Prayer is requested for Ninfa Rigatuso, widow of Montreal (English) congregation elder Tony Rigatuso who died recently, having served faithfully for many years as an elder in the Montreal English congregation. Ninfa has been feeling bad for about two months and entered the hospital about three weeks ago. It appears that she is suffering with hepatitis C and bladder cancer. The severity of these conditions is not yet known. Please pray for Ninfa and for her adult children Sandra and Carmello.
Cards may be sent to:
Ninfa Rigatuso 103-8600 Raymond Pelletier Montreal, QC H2M 2W7 CANADA
Generations Ministries (GenMin) reports the successful completion of three of its summer camps. For information about GenMin camps coming later this year, click here.
Heart O’ Texas
As is the case for most of GenMin’s camps this year, the theme for Heart O’ Texas Camp conducted recently in the Dallas area was “Super Heroes.” A highlight of the weekend camp was a day at Hawaiian Falls water park (pictured at right) enjoyed by the 16 campers and 17 staff members. The group ate lunch and shared a chapel service at the water park. Other camp activities included “In It to Win It” games that enabled campers to practice teamwork and trust and to develop courage.
Each camper was given a mask and cape to help them feel even more super hero-like. Many wore their capes for the game activities. Both nights included gathering around an indoor “campfire” for chapel and a fireside chat. Aaron Wiley and camp director Scott Herridge led the services, helping campers focus on the attributes of the true Super Hero, Jesus Christ.
On Sunday, camp participants led the worship service at GCI’s Dallas North church where the camp was held. A group of campers provided the worship music (see them rehearsing at right), shared camp stories, lessons and favorite moments.
Camp wrapped up after the service with a meal shared by camp participants and the host congregation.
Mountaintop
This GenMin camp in Georgia also utilized the Super Hero theme. The theme was enthusiastically embraced, and some of the congregations represented are now using it in church services back home (if you would like a copy of the Super Hero curriculum, click here). Several of the 74 campers noted that the theme gave them a better understanding of Jesus.
Some of this year’s 54 staff members commented on encouraging trends. One noted that, “We are seeing the kids grow from year to year, and that makes the work we do even more fulfilling. We are blessed to be a partner in this ministry. Camp this year was God-inspired and fantastic.” Another noted the encouraging progress seen in an increasing number of campers becoming staff members, fulfilling one of GenMin’s primary goals—the multiplication of young ministers within GCI.
SEP Florida
GenMin’s camp in Florida, known as SEP Florida, took place at beautiful Camp Shalom in Orange Springs, Florida in June. This year there were 20 staff volunteers, 24 elementary school age campers and 20 senior campers. Activities included swimming, canoeing, arts & crafts, dancing, basketball, volleyball, kickball, drama, campfire, boating and chapel services (Michelle Davey is pictured at right, giving a chapel presentation).
Camp participants included several first-time campers, making up about 20% of the group. Several of the campers from Miami and Jacksonville, Florida were either unchurched or new to church, giving great opportunity for evangelism. One camper shared his intention to be baptized after camp back home.
Warren D. Wilson, pastor of GCI’s congregations in Summersville and Mineral Wells, West Virginia, requests prayer for his wife Lorraine. Recently, she had a large nodule removed from her thyroid. The pathology report showed the presence of follicular thyroid cancer. She is scheduled to have the rest of her thyroid gland removed on July 24. That will be followed by treatment with radioactive iodine to kill any remaining thyroid cancer cells. Warren reports that he and Lorraine are experiencing peace, trusting in the mercy and healing of our Lord and Savior.
Cards may be sent to:
Lorraine Wilson 220 Waverly Way Clarksburg, WV 26301
Here from his daughter Becki (Halford) Brown, is an update concerning John Halford who is battling esophageal cancer. This update is an edited version of what Becki posted on Facebook. John had a PET scan on June 24 and Becki reports here on the positive outcome.
The results of Dad’s scan have just come in. I can hardly see as I am typing through happy tears. The oncologist said that the tumor in his esophagus has shrunk to less than half its original size and there is no cancer that is showing up anywhere else in his body! This means that they can do surgery to remove the tumor. I am so thankful for all of your thoughts and prayers, for all of the many emails, phone calls, cards and the overwhelming comfort that you all have given us.
Dad’s surgery will be within the next two weeks as long as the surgeon feels he is strong enough to proceed. Please continue to pray for him.
Cards may be sent to:
John & Pat Halford 5836 South State Road 129 Versailles, IN 47042
Mike and Juli Rasmussen send their thanks for the prayers for Mike, who serves as a GCI pastor, camp director and associate regional pastor. Mike and Juli live and minister in the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma area.
On June 19, Mike successfully underwent cancer surgery. He now is recovering at home, awaiting lab results, which will indicate if the cancer has spread beyond his prostate gland, now removed.
Cards may be sent to:
Mike and Juli Rasmussen 12012 Surrey Ln Yukon, OK 73099-8139
This prayer request is from Tom Pickett who pastors GCI’s congregation in the Fort Worth, Texas area.
Adrienne and Tom
I had to call 911 last Thursday night for my wife Adrienne. She was having a hard time breathing and was dehydrated. The paramedics took her to the ER at Harris Hospital in downtown Fort Worth. She was put on an oxygen machine and connected to a saline bag to rehydrate her. Within minutes she began to look better and soon was looking like she felt good and was at peace. She was then monitored over the weekend to see where her cardiologist wants to go from here. Adrienne has suffered for a number of years with the results of congestive heart failure and this recent incident seems to be a result. Your prayers are much appreciated.
Grace Communion Bowling Green, the GCI congregation meeting in Bowling Green, Kentucky, recently celebrated its 46th anniversary. The celebration was held during the weekly worship service and included honoring five member couples married for over 50 years. Member Brenda Maxie offered an inspiring testimonial concerning how she came to know and trust Jesus in prison and then became a GCI member. The celebration included a catered meal. Here are some pictures:
A recent Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article quoted a poll showing that 51% of Americans do not believe the universe began all by itself, from nothing, with a “big bang.” What surprised me most about the article was its honesty in explaining why so many disbelieve the big bang theory, which is the prevailing model in cosmology to explain the beginning of the universe. The WSJ article said this:
The culprits might be “scientific atheists,” a small but vocal group of thinkers who employ science to claim that there is no God. Some argue that the universe came into existence all on its own. In particular, physicist Lawrence M. Krauss’s 2012 book A Universe from Nothing insists that the big bang occurred within a complete emptiness, and thus there is no need for a “God.” But the key assumption of Mr. Krauss’s conjecture is flawed and at odds with modern cosmology. The big bang did not occur in “nothing.” It had to be spawned in some kind of pre-existent medium, known by physicists as “quantum foam,” though we don’t know exactly what it is. [1]
Though, as noted in the article, the theory assumes that something did pre-exist the big bang, Krauss and other scientific atheists don’t want to leave room for God in their thinking. That viewpoint reminds me of the old Billy Preston song, “Nothing from Nothing” [leaves nothing]—an idea far more consistent with current big bang theory than any atheistic interpretation!
Image courtesy of Rhys Taylor, Cardiff University
The idea of the big bang was first conceived in 1927 by Roman Catholic priest Georges Lemaître, who also was an astronomer and physicist. Up to that time, the accepted theory was that the universe had always existed in a “steady state” and that matter was eternal. Lemaître theoretically deduced the expansion of the universe and proposed that it was launched from a “primeval atom.” He rejected the steady-state theory because he believed the story in the first chapter of Genesis of a beginning and searched for a way to prove it scientifically. He did so using a complex mathematical proof based on Einstein’s general theory of relativity.
What’s ironic is that Einstein did not accept the big bang theory when it was proposed in 1927. In 1916, in what he referred to later as “the biggest mistake of my life,” Einstein altered his equations to fit the accepted idea of a steady-state universe. But in 1929, Edwin Hubble’s astronomical observations proved Lemaître correct about an expanding universe and Einstein and many other scientists came to accept the big bang theory.
The big bang theory continued to gain scientific credibility as it was used to predict certain phenomena later proven to be actual. Though the theory is now widely accepted, it is unable to explain the origin of the “bang” itself and the origin of the laws of physics necessitated by it. Still, it’s not difficult to visualize the expansion (called “inflation”) of the universe from a single point. Physicist Alan Guth conjectured this explanation:
During the universe’s first 10-35 of a second, a period of extremely rapid, exponential inflation occurred, expanding the universe by a factor of at least 1026. It would be the equivalent of taking a pea and expanding it to the size of our solar system in a time less than a millionth of a blink of an eye.
The big bang accounts for the uniformity in the universe of microwave background radiation. This phenomenon was discovered in the mid 1960s by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson at Bell Labs using ultra-sensitive cryogenic microwave receivers. P. J. E. Peebles of Princeton then identified this radiation as the residual energy of the big bang. These discoveries changed humanity’s understanding of our universe.
Though big bang theory does not specify what kicked off the big bang itself, the nature of the event points to a pre-existing, intelligent agent. According to Berkeley’s George Smoot, the big bang was a “finely orchestrated event,” not a chaotic explosion. Astronomer Eric Carlson describes it as “incredibly, highly ordered…just the opposite of a chaotic event.” Had the expansion rate at the beginning been faster or slower—by a mere 1 part in 1060—life would not have been possible.
As you will recall, Albert Einstein discovered that energy does not disappear, but changes into matter. This means that everything comes from the energy/material of the big bang—the universe has a material/energy oneness. However, there is no hint of consciousness in that material—no reason to think that the big bang orchestrated and ordered itself. That leaves open the question, what (or who) did? Physicist and science writer Paul Davies comments:
What is the source of those ingenious laws that enable a universe to pop into being from nothing? …There is no compelling need for a supernatural being or prime mover to start the universe off. But when it comes to the laws that explain the big bang, we are in murkier waters.
Though Davies’ questions bring him close to the truth, he does not connect the dots as we do. Big bang theory seems to fit well with our faith in the God the Bible tells us created all that is, which would include the laws and conditions that led to the big bang. Though our faith in God does not rest on scientific theory, the big bang theory does seem to offer clues as to the ultimate source of all that has come into being. As Paul wrote, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).
God has revealed himself to us in his actions in history. Those actions include creation as well as what God did to reveal himself to certain individuals and to the people of Israel. But, by far, the most complete revelation came when the God of all creation entered time and space in the person of Jesus Christ, thus providing for us his self-revelation. In that revelation we hear and see God as Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer of all history—from beginning to end. “For from him and through him and for him are all things” (Romans 11:36).
History had a beginning by the agency of the Triune God and it will culminate in the return of Jesus, the Creator, Savior, High Priest, Sage, King of kings, Judge and Elder Brother of the human race. The big bang was simply the beginning of an unfolding story (“his-story,” which through Jesus becomes ours) leading to the time when God creates “a new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 21:1), in which his people will live eternally in a loving and joyful relationship with him through their eternal Mediator, Jesus Christ.
In a recent post at pastors.com, Rick Warren writes helpfully about the need for pastors (as well as all other leaders) to work on their communication skills. As he notes,
You can’t lead a church, evangelize a community, or do business without communicating. And the better you become as a communicator, the better you become as a leader, and the better the team you lead becomes as a result. That means to get ahead you’ve got to continually work on your communication skills. Probably 75% of the problems we face, at home, at work, and at church are related to poor communication with family members, church members, your clients, or your coworkers.
Click here to read his post, which offers tips about improving our communication as leaders.
As reported by pastor Mary Bacheller, Hands for Christ Community Church, GCI’s new church for the deaf in Staten Island, New York, continues to make progress. Part of that progress involves multiplying additional churches for deaf people. Toward that end, Mary is working with GCI members in Texas and West Virginia (see pictures below) to start new churches for the deaf in their areas. As a first step, groups are meeting in both locations to participate through live streaming video in the Hands for Christ worship services each week.
Pastor Mary (center) with Josephine and Radford Arner from TexasPastor Mary (center) with April and Scott Hottle from West Virginia
Mary recently conducted a special session of GCI’s Church Next Training (CNT) for the Arners and Hottles to equip them for taking next steps in planting their new churches. Here, as reported by the participants, are some of the CNT take-aways:
When you talk about Jesus, you talk about your heart
Planting a church is a natural process
We are not alone—we always have support, through God, Church Multiplication Ministries and, our sponsor, Mary Bacheller
Hands for Christ live streaming is not a TV show, but church
Our focus, vision and mission is Deaf people using American Sign Language coming to the understanding of JESUS and HIM crucified, buried and resurrected
We are working to help deaf people understand the Trinity in their language through their culture
God is love—the dynamic relationship between Father, Son and Holy Spirit
God shares his love with humans
We are to be part of deaf community as we are a part of Jesus
The two groups will be writing down where they see themselves in three years and their plans to get there. They will discuss these plans via video conference as they continue working together toward starting new churches for the deaf within GCI. We invite you to join them in prayer as they journey forward.
