horchak
41120 Adelle Drive
Hammond, LA 70403-7539
Here is a follow-up to the earlier prayer request for Patty Mitchell from her husband Wayne, pastor of the GCI congregation in Seattle-Bellevue, Washington.
We just returned from our day with several doctors. Thank God, we got some good news! What the doctors thought was cancer in Patty’s lungs and lymph nodes in her chest, turned out to be inflammation brought on by an infection she has been battling for three months. What came at us like a roaring lion, the true Lion of Judah tamed into a scratching house cat. There is, after all, only one King of the Jungle. And we roll with him!
Patty’s doctors started her on a regimen of supplementation, diet and hot Epsom salts baths to treat the inflammation. She also continues to be treated for papillary carcinoma. We meet soon with surgeons to discuss the extent of needed surgery. After that, she will have 12 weeks of chemotherapy, then bi-monthly treatments for a year. She should be clear then. If not, we will continue the regimen until she is.
So it’s very good news overall! Thank you for your prayers, kind words and loving support.
Cards may be sent to:
Wayne and Patty Mitchell
14509 254 Avenue SE
Monroe, WA 98272-9333
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Several years ago, a brother in Christ from another denomination approached me with a sense of urgency. He said he had a “word of knowledge” for me from the Lord. He said God wanted me to know that unless I went to a particular church in Toronto or Pensacola to receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, God would remove me from church leadership within six months and our denomination would disappear within a year. Wanting to be polite, I didn’t say what I was thinking: “I believe Jesus is telling me not to listen to you!”
Though I believe the Spirit, from time to time, gifts some with special wisdom and discernment, this brother’s message was clearly the invention of his own imagination. Over the years, many have felt the need to share with me a word of knowledge or a prophecy, which they claim is from the Lord. On one occasion, a gentleman declared that he wanted to anoint and ordain me. I explained that I already had been ordained and wasn’t sure why he wanted to anoint me (I wasn’t feeling sick—at least not until he mentioned this “word”!). It reminded me of the people who audition for one of those TV singing contests. Though they sound awful, they get angry when the judges won’t let them on the show!
Though I’ve had several of these experiences over the years, the only times the prophecy was true, was when it mirrored (coincidentally?) what already is revealed in Scripture. One time, a woman who said she was a prophetess brought me this message from the Lord: “God loves you!” She seemed taken aback when I replied, “He loves you too!” She seemed genuinely surprised when I then told her that God’s love for all people is one of the fundamentals of the faith. I mentioned that the old song is true, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” I think she walked away disappointed.
On another occasion, a man told me that God told him to “wash my feet.” He seemed surprised when I replied that his message was more for him than for me—perhaps God was telling him to serve me and others in practical ways. It’s sad that some people are motivated to convey a “word of knowledge” for others, yet they do not hear God’s already-revealed word for them!
Those who have come to me with a word of knowledge or a prophecy generally have not brought a new revelation. Not a single one of these prophecies has come to pass. But that’s no surprise, because the purpose of prophecy is not to foretell the future but to point to Jesus, who is the center of God’s plan of redemption. As the apostle John wrote, “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10). Jesus declared that all Scripture (and that includes all its prophecies) point to him (John 5:39). As declared by the author of Hebrews: “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe” (Hebrews 1:1-2). Jesus is now our prophet, as well as our priest, sage and king.
When someone proclaims that the Spirit has given them a special gift, they (perhaps unwittingly) imply that the Spirit is operating separately from Jesus and the Father. Some even proclaim that the Spirit gets “the short end of the stick” when he doesn’t receive as much worship as do the Father and the Son. They seem to conceive of the Trinity as three-in-competition rather than three-in-communion. But let me be clear: The Spirit has not altered God’s plan of redemption; has not displaced Jesus as the center of all prophecy; and never works separate from Jesus and the Father. The Spirit never does anything outside the unity and communion of the Trinity.
Jesus explained that the Spirit is sent to guide us into all truth and in doing so does not speak on his own. He is sent to do the will of the Father. The Spirit comes from the Father, through the incarnate Son, and actualizes within us all that God accomplished for us in Christ. Elmer Colyer put it this way in an article entitled “Thomas F. Torrance on the Holy Spirit”:
Jesus, our brother, does all of this for us on our behalf and in our place in and through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is born of the Spirit. At his baptism, Jesus was anointed for us with the Spirit without measure, for he received the Holy Spirit into the very humanity Christ assumed in the incarnation. Jesus Christ lived out his entire earthly life and ministry in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. Everything our Lord did, he did in the communion of the Spirit, including his death and resurrection. So it is no isolated or naked Holy Spirit who comes upon the church at Pentecost, but rather the “Spirit of Jesus” (Acts 16:7), the Holy Spirit who was fully engaged in the life, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord.
Just as Jesus does not do anything behind the back of the Father, neither does the Holy Spirit work independently of the Father and Son. T.F. Torrance talked about the Spirit “hiding behind the Father” and bringing the “radiance of God’s glory to bear upon us.” The Holy Spirit does not have a separate agenda nor does he give messages separate from what the Word is saying. Note this from T.F.:
Like Christ the Holy Spirit is one in being and of the same being as the Father, but unlike Christ the Holy Spirit is not one in being and of the same being as we are, for he incarnated the Son but does not incarnate himself, he utters the Word but does not utter himself. He directs us through himself to the one Word and Face of God in Jesus Christ in accordance with whom all our knowledge of God is formed in our minds, knowledge of the Spirit as well as of the Father and of the Son. This is the diaphanous self-effacing nature of the Holy Spirit who hides himself, as it were, behind the Father in the Son and behind the Son in the Father, but also the enlightening transparence of the Spirit who by throwing his eternal Light upon the Father through the Son and upon the Son in the Father, brings the radiance of God’s Glory to bear upon us. We do not know the Holy Spirit directly in his own personal Reality or Glory. We know him only in his unique spiritual mode of activity and transparent presence in virtue of which God’s self-revelation shines through to us in Christ, and we are made through the Spirit to see the Father in the Son and the Son in the Father.
When the Scripture speaks of the fruit and gifts of the Holy Spirit, it is not speaking of things separate from the Father or the Son. The fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, etc.), are characteristics of the Son that we share in through the indwelling Spirit. Likewise, the gifts of the Spirit (including the “word of knowledge”) are not separate from the Father or the Son, and are given principally to encourage and embolden the faith of the recipient.
Let me close with this from T.F. Torrance: “What Jesus Christ does for us and to us, and what the Holy Spirit does in us, is what God himself does for us, to us, and in us” (Christian Doctrine, p. 95). Now that’s a word of knowledge!
Looking to Jesus, the one true prophet,
Joseph Tkach
Note: the cartoons in this issue are used with permission from Naked Pastor (www.nakedpastor.com).
Last month a milestone in GCI-Philippines occurred when the First Baptist Church of Nabong in San Juan, Batangas became an affiliate GCI congregation. To read about this development, go to http://my.gci.ph/first-baptist-church-in-batangas-affiliates-with-gci/.
This update is from Lorenzo Arroyo, mission developer for GCI-Mexico and GCI-USA regional pastor.
On April 3-5, GCI Mexico held its annual Equipping Conference in Guadalajara, Mexico. Attending from the U.S. were Gary and Cathy Deddo, Heber and Xochilt Ticas, and Lorenzo and Rita Arroyo. Approximately 65 pastors and other congregational leaders traveled from various states in Mexico to attend. In addition to plenary presentations, workshops and small group sessions were provided for pastors, ministry leaders, men’s and women’s groups (pictured below) and emerging leaders. Alfredo Mercado, GCI Mexico national leader, coordinated efforts with local churches to provide conference transportation, lodging and meals.
A particularly inspirational event during the conference was a special service held Saturday evening at GCI-Mexico’s newest mission outreach in Santa Rosa (near Guadalajara). A bus was chartered for conference attendees to travel there for a community outreach service. The group was welcomed by a procession of children and over 100 people attending. There was lively worship, dynamic preaching and great fellowship and food. The highlight was a blessing of children conducted by visiting pastor and church planter Heber Ticas (pictured at left), who lined up the children in pairs then anointed, prayed over and blessed each one. As over 30 children were blessed, tears were shed by parents and friends. Though economically impoverished, the children received the gentle touch of Jesus, present through the Holy Spirit.
Pastors Alberto Luis Soto and Humberto Perez, along with Deacon Jose Rodriguez oversee this new mission outreach, which was planted about nine months ago. Though the building where it meets has no floor and a partial roof, the evening gathering felt like meeting in a cathedral. During the lively worship, many “Hallelujahs” were expressed with great joy (see picture below).
During the main conference in Guadalajara, Gary Deddo gave a plenary session entitled “Union with Christ and the Kingdom of God.” Cathy Deddo (pictured at left), Rita Arroyo, Xochilt Ticas and Selena Soto gave talks for women’s breakouts. Heber and Lorenzo led group discussions on implementing next steps toward community outreach. Their presentation emphasized Trinitarian evangelism, participation in mission and church renewal. Heber also worked with the younger adults on leadership development, including making plans to hold the next GCI-Mexico youth camp over the New Year holiday, possibly in the area of Cuernavaca. Heber and Xochilt will be camp instructors.
At the conference, Alfredo Mercado announced that a congregation in Chihuahua, Mexico, recently joined GCI. Its pastor, Jose Luis Cruz Flores, after checking out our website, contacted our home office, resulting in Alfredo’s visit. The congregation has about 60 members. We look forward to their involvement in future conferences and camps. God is good!
On Sunday, over 100 people enjoyed an uplifting Easter celebration. Cathy Deddo presented “Receiving the Self-giving God” from John 13. Her moving plenary talk focused on the Triune God’s unconditional love that knows no bounds except those we make for ourselves. Like Peter, we need to learn to let go and let God love us extravagantly.
Next, Gary Deddo (pictured preaching at right with his interpreter) gave an inspirational sermon entitled, “Don’t Cry for Jesus.” His message emphasized that Jesus was not a victim of fatalistic circumstances leading to a pitiful death as is so often portrayed. Rather than a victim, Jesus is the victor, who of his own choosing laid down his life for our redemption. Natanael Cruz led Easter worship with a dazzling arrangements of spiritual songs. Those in attendance were moving and clapping to the music!
Thanks to individuals and congregations in Canada, Washington, Oregon, California and elsewhere for the generous gifts that made this conference possible. Donations to the GCI home office help fund events like this and are very much appreciated.
As stated in a recent post at ChurchLeaders.com, “No church can do everything. Not if we want to do any of it well. But every church can do something really well. Maybe a couple things. That’s what makes a church great…. especially in a small church.” To read the full post, click here.
At its semiannual meeting on March 5, the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) Board of Directors expressed collective grief and profound concern for the suffering of Christians around the world. “Our brothers and sisters in Christ are being persecuted, uprooted from their ancestral homes, and even martyred because of their faith,” the motion states. Click here to read more.
In the video below, Greg Williams, director of Church Administration and Development, provides an update on the recent GenMin Converge 2015 event held in March in Ohio. For more videos from Converge 2015, go to http://www.generationsministries.org/converge-2015-highlights.html.
On Vimeo at http://vimeo.com/124878529.
