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Share Fair: joining Jesus’ compassion

This update is from Pastor Gabriel Ojih, who tells about a recent outreach event in his GCI congregation.

2016-share-fairOn September 10, Pathway of Grace Church in Mesquite, Texas, invited the community to its annual Share Fair, where food, fellowship and prayer, along with free clothing, furniture and household items were shared with the community. Items were donated by members, Sharing Life Outreach (a local charity), community families, and local dry cleaners. A very large amount of clothing was made available for babies, kids and adults, and most found new homes with the 350+ people who attended. Leftover clothing was donated to a homeless ministry.

2016-food-distributionIn conjunction with Share Fair, a food bank distribution hub was launched at our church building to provide food to needy families in the community once a week. This effort is a partnership with Sharing Life Outreach, which provides dignified, benevolent services to families in need in Mesquite and Southeastern Dallas County. Twenty-three families signed up, and about a thousand pounds of food, including canned goods and produce, were distributed.

2016-share-fair-on-missionMany meaningful conversations took place at Share Fair, in the prayer booth and elsewhere on the grounds. Members shared material goods and enjoyed the privilege of sharing hope, faith, and love with people in need of a window into the loving heart of God. One elderly African-American woman said, “This is fun and so helpful at the same time. I’m sure the good Lord is well-pleased. What you guys are doing is such a blessing and you didn’t have to do it!” And yet we did, for the love of God compels us in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Death of Robert Browne II

robert-browne-ii
Pastor Browne

We had previously requested prayer for GCI-Liberia National Director Robert Browne II, who was hospitalized with acute anemia. He received blood transfusions to treat the anemia, and feeling better was released to return home. But his condition soon worsened, and he was rushed back to the hospital, where he died.

Please pray for Deddeh Browne, who is distraught about the death of her husband, for their children, relatives, and the members in Liberia.

Kalengule Kaoma, Robert’s ministry supervisor, wrote this: “We will miss Robert’s enthusiasm, friendly service and commitment to God’s work. We are grateful to God for the work done through Pastor Browne.”

Death of James Stokes

We were saddened to learn of the recent death of retired GCI pastor James (“Jim”) Stokes. He served in the Pasadena, CA, area for many years and more recently lived in Florida. His friends and congregants remember him as a dear, faithful man of God, comedian, friend and pastor (see the tribute below).

james-stokes

Jim’s daughter recently posted this information on Facebook:

Dad had been losing weight and had no appetite for months. He finally found out his gall bladder was bad and needed to come out. There were complications, internal bleeding. They operated again the next day to stop the bleeding. That helped, but things went downhill. Blood pressure kept going down, heart had episodes of A fib. Systems shut down. The last time he spoke to his nurse he said that he had no pain. He went into a deep sleep and passed quietly with his pastor at his side. He missed his wife Grace (my mother), immensely. We will miss him.

Jim and Grace together again
Jim and Grace together again

Here is a tribute to Jim Stokes from GCI Pastor Jeffrey Broadnax and his wife Karen:

Mr. Jim Stokes was a “servant leader” before servant leadership was cool! For my first seven years in the crucible of leadership training, he taught me the most about what it means to be a humble, dedicated, cheerful and Spirit-led servant of God.

My class at Ambassador College in Pasadena was blessed to have “Pops and Granny” (as they were affectionately known) as our surrogate grandparents, though they weren’t just sitting around in rocking chairs—they were out on the Rose Parade lines, helping with class projects and teaching us the power of submitting your desires for the benefit of others.

After graduation, I had the pleasure of working every day for three years with him in the Pasadena congregation. My internship, ordination and development was shaped in late-night visits, long days in organization, and hours of gaining the wisdom from a “hoary head” during a very difficult training period.

Mr. Stokes had been an elder in my wife, Karen’s, congregation before she came to college, so we were already family. I cherish every memory of “smiling Jim” and Granny. To this day, I serve some of the widows he introduced me to in Pasadena 30 years ago, despite being hundreds of miles away. Just this morning I received an email from one of them.

Mr. Stokes was a devoted servant of Jesus Christ and his light lives on in thousands of other lives. I praise God for you, Jim Stokes. I also praise God for Granny and look forward to our reunion. Until then, we’ll all “keep smiling,” serving our Lord like you showed us.

Ingrid Mandel

Thanks for praying for Ingrid Mandel, wife of retired GCI pastor Willi Mandel (click here for the prayer request). Ingrid had been scheduled for a second hip surgery a day following her first one, but it was decided to let the first hip heal first. Ingrid is now at home resting and receiving therapy. The next surgery will likely occur in 2 or 3 months.

Cards may be sent to:

Ingrid Mandel
747 Tanner Drive
Kingston, ON K7M 9G7
CANADA

Festivals and retreats

GCI congregations and national and regional offices host festivals and worship retreats at various times throughout the year—the fall season is particularly popular. Here are reports about three such events—held recently in the Philippines and Canada.

Philippines

GCI-Philippines held a festival in September at Teachers Camp in Baguio City. The theme was Spread His Love, Share Your Life. It was attended by more than 800 people. GenMin’s national coordinator Anthony Mullins and his wife Elizabeth were guest speakers. For a report, click here, and here is a video with comments from the Mullins:

On YouTube at https://youtu.be/uyYN8bFYJ1g

Canada

GCI’s churches in Saskatchewan held a worship retreat in September at a resort hotel on Lake Manitou. The lake, which has a very high mineral content, feeds several pools at the hotel which are warmed, providing what is considered to be healing properties. This is the second year this event has been held with members (pictured below) attending from Regina, Saskatoon, Yorkton and Battleford.

canada-1

A week later, a two-day worship retreat was held near Edmonton, Canada. Members attended from Edmonton, Westlock and Evansburg. The retreat included worship services on both days, an evening session, and meals (one pictured below).

canada-2

Crossing Borders

Crossing Borders (a GenMin mission organization) will embark on its 22nd trip into Mexico on December 9-12. Ages 15-99 are invited to come along. As noted by Crossing Borders’ director Lee Berger, “We will be hand-delivering hundreds of shoeboxes full of supplies and gifts to children and families—a life-transforming experience.” A passport is required, and for more information about attending or sending shoebox gifts, go to http://cbmission.org/ or call Lee at 903-746-4463.

crossing-borders-kids-open-shoeboxes

Michelle Fleming ordained

We are pleased to announce that Michelle Fleming was recently ordained a GCI elder, now serving the Orlando, Florida, congregation. Orlando lead pastor, Steve Schantz, commented:

michelle2It was a joyous time of prayer and celebration as Michelle’s church family affirmed her call to serve her Lord and his church as an elder. I opened the ordination ceremony with scripture reading, then Michelle’s father, Dr. Charles Fleming (GCI’s Mission Developer for the Caribbean), read more scripture and shared ways God prepared his daughter for pastoral ministry—serving the congregation first as an intern, then as a member of the preaching-teaching team, worship leader, small group leader, and assistant curriculum writer. Charles then led the ordination prayer while brothers and sisters from Michelle’s physical and spiritual families joined in as Charles and I as officiating elders laid hands on her. Tears of joy were in abundance!

Below are pictures from the ceremony. The top picture shows the laying on of hands with Steve on Michelle’s left, and Charles (holding the microphone) on her right. The bottom picture shows the congregation gathered for the ordination. Congratulations to Michelle, her family and congregation!

laying-on-of-hands

michelle-with-the-orlando-congregation

Which is true: materialism or idealism?

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Joseph and Tammy Tkach
Joseph and Tammy Tkach

A good friend recently told me about his new diet based on portion control and healthy food choices (like tofu). I asked how it was going and he replied, “I don’t mean to brag, but I finished my 14-day allocation of diet food in three hours and twenty minutes!” I then asked how he prepares his tofu and he replied, “First, I throw it in the trash, then I grill some meat.” He noted that he also tried exercise: “I did a week’s worth of cardio after walking into a spider’s web!” I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that his understanding of diet and exercise is just a bit lacking!

There are, of course, other areas where understanding seems in short supply. We see this in the realm of philosophy where one of the big questions is this: Which is true: materialism or idealism? Though there are commonalities between these ideas, and various forms of each one, these two perspectives are largely polar opposites, resulting in debates between atheists (who typically embrace materialism) and theists (who can be said to embrace a form of idealism). Materialists generally believe everything can be explained in relation to matter, which then is lumped together in various ways. Idealists generally believe that ideas (which, by definition, are non-material) make up fundamental reality, and thus the only “thing” that is knowable is consciousness, which includes a person’s thoughts, ideals, principles and values.

Source
Source

Believing that mind is merely the byproduct of what happens in the brain, materialists view consciousness as an illusion. Various experiments have supposedly lent credence to this notion, but none are convincing, especially when the key “proof” offered is that our brains work by lying to ourselves. As atheist-philosopher Daniel Dennett put it, “Half the time our brains are actively fooling us!” (click here for his talk). With my tongue deeply buried within my cheek, I offer this response: “Officer, my brain was fooling me again, I thought I had a green light and all those other drivers’ brains told them they had a red light!” Well, I doubt the “my brain is fooling me” defense would hold up in court.

It may interest you to know that Dennett’s close associate, Richard Dawkins, lost badly when debating three notable theists: click here for Dawkins’ debate with John Lennox, here for his debate with Keith Ward, and here for his debate with Alister McGrath. For critiques of Dawkin’s positions set out in these debates and presented in more detail in The God Delusion, see Alister and Joanna McGrath’s book, The Dawkin’s Delusion and the article “The Dawkins Confusion” by theist-philosopher Alvin Plantinga.

Commenting on the origin of our humanity, professor of philosophy Quentin Smith wrote that “the most reasonable belief is that we came from nothing, by nothing and for nothing.” [1] Though you don’t likely agree with that assessment, you might be interested in what Smith wrote recently concerning a major renaissance in the field of philosophy where an increasing number of philosophers are embracing a theistic/idealist worldview. Why? According to Smith it’s because theists/idealists have been winning debates with atheists/materialists. According to Smith, “Contrary to popular opinion, God is not ‘dead’ in academia—he returned to life in the late 1960s and is now alive and well in his last academic stronghold, philosophy departments.” [2] Of course God wasn’t dead before the 60s either, though many refused then (as now) to open their eyes to see him, and for a number of decades, the topic of God was ignored by most philosophers. Things have certainly changed in academic philosophy!

Materialistic and atheistic philosophical arguments don’t seem to faze God, nor do they get in the way of what he is doing to make himself known to humankind. Peter Berger, a leading proponent of what is known as the “secularization theory,” which states that the more modern and technological our world becomes, the more secular it becomes, recently abandoned that theory, saying he and almost everyone in the field has changed their minds because the evidence demands it. He elaborates:

The real situation is that most of the world is as religious as it ever was. You have enormous explosions of religion in the world… In fact, you can say every major religious tradition has been going through a period of resurgence in the last 30, 40 years or so… anything but secularization. [3]

Though we are not materialists, we do acknowledge that we are made from matter. We believe God created matter out of nothing (ex nihilo) and then, as the Master Potter (Isaiah 45:9-12), formed us from “the dust [clay] of the ground” (Genesis 2:7). But Genesis also says that, in part, we are non-material beings. God breathed into us the “breath of life.” If there was no one (God) who is spirit to breathe that immaterial, life-giving “breath” into us, and then sustain it, we would either not exist, or fall back into non-existence. But we do exist because God, the non-material, living, dynamic and personal source of all being and existence, gave us material existence along with non-material mind (consciousness)—the ability to think and reason, and thus have a relationship with him.

This idealist, theistic perspective seems to be growing in acceptance among philosophers who formerly were radical materialists. Isn’t that just like God! Just when it seems that bankrupt intellectualism and materialism have gained the upper hand, he shows up with his idealist revelation. Paul put it this way: “[God’s] invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20 ESV). I’m delighted (but not surprised) that God is revealing himself to materialists who, in the past, attempted to deny God’s existence (or relevance).

It’s my prayer that those leaning away from materialism toward idealism (theism in particular) will continue that journey in response to the Word and Spirit of God, finding faith in God’s personal self-revelation and self-giving in Jesus Christ. In doing so they will be following in the footsteps of Oxford scholar and former atheist, C.S. Lewis.

Forever in awe of God’s incomparable goodness, knowledge and power,
Joseph Tkach

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[1] Quentin Smith, The Uncaused Beginning of the Universe, quoted in William Lane Craig and Quentin Smith, Theism, Atheism, and Big Bang Cosmology (1993), 135.

[2] Quentin Smith, “The Metaphilosophy of Naturalism,” Philo. 4.2 (2001), 197.

[3] Peter Berger, “Six Decades as a Worldwide Religion Watcher: Observations & Lessons Learned.” Ethics & Public Policy Center, accessed online on July 22, 2014 at http://eppc.org/publications/berger/.