God made an amazing promise to Abram (later renamed Abraham):
I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. (Genesis 12:2-3)
As the spiritual children of Abraham, through Jesus, our calling is to join with Jesus in being that blessing to the world. Dave Ferguson of Exponential Church Planting shares five ways we can join in. In the Verge video embedded below, Dave notes that, “From the very beginning, God’s way of reaching and restoring the world has always been through what I would call a blessing strategy.” He then (using the acronym BLESS) provides a simple way to live out that strategy in and through our relationships with people around us (our neighbors):
B- Begin with prayer. Ask, “God how do you want me to bless the people in the places you’ve sent me to?” L- Listen. Don’t talk, but listen to people, their struggles, their pains, in the places God has sent you. E- Eat. You can’t just check this off. It’s not quick. You have to have a meal with people or a cup of coffee. It builds relationships. S- Serve. If you listen with people and you eat with people they will tell you how to love them and you’ll know how to serve them. S- Story. When the time is right, now we talk and we share the story of how Jesus changed our life.
This announcement is from GCI Treasurer Mathew Morgan.
Mat Morgan
I am happy to report that Capin Crouse LLP, our external auditors, recently finished auditing GCI’s financial records for 2014 and 2015. They presented their findings to our Board of Directors on June 16, 2016. The report states the following:
In our opinion, the combined financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Grace Communion International and Affiliate in the United States of America as of December 31, 2015 and 2014, and the changes in their net assets and their cash flows for the years then ended in accordance with accounting principles accepted in the United States of America.
This statement means that the auditors have given us a “clean” or “unqualified” report, which is what we always strive for. During the presentation of the report, the auditors also share a “Letter to Management” outlining any suggestions that they may have for changes or improvements. The report did not make any suggestions for improvements. The presenting partner stated, “It is unusual to have a letter to management without any suggestions, because we always try to find something!” She complimented management on the Church’s financial systems.
As outlined in the GCI-USA Financial Management Manual, we ask that our chartered churches and chartered fellowship groups also do an annual internal financial review and an external review every three years. These reviews are vital, for they help insure that congregational finances are handled with proper care so donors feel comfort knowing that their donations are used well in support of the gospel.
Any GCI member in good standing in the United States may obtain a copy of Capin Crouse’s audit report by sending their request to:
Grace Communion International Treasurer’s Office P.O. Box 5005 Glendora, CA 91740
Ross Jutsum, GCI elder and director of State of the Heart Ministries, and his wife Tammy are pleased to announce the recent birth of three grandchildren.
Tammy and Ross Jutsum
Ross and Tammy’s daughter Heidi recently gave birth to a son Gabriel Joseph. Heidi and her husband Ryan live in Connecticut. Ryan recently received a Ph.D. in Theology from Yale Divinity School, and with his mentor Miroslav Volf, coauthored the book Public Faith in Action.
The Jutsum’s daughter Lisa recently gave birth to twins: Evelyne Kathryn and Isaiah Frederick. The newborns, their mother and father (pictured below) are doing well. Lisa and Jonathan met in the Democratic Republic of the Congo while Lisa was serving as a missionary with Samaritan’s Purse, and Jonathan was working as a missionary pilot.
We were saddened to learn of the death of John Coco who had served as an elder in the Chicago area. John was born in 1926, served in the U.S. Navy during WWII, then married Dolores Jones. They have five children and several grandchildren. Here is a tribute written by a family member.
John and Dolores Coco
It was with great sadness that we said goodbye to a man who was a hero in many ways. At John’s funeral, someone stated they did not believe John was afraid of anything. I believe that to be a true of him. It’s also true that he lived his faith, using it to bring change and growth, reaching out to the “little guys,” taking care of widows, picking people up for church, giving money and groceries to those in need, and encouraging younger ministers, assuring them that he had their back.
Though a jokester and a corker, I think all of us would say that he knew how to love—and that he did, genuinely. John loved God, his wife, family, and other people. He is dearly missed, and fondly thought of. He will not be forgotten.
One reason I greatly enjoy the conferences in our fellowship is the opportunities they afford to share meals and conversation with people I don’t often get to see. At a recent U.S. regional conference, I enjoyed discussing Albert Einstein’s historic work with meteorological scientist Michael Anderson, a friend and GCI elder from Connecticut. I mentioned how I’m enchanted by Einstein’s well-known statement that “God does not play dice with the universe.” I also noted to him my amazement that Einstein’s predictions about our visible universe, made over 100 years ago, have been verified by science through empirical measurement.
Gravitational waves
One of Einstein’s predictions was that there are speed-of-light gravitational waves traveling through space. Einstein considered them too small to be measured and thus unverifiable.
Gravitational waves (public domain)
Though Einstein was right about the existence of gravitational waves, he was wrong to think they would never be discovered. In fact, they were recently detected and measured by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) via its two installations in Louisiana and Washington. LIGO analyzed and merged multiple sources of light, using technology that is able to detect distortions one million times smaller than the width of a hydrogen atom. LIGO’s measurements suggest that these gravitational waves originated with a cataclysmic event in the primordial universe.
The realm of God
King David playing the harp (public domain)
Given amazing discoveries like gravitational waves, some scientists wonder if there is a timeless dimension holding together our time-bound universe. Though the scientific community in general does not accept that idea, God’s revelation, centered on Jesus, tells us of a timeless dimension that the Bible refers to as eternity (I like to call it the realm of God). In musing on how something of that realm is revealed to us by God’s creation, David (who I imagine to be the first rap artist) wrote this:
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. (Psalm 19:1-4)
Inner space and the limitations of science
Utilizing ever-more amazing technology, science continues to learn about the outer and inner realms of created space. Recently, scientists looked into the hidden recesses of inner space by examining what is left after smashing sub-atomic particles. With discoveries like this, some say humankind may be near the limit of what can be understood about the universe. Another friend and fellow GCI elder, John Meyer, alerted me to an article [1] featuring the work of Dr. Harry Cliff, a particle physicist at the European Organization for Nuclear Research. Dr. Cliff says we can’t go further in our understanding of the universe because “the laws of physics forbid it.”
Concerning what he calls “the two most dangerous numbers in the universe,” Dr. Cliff notes that if either was only minutely different, nothing would exist. The first number pertains to the strength of the Higgs field (see below), and the second with the repulsive force of the dark energy that accelerates the expansion of the universe. (I must interject a thought here: perhaps Dr. Cliff and others should ask where those two numbers originated and how they became firmly set in relationship with the universe.)
Following discovery of the Higgsboson—the so-called “God particle” [2] by a team of scientists (including Keith Baker, another friend and GCI member in Connecticut), attention turned to the Higgs field [3], the strength of which is a bit of a puzzle. When particles move through this field they gain mass and become protons, neutrons and electrons, which comprise all matter. The Higgs field runs on a constant, very weak energy level. As Dr. Cliff notes, “The Higgs field is just slightly on—it’s not zero, but it’s ten-thousand-trillion times weaker than its fully-on value.” This “weakness” defies current scientific understanding. (Could it be that many scientists engaging in the philosophy of science refuse to see that God has the Higgs field under his control?)
In The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What is the Question? [4], physicist Leon Lederman explains the discovery of the Higgs boson using a parody of the tower of Babel:
The issue is whether physicists will be confounded by this puzzle or whether, in contrast to the unhappy Babylonians, we will continue to build the tower and, as Einstein put it, “know the mind of God.” …The whole universe was of many languages, and of many speeches. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Waxahachie, and they dwelt there. And they said to one another, “Go to, let us build a Giant Collider, whose collisions may reach back to the beginning of time.” And they had superconducting magnets for bending, and protons had they for smashing. And the Lord came down to see the accelerator, which the children of men builded. And the Lord said, “Behold the people are unconfounding my confounding.” And the Lord sighed and said, “Go to, let us go down, and there give them the God Particle so that they may see how beautiful is the universe I have made.”
In reference to his second “dangerous number” (concerning dark energy), Dr. Cliff admits that science has extremely limited understanding. “The best idea,” he said, “is that it is the energy of empty space itself—the energy of the vacuum.” Noting that dark energy should be “10120 times stronger than the value we observe from astronomy,” he concludes that theoretical physics has a real and quite mysterious problem:
We may be entering a new era in physics. An era where there are weird features in the universe that we cannot explain. An era where we have hints that we live in a multiverse that lies frustratingly beyond our reach. An era where we will never be able to answer the question “Why is there something rather than nothing?”
It’s unlikely that physicists will break through these limits without expending massive amounts of time and money. The collider in Geneva used in discovering the Higgs boson likely is not up to the further discoveries necessary to verify as yet unverified scientific theories. But some theories seem to be, in principle, beyond scientific verifiability. For instance, in order to verify the theory of multiple universes (the “multiverse”) we would need to get outside of our own and exist in another universe where the physics of it would be incomparable with that of our own (since that’s what makes it another universe)!
Including God in our thinking about the universe
Albert Einstein (public domain)
Why was Albert Einstein so advanced in his thinking? I believe it is because he included in his thinking the reality of a creator of the universe. Though some claim he was an atheist or agnostic, it’s clear that Einstein did not exclude God from his thinking the way many scientists do. His metaphor that God does not play dice with the universe continues to cut through mysteries concerning the universe that baffle many scientists. Yes, Einstein was not able to adequately describe God’s role in creating and sustaining the universe, but then, neither am I, except to say that I know God as creator of both nature and science, the latter being our ability to understand, at least to some extent, the wonders and mysteries of the created universe.
Natural science is fundamentally about discovery, which includes coming to realize that we lack explanations for many of the things we observe about the natural world. God, as yet, has not made these things known to us, nor has he allowed us, so far, to invent the means of research and development by which we may yet come to know. But more than that, if the original and continuing agency of the living God is essential to answering, Why is there something rather than nothing?, then the study of nature alone can never fully answer that question. This is so because God is not nature, nor is he a part of nature. As early church teachers such as Athanasius realized, Only God knows God and only God reveals God (see 1 Corinthians 2:11).
C.S Lewis put it this way: we should not expect to find the author of a book in the book of his own creation (although he could have written in something of himself as one of the characters of the book!). While nature seems to continually point beyond itself, the natural sciences are unable to go beyond their inherent limits to find answers to the kinds of questions they raise. The natural sciences require a higher level of explanation than they can ever deliver, since nature is not God, and science restricts itself to the study of nature.
Looking beyond the natural sciences to theological science
Acknowledging this limitation of science is important in that it helps us understand that if we are to have an ultimate explanation for nature (and for science itself), we will have to turn to a higher, more comprehensive level of explanation. Our study of nature (of inner and outer space in particular) has, seemingly, brought us to the point where we must recognize that nature raises questions that, in principle, science is unable to answer. Therefore we must look beyond the natural sciences to answer the very questions that this field of study raises.
In searching for answers we must examine theological science, which seeks knowledge from the study of the historical and personal revelation of God which comes through Israel and culminates in Jesus Christ, God’s ultimate self-revelation. Holy Scripture is the record of that revelation which affirms a kind of “multiverse,” consisting of two realms—the heavenly and the earthly. While we cannot exist outside our own universe and reach into another, we have received from that other heavenly “universe” of God his own revelation. The Author himself has broken into our universe and provided us the ultimate explanation for why there is something rather than nothing: the agency of our Triune God, who is the creator, sustainer and redeemer of this universe.
Amazed by God, his creation, and revelation, Joseph Tkach
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Note: all public domain pictures are via Wikimedia Commons.
Preaching is one of the most important tasks for pastoral leaders. Below are links to resources that preachers can use in honing their craft and in teaching others to preach.
Prayer is requested for retired GCI-USA pastor/district superintendent Don Lawson and his wife Sue. GCI President Joseph Tkach together with retired GCI Vice President Michael Feazell visited Don and Sue a few weeks ago. Dr. Tkach sent this prayer request.
Sue and Don Lawson
Don has been Sue’s care provider since her diagnosis of leukemia a little over five years ago. The leukemia has not come back, but she is not doing well otherwise. Don was put on dialysis three times a week because his kidneys started to shut down. While testing to find out why, the doctors found myeloma, a cancer that affects cells in the bone marrow. He has been put on chemotherapy that causes burning to his skin, so he now has blisters/swelling all over his body, particularly on his eye lids.
Don and Sue have sold their home and are moving to live with their son and daughter-in-law. They well know that God is in control and this makes it so much easier for their family knowing how strong their parent’s faith is while they fight the battles ahead.
Please join us in praying for Don, Sue and their extended family.
Cards may be sent to:
Don and Sue Lawson 82383 Stradivari Indio, CA 92203-3825
Karl Reinagel, pastor of New Creation in Christ, GCI’s congregation in Ferguson, Missouri, was one of five pastors recently awarded the 2016 Faith Impact Award by the Nehemiah Program for their contributions in helping heal the wounds in the cities of Ferguson and Florrissant in the aftermath of the highly publicized shooting that occurred in 2014.
The prestigious award (pictured below) was given to pastors, police, firefighters, educators and bankers. The award presentation was made by Ferguson’s mayor, Ev. Vivian Duddley, who thanked the honorees for “making a real difference in the community.”
This article compiles reports from GCI mission developer Rod Matthews and others who participated in two GCI conferences held recently in Bogotá, Colombia.
History was made recently as, for the first time, congregational leaders and members from GCI churches throughout Central and South America gathered for the Latin American Conference in Bogotá, Colombia. In their honor, GCI Mission Developers (MDs) from around the world together with other GCI denominational leaders joined the conference prior to holding the annual Mission Developers Conference. According to MD Rod Matthews, “The two conferences reflected GCI’s unique world-girdling fellowship with its connectedness despite diverse cultures and languages.”
GCI President Joseph Tkach with congregational leaders
Latin American Conference
The tone of this conference was expressed well in its title, A Celebration of God’s Grace. It was marked by a spirit of joy among participants—many meeting for the first time. Though some participants did not speak Spanish, the beaming smiles, hugs and animated gestures powerfully conveyed what could not be expressed in words.
Hector Barrero
The conference was hosted by the Bogotá church, including its Pastor Hector Barrero (who also is an MD) and his wife Paulina. Assisting was the Barranquilla church, including its Pastor Sonia Orozco and her husband Luis.
Conference presentations were made by GCI President Joseph Tkach and his wife, Tammy; Superintendent of U.S. Ministers, Greg Williams; Grace Communion Seminary President, Gary Deddo; U.S. Church Administration and Development Assistant Director Charles Albrecht; U.S. Church Multiplications Ministries Coordinator, Heber Ticas; and GCI Board Member, Wendy Moore. Leaders of GCI churches in Colombia, Argentina, Honduras, Peru, El Salvador and Chile gave updates on how Christ is involving their churches in his ministry. MDs James Henderson (UK), Eugene Guzon (Philippines) and Kalengule Kaoma (Africa) shared their experiences, adding to a sense of closeness as a truly international denomination.
Latin American Conference participantsLeft: Celebrating God’s Grace; right: Greg Williams speaks while Felix Gaetan (Orlando church elder) translates
Members of the Barranquilla church led worship, and offered a beautiful sketch illustrating the Colombian culture through dancing and singing. Hector Barrero commented: “We worshiped together with the verve and expression for which our Latin brethren are renowned.” Joseph Tkach noted, “The worship was simply fabulous—the joy we experienced transcended any differences in language and culture.” The conference ended with a particularly emotional communion service led by Caribbean MD, Charles Fleming and his wife Carmen.
Mission Developers Conference
This annual conference of GCI’s MDs together with other denominational leaders followed the Latin American Conference and focused on pastoral development and education, including evaluating how GCI can better serve the needs of its ministers given their geographic, cultural and language diversity, along with a disparity of access to electronic communication. The MDs gave updates about their families to strengthen the bonds forged through many years of shared service. The group also discussed mission coordination and financing challenges, ordination management in remote areas, and other topics of shared concern.
Mission Developers and other denominational leaders meetMDs Eugene Guzon (Philippines) and Gary Moore (Canada)MD Kalengule Kaoma (Africa) and his wife Nsama receive from Joseph Tkach watches recognizing 25 years of employed ministry
Following the MD Conference, the MDs and others (most of whom were in Colombia for the first time) enjoyed a day-long trip to Mount Monserrat with its historic church and magnificent views of the city (see below), and the underground salt cathedral of Zipaquira where vast caverns of a former salt mine have been turned into an inspiring and unique memorial to the life of Christ.
Though I was only 12 years old at the time, I have vivid memories of my father and grandfather being very pleased with me because I had gotten straight A’s on my report card. As a reward, grandpa gave me a rich-looking alligator hide wallet and dad gave me a $10 bill to put inside. I recall both saying they loved me, and that they were pleased I belonged to them. I also remember taking money out of my piggy bank, combining it with the $10 from my new wallet, and exchanging that money for $1 bills so my wallet would look full of cash. I knew it would make me feel like a millionaire at the penny candy store!
I still remember those gifts every June as Father’s Day draws near (it’s celebrated the third Sunday of June in many countries). That memory gets me thinking about my dad, my grandpa, and our heavenly Father’s love. But there is more to the story.
Not a week passed after I was given the wallet and cash before I lost both. I was grief-stricken! They must have fallen from my back pocket while I was at a movie theater with friends. I searched high and low, retracing my steps. I continued searching for several days, but the wallet and cash were nowhere to be found. Now, some 52 years later, I still feel the pain of that loss—not because of the monetary value involved, but because as gifts from my grandpa and dad, they held great sentimental value. What’s interesting is that the grief lasted only a short time, but the fond memories of the love expressed toward me by my grandfather and father have endured.
Return of the Prodigal Son by Murillo (public domain via Wikimedia Commons)
Though I appreciated their generous gifts, I cherished the love expressed by my dad and grandpa. Isn’t that what God wants for us—to cherish the depth and richness of his unconditional love? Jesus helps us understand the depth and breadth of that love in his parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son. These parables, recorded in Luke 15, demonstrate the heavenly Father’s passionate love for his children, and show how God enjoys finding those who are lost. In doing so, these parables point to the incarnate Son of God (Jesus) who came to find us and take us home to his Father. Jesus not only reveals the Father to us, he reveals the Father’s desire to come to us in our lostness and bring us into his loving presence. Being pure love, God never stops calling our names with his love.
As Christian poet and musician Ricardo Sanchez wrote, “The devil knows your name but calls you by your sin. God knows your sin but calls you by your name.” The voice of our heavenly Father comes to us by his Word (Jesus), through the Spirit. The Word judges the sin in us, overcoming it and sending it away (as far as the east is from the west). Rather than condemning us, the Word declares God’s forgiveness, affirms us and sanctifies us.
When our ears (and hearts) are attuned to the living Word of God, we are able to understand his written word, the Bible, as God intends—and he intends that it convey the message of his love for us. This is made clear in Romans chapter 8, one of my favorite passages of Scripture. It begins with this declaration: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1 ESV). It then ends with this powerful reminder of God’s never-ending, unconditional love for us: “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39 ESV).
We are assured that we are “in Christ” (we belong!) as we listen to the voice of God in Jesus, who said this: “When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers” (John 10:4-5 ESV). We hear our Lord’s voice and follow him as we read his words and know that it is him talking to us. Reading Scripture helps us know we are in relationship with God because that is his desire, and this reassurance brings us closer to him. Through Scripture, God speaks to us, affirming his love by confirming that we are his beloved children. We know it is God’s voice we are hearing when we are led to express love toward others, and as we experience increased humility, joy, and peace—all of which we know originate with God, our Father.
Knowing that our heavenly Father is calling our names as his beloved children motivates us to live as Paul described in his letter to the church in Colossae:
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:12-17)
God’s voice leads us in the direction of his always-present fatherly love—a love poignantly celebrated by comedian Michael Jr. in the Father’s Day video embedded below. Some of you will remember that Michael Jr. entertained us at one of our international conferences several years ago.
On Father’s Day (and every day), let’s remember that our heavenly Father created us in order to love us. As the loving Father that he is, he wants us to hear his voice so that we can live the abundant life that is ours in relationship with him—knowing that he is always for us, always with us, always loving us.
Always remember that your heavenly Father has given everything to you in and by his incarnate Son, Jesus Christ. Unlike the wallet and the cash that I lost those many years ago (they were temporary), God’s gift to you (and me) is permanent. Even if you momentarily lose sight of his gift, your heavenly Father is always there—knocking, seeking, finding you (even if you are lost), so you may fully appreciate and experience his gift of unconditional, never-ending love.
