Join us in celebrating Kalengule Kaoma’s retirement.

Congratulations, KK! We are very grateful for your many years of faithful service.

We wanted you to hear from Kalengula in his own words.

Change of Pace: A Transition from Full-time Ministry

My walk with the Savior is like a marathon. The Master of the universe took me along and across the paths with the Roman Catholic Church, the Baptists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists, Worldwide Church of God, and Grace Communion International. One thing stands out firmly for me on this journey: a deep desire for a personal, deep, and meaningful relationship with Jesus the Christ, Son of the Living God.

Faith journey in GCI

I made a public confession and acceptance of Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour in 1973. A Baptist Pastor solemnly but joyfully led me in the process. Through the Holy Spirit, the loving, compassionate Father who forgives, heals, and restores, continued his purposeful work in my life.

My faith journey with Grace Communion International started in 1980 through the Worldwide Church of God (WCG). In 1987, Ambassador College, a Liberal Arts College in Pasadena, California, enrolled me as a student and I graduated in May 1991.

Serving in pastoral ministry did not cross my mind when I was growing up. However, as my relationship with Jesus Christ grew and deepened, I understood the need to positively answer the call to service not only as an elder but also as a congregation pastor. While in Ambassador College, I began to hear the call to ministry more clearly.

A week after graduation, I took up a ministerial training role on a full-time basis in the Dallas East Congregation, Dallas, Texas. A year later, my supervisor recommended my ordination as an elder. From that time, I have served my Lord in various capacities as a minister of the gospel.

Pastoral ministry

Opportunities of serving the Lord and members have come in many forms. Each chance brought its own dimension of service. I have found that there is power in the work of the Holy Spirit. Seeing the transformation in people learning to walk with Jesus has been one of the joys in my pastoral role. The Word of God changes and enlivens lives (John 6:63). How can I fail to find meaning in the Word of God?

Serving members in their needs, whether the service is through prayer, communion, fellowship, worship, and praise, has been a source of inspiration. The Word of God brings clarity to many issues of life. I find joy when God patiently demonstrates his love by opening the understanding behind situations and circumstances in the lives of his people.

Hundreds upon hundreds of hours went into visiting and spending time with members. During those hours, we shared meals, laughter, tears, comfort, and stories of Christian living. Some moments exhausted me and my traveling teams. In extraordinary circumstances, I found meaning in knowing that humanity is crippled and weakened by sin. Together, we learned to grow closer in our relationships with Jesus Christ. Out of all these relationships, I saw my need for reliance on the power of the Holy Spirit and dependence upon my Lord for guidance, leadership, counsel, and wisdom.

What next?

As I transition from full-time pastoral and ministry engagements, I am looking forward to spending more time with my wife, grandchildren, and family. I plan to invest more time serving in my local congregation. The Ministry Training Center (MTC) is another area where part of my activities will be focused.

Join us in congratulating Bill Hall on his retirement.

Thank you, Bill and Averil, for your many years of faithful service.

Let’s hear from Bill in his own words.

Pastor Reflections

I still recall a conversation with the late New Testament scholar Gordon Fee, whom I have long considered a mentor. I returned to Regent College in Vancouver after my first year of pastoral ministry in Saskatchewan. When he asked how things were going now that I was a pastor, I replied, “Sometimes the Church (with a capital C) can be quite maddening — except for the people.” He smiled and said, “Yes. It is really about the people.”

The late Eugene Peterson captured this same truth when reflecting on his own transition from academia and church membership into pastoral ministry:

And then I ‘outed’ as a pastor. After those three years of apprenticeship as a pastor in White Plains, I found myself going to work every day in a church. I was not just a pastor. I was a pastor of a church, a congregation. Pastor was not an autonomous vocation. Pastor wasn’t a vocation negotiated privately between me and God. There was a third party—congregation. It turned out that what I had signed up for required spending a term in church boot camp to get a basic orientation in the conditions I would be dealing with as a pastor of a church. (The Pastor: A Memoir, p. 104)

That has been my story as well. In my 29 years of pastoral ministry, the people Jesus placed in front of me on Sunday mornings taught me far more about what it means to be a pastor than any book I ever read or any training I ever received. In many ways, I never fully graduated from church boot camp.

Along this journey, three lessons in particular have stayed with me:

1. 1. You need the ongoing support of your wife and family.
      My wife, Averil, helped me navigate pastoral life, especially when I struggled with certain expectations — hospital visits, conflict resolution, and the pressures that come with shepherding a congregation. And my children lived their lives as PKs (pastor’s kids), carrying their own share of the burden and grace of pastoral ministry.
   2. People look to you as the expert on life’s hardest moments.
      I will never forget the relief on the faces of two young constables when I entered the apartment of a member whose wife had just died at home. They didn’t know how to respond to the husband’s raw grief as he described how she died beside him while they were watching television. To them, the pastor, the “expert,” had arrived to take charge. Little did they know it was my first time walking into a sudden death.
   3. I learned that I stand before the cross of Jesus just like everyone else.
      Whether I liked it or not, the congregations I served inevitably reflected aspects of my own personality. That was a daily reminder of how much I needed to stay grounded in Christ. Without that grounding, I could easily lead Jesus’ people astray.

Now, as I enter retirement, I know I will miss this stage of my life. But I also know that one never retires from the vocation of being a disciple of Jesus. And I hold close the simple words of a member who, after my final “official” service, shook my hand and said, “Thanks for all you have done.”

New Superintendent of Latin America Installed

Paulina Salinas, of Bogota, Colombia, has been commissioned as Superintendent of Latin America. Heber Ticas passed the baton to Paulina on October 5. (Heber was commissioned as the Vice President of GCI in June 2025.) Get to know Paulina here.

New Superintendent of Africa Installed

Takalani Musekwa, of Pretoria, South Africa, was commissioned as the Superintendent of Africa on December 7. Kalengule Kaoma passed the baton to Takalani upon his retirement.  Watch their conversation here.

New National Director of Canada Installed

Gillian Houghton, of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, was commissioned as the National Director of Canada on November 30. Bill Hall passed the baton to Gillian; he will retire on December 31.

Join us in honoring Tim Sitterley, who retired from employment with GCI in January 2025.

We are very grateful to you for your love and faithful service to the bride of Christ, Tim.

We asked Tim to share his reflections.

To be honest, I had not spent much time in retrospective thought since retiring from employment with GCI back in January. That old joke that I would be busier now than when I worked full-time proved to be far more accurate than I ever imagined. But the one thing I’ve found I missed from my years as a pastor and then as a regional director was the interaction with an almost endless number of incredible people.

As a senior pastor, I had the opportunity to come to know the members in my congregations at an intimate level few achieve outside of immediate family. Anyone who has ever pastored for any period of time comes to understand why the early church adopted the title “Father” for their clergy. The feelings of love and responsibility for the people God has called you to serve overshadows all other aspects of the job. Young or old, you can’t shake the fact that they all have become your spiritual children. You celebrate with them, and you weep with and for them. You are there for them during some of the most important events in their lives. And you speak encouragement and hope to their family and friends when they have passed on.

When I became the director of the western United States, that familial relationship expanded to a level I could not have imagined. I developed a habit of taking a photograph from the pulpit of the congregations I spoke to, and in looking back at that collection of pictures, I see so many people who have now become an extended part of my life. Whether it was Anchorage, Seattle, Sacramento, or San Diego, these were now my people, and I know I could walk into any of the congregations from my former region and be greeted as a long-lost friend.

The icing on the cake was the international relationships I was blessed to make. From island hopping in the Caribbean in the early days of my employment, to leading “pilgrims” to the Holy Land in the final years, I saw much more of the world than a farm-boy from Pennsylvania could have ever imagined. One of the highlights was the time I was able to spend in the Philippines, and the opportunity to facilitate CORE training with many of our current leaders there and in India. Even today, a good portion of my Facebook posts are in Tagalog, and due to the dateline shift, I start getting birthday wishes the day before my actual birthday.

I will continue to serve in my local congregation as an assistant pastor, worship leader, and musician. I have taken a part-time position working with the local business community. And I definitely don’t miss getting on airplanes at 5:00 a.m. on a regular basis. But I do miss what waited for me on the other end of those flights — people who made my job a joy and a blessing.

Join us in honoring Rick Shallenberger, who retired in January 2025. In addition to being a regional director, Rick was also serving as the Equipper editor.

Rick and Cheryl, your faithful service and love for Jesus’ Church demonstrates your generous and kind hearts. We are very grateful to you both.

We asked Rick to tell us about his journey.

I have had a rich experience in Grace Communion International. I retired as a regional director, but it was only one of the many hats I’ve worn over the 40+ years of ministry. These hats include initially working with youth ministry as a coach, teacher, and mentor, then working full time for GCI as a writer and editor of most of the publications we’ve produced over the years. I served as an elder in Evansville, Indiana when I was called to pastoral ministry. I had always desired to pastor, but I heard the specific call at a Promise Keeper’s conference in Knoxville, TN. As we were leaving, the three pastors I was with asked me if I heard the calling. All three of them were convicted God wanted me in pastoral ministry. Talk about immediate affirmation.

I served as pastor for six different congregations before being asked to serve as regional director and assistant to our current GCI President. All of these hats/responsibilities came with challenges (which I loved to face for the most part) and numerous blessings. My wife and I have friends all around the world because of the opportunities we’ve had to travel, and I’ve had to teach and train. Looking back, I see very little I would change as I believe I’ve been richly blessed. My goal has always been to help others see the truth about who Jesus is, who they are in him, and to help them live in their true identity as the beloved of Father, Son, and Spirit. I know God directed that vision, and I have full confidence he helped me fulfill that vision. And though I was the employed one, my wife is better at sharing that vision than I am. She has the gift of nurturing others in ways that simply amaze me.

I am now in a new chapter of life, known as retirement, and when Cheryl retires, we don’t see that our mission will change. We currently host a small group where we continue to share the truth about who God is and who we are in him.

Retirement has given me new opportunities I am looking forward to exploring. This spring I had a workshop built so I can learn new woodworking skills. I’m still setting it up for efficiency. I’ve done quite a bit of remodeling in most of the homes we’ve owned – basic construction – but now I want to learn more detailed woodworking. My first project was a set of chairs (pictured below).

Once Cheryl retires, besides spending a lot more time with our grandchildren, we plan to travel, build up our garden, and look for new opportunities to expand our horizons. Cheryl wants to take up piano again; I am currently studying Italian for a future trip, and we want to tour this country we live in. We’d like to visit all the national parks and simply enjoy time together enjoying God’s creation.

The Denominational Celebration
will be held
in Dallas, Texas, U.S.
on July 23-26, 2026.

Registration for the 2026 Denominational Celebration is open!

We would love for you to participate in our time together. This gathering gives our fellowship time to worship, learn, and enjoy being together. The schedule offers steady rhythms of teaching, connection, and shared worship.

Our theme for this celebration is Kingdom Living. Throughout the event, we will explore how God invites us to participate in his life, reflect his goodness, and join his ongoing work in the world. The theme will guide our worship, breakout sessions, and main teachings. It will help us focus on the hope we share and the way we live it out in our daily lives.

Join us for:

• • • Daily worship setting a hopeful tone each day
    • Breakouts that explore discipleship, calling, and mission
    • Messages from our leaders, including Greg Williams
    • Interviews with leaders who will share insights and stories
    • Communion that reminds us of our shared life in Jesus
    • Time for meals, fellowship, and personal reflection

Save your spot and register today!