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Philippine mission trip

In April, eight members representing several of GCI’s Philippines congregations participated in a short-term mission trip to the Philippine city of Borongan. The team was led by Pastor Ronald Hernandez.

missions team

The mission team conducted several outreach meetings (one of the groups is pictured above) where they shared the gospel and taught those attending how to make soap and fertilizer. As a result of these meetings, at least six children and three adults committed their lives to Christ. Plans are being made to disciple these new believers.

GCI Philippines national director Eugene Guzon and missions director Rey Taniajura frequently state that it is GCI’s aim to engage the churches of GCI in the Philippines in missions through training followed by short-term mission trips like this one.

Disaster relief in West Virginia

In this update, Linda Nichols-McCarty, an elder in GCI’s church in Ripley, West Virginia, reports on the work her congregation did in helping the community of Spencer, West Virginia recover from recent flooding.

SpencerThe clean-up in Spencer continues. The first floodwaters hit on June 13th; another came on the 18th. The two nearby dams could not control the 7.5 inches of rain that fell in about 45 minutes. Many members from our congregation helped in the clean-up.

Following the first day of flooding, many elderly people rescued from an apartment building were brought to a temporary shelter wet and in muddy clothes. We helped them get dry clothes and some food. We also gave them lots of hugs and words of hope. We made many trips that first day to various places, taking care of basic needs like medications, dry clothing, snacks and meals.

I met one family that lost their home and all their possessions. My husband and I own rental apartments and one was vacant. So I got air mattresses, bedding, towels, toiletries and we told them they could stay in the apartment for as long as they needed it. The wife begin to cry and said she had never experienced such love. I replied that many times through disasters like this, God’s love is pronounced and magnified.

Many members in our small congregation rolled up their sleeves, waded through mud, carried ruined items to the street to be hauled off—acts of love and concern for the many in need. I thank God that we could be of service in this way. God is so good to allow us to be included in the love that he is. Our little congregation has been blessed to help people in need as far away as Uganda and as close as our next-door neighbors.

Disaster relief in Haiti

This update is from GCI Caribbean mission director Charles Fleming.

Below are pictures of a house in Haiti being built by member, Serge Jacques. Construction is being supported with money from the GCI Disaster Relief Fund. The house replaces the one Serge lost in the terrible earthquake that devastated Haiti several years ago. He often hosts GCI Bible studies and other gatherings in his home.

Haiti house 1

Though incomplete (due to difficulty in obtaining building supplies) the house is significantly better than the one it replaces. Our pastor in Haiti, Joseph Franklin, pointed out some of the home’s features, which the Jacques family now enjoy:

The Jacques are now lodged in two bedrooms+living room+porch+unfinished flush toilet. They send their thanks. Once again we are reminded that God’s love opens the way for even tragedies, like earthquakes, to transform the way we live.

Thanks to the generosity of donors to the GCI Disaster Relief Fund following the earthquake in Haiti, we are able to continue providing appropriate support for this and other ongoing GCI relief projects in Haiti. If you would like to help GCI prepare to help others in similar disaster situations, wherever they may occur, your congregation is welcome to send funds to: GCI Disaster Relief Fund, P.O. Box 5005, Glendora, CA 91740.

Haiti house 2

The Rock summer camp

This update is from GCI pastor Linda Rex. She reports on the recently held US Generations Ministries summer camp named The Rock.

My daughter and I recently returned home from spending more than a week at The Rock summer camp held in Westfield, North Carolina. The camp provided many opportunities to be challenged with something new and “out-of-the-box.” High ropes, giant swing, rock wall and an evening banquet all challenged the campers. God’s Spirit was actively at work throughout the camp, bringing healing, comfort and deliverance to many.

The Rock group photo

The highlight of each morning was the camp chapel service, where the campers met to share positive moments through shout-outs, singing praise songs and to hearing God’s word for the day. The theme for the camp was “Built on the Rock.” At the first chapel service, camp chaplain Rocky Ray talked about the way God knew and planned for each of us before the world began, giving his Son, Jesus Christ to be our Savior. At another chapel service, Jeff Broadnax, a regional coach for Generations Ministries, gave a message that looked at how Jesus is the foundation for our lives, including our relationships with God and with others. As co-chaplain, I gave a chapel message reviewing how God prepared the ground and Jesus is the foundation. I noted that we need to build our lives on this foundation using the quality building materials that God provides: faith, hope and love.

The two houses
The two houses

To illustrate these chapel messages, campers and staff built two small houses; one on a foundation of sand and the other on a foundation of concrete. Camp director Stephen Webb then gave a chapel message about the storms of life that God allows to come our way and how they show if our lives are built on sand or on the rock of Christ. Following his message the campers went outside where Rocky Ray blasted the two houses with a pressure washer. The one built on sand fell, but the one built on concrete stood firm.

On Friday, campers and staff shared moving testimonies about how God had worked in their lives during the week. The consensus was that God had shown his love and power throughout the week. Campers were encouraged to be positive influences in their world, building up their friends, families, communities and country. Built on the foundation of Jesus Christ and bound together in the Spirit, they are and will be transformers of their world.

For more information about this camp, click here.

The Rock banner

Paul Metzger on evangelism

Trinitarian theologian Paul Metzger wrote recently about evangelism on his Patheos.com blog:

Paul Metzger
Paul Metzger

Recently Christianity Today asked me to list five books that have impacted me most in terms of evangelism. One will not find here a list of how-to books. Evangelism is not a technique, but a way of being in word and deed that leads people to Christ. Certainly, it involves content, bearing witness to Christ and his claims on our lives, including the apostolic witness (Matthew 10:32-42; Luke 14:25-35; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11).

Such claims should humble us and lead us away from a power play posture. Humility should mark our lives, though not humiliation or shame concerning the Gospel’s claims. Jesus’ call to follow him calls the entirety of our lives to account and should lead us to move beyond speaking forth words in a vacuum. Rather, we need to create space with our lives for our views to be heard. This is especially true in our post-Christendom context, where many people are suspicious of Christian claims in view of Christendom’s power moves of the past and its waning and desperate reactions in the present. We Christians need to move beyond trying to take back America from our enemies to laying down our lives for them in view of Christ’s love for them and us. It is not about them vs. us, but about Christ—and his desire to bring us all home.

With these points in mind, we must come to realize that the verdict that Jesus is Lord demands evidence in our lives that he is Lord. May we not be the stumbling block to people coming to know him; may they stumble over him so that they can be broken and transformed in relation to Christ and journey home

To see Paul’s recommendations for books on evangelism, see the Christianity Today article at http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/june/paul-louis-metzger-my-top-5-books-on-evangelism.html.

For a GCI You’re Included interview with Paul concerning evangelism, go to http://www.gci.org/yi/metzger49.

When we oppose ourselves

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Joe and Tammy TkachI couldn’t resist sending you the picture below. Haven’t we all met people who do crazy, self-destructive things? Such people don’t need enemies—they are their own worst enemy! They go through life tripping themselves up and inflicting catastrophe after catastrophe on themselves.

man with chainsawHow do we help people like that? They can try a pastor’s patience and it’s tempting to think we must “do something about them.” Perhaps we need to be reminded of Paul’s instructions to Timothy: “The servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will” (2 Timothy 2:24-26 KJV).

Note the emphasis here. Paul does not say, “Tell these people to get their act together and start living properly. Or else!” Rather, he tells Timothy to be patient, tolerant and humble, reminding him that even though such people may be their own worst enemy, they are not God’s enemy. They may be unable to acknowledge their problem and so become easy prey for the devil. They may reject and resist advice, but that does not give a pastor the right to abandon them. We may not be able to open up their minds to see their problems, but God can.

Gently relating to such people is an important part of being a pastor. We are reminded that we are shepherds of God’s flock, not “lords over God’s heritage” (1 Peter 5:3 KJV). If we remember this as we serve those who “oppose themselves,” we will become more aware of God’s unrelenting and unconditional love for all of humankind, including ourselves. If we are brutally honest, we must admit we too have our moments of self-opposition.

One of the most awesome dynamics in our lives comes when we recognize and acknowledge that, in Christ, God says “YES” to the question of our reconciliation with him and our eternal salvation. Then when we see what God is doing with us in Christ and say, “yes” and “thanks be to God,” he says “YES” right back to us—for eternity.

Trouble is, having accepted God’s big “YES,” we often respond with our little “no’s.” Paul lamented this reality in Romans chapter seven. Though wanting to respond to God’s “YES” by living a life worthy of our calling, the more we try, the more we become conscious of our failures.

Paul gives voice to this struggle: “I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing” (vv. 18b-19 NIV).

Even seasoned, mature Christians oppose themselves at times and so Paul continues the lament: “Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work in me. What a wretched man I am!” (vv. 21-24a).

Sounds hopeless, doesn’t it? But that is not where Paul ends—he had learned that God never gives up on us: “Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (vv. 24b-25).

When people oppose themselves, they think and behave as if they can cut themselves off from Christ. They are not living in communion with God even though their life, breath and movement is dependent on him (Acts 17:28). God is the sustainer of every life and no one lives outside of his relationship with them, whether they know of or acknowledge that relationship. God loves sinners. That is why he sent Jesus to save and redeem us. He will never give up on us and he never stops loving us.

The wonderfully reassuring dynamic of our relationship with and to God is that when we say “no” to his reconciling and saving “YES” to us in Christ, he won’t take our “no” for an answer. We cannot change the fact that God loves us and has, in Christ, reconciled himself to us. No matter how angry, disbelieving and denying we may be toward God, it does not change the reality that God is our Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer. God is faithful even when we oppose ourselves.

Your brother in Christ,

Joseph Tkach

Endorsing institutional chaplains

Last year GCI in the US began offering endorsement of GCI elders who are serving as chaplains in the US military. Just recently, GCI made arrangements to provide endorsement of GCI elders who are serving as chaplains in non-military institutions such as hospitals. As with the endorsing of military chaplains, GCI endorses institutional chaplains through the services provided by the National Evangelical Association Chaplain Commission.

GCI Church Administration and Development announced last week that GCI has now endorsed Gabriel Ojih to serve as a hospital chaplain. Gabriel serves as an associate pastor in one of GCI’s Dallas, Texas area congregations and works full time as a chaplain in a Dallas area hospital. Congratulations Gabriel!

If you have interest in being endorsed by GCI as a chaplain in the US military, email Paul.D.Kurts@gci.org.

If you have interest in being endorsed by GCI as an institutional chaplain in the US, email Ted.Johnston@gci.org.

Celebrating freedom

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Joe and Tammy TkachAs we in the United States celebrate Independence Day this week, perhaps some will be asking, “What is there to celebrate?”

There is no question that the US faces serious problems. Americans are divided over many issues. There is the overarching problem of the economy and national indebtedness. What should be done about climate change and protection of the environment? In many places, our infrastructure of roads, bridges and utilities is crumbling. The cost of health care is skyrocketing. Divorce rates are still at 50% and 40% of children are born out of wedlock. There are 3000 abortions a day and 19 million new cases of STDs each year. Some things about our nation are not worthy of celebrating.

Nevertheless, we cannot deny that life in the US, compared to most other nations, is the proverbial bowl of cherries. That is no reason to be smug and complacent about our blessings. As the patriotic hymn, “America the Beautiful” reminds us, we still need to ask God to “mend thine every flaw.” As loyal citizens, we should want to do whatever we can to make our homeland a better place. But how do we do that?

Many Christians have become embroiled in the various causes that campaign relentlessly for change (or not, as the case may be). This is especially true of those issues involving social justice, such as immigration reform, abortion, gay rights and same-sex marriage. Many Christians—particularly evangelical Christians—are heavily involved, and the National Association of Evangelicals is predicting that political activism in its ranks will increase in the next decade.

Maybe some of you are tempted to join in the battles. We are, after all, also members of our earthly communities. However, I do need to remind you to keep your personal political views out of the pulpit. I know it is tempting to use your position and influence to advance an agenda about which you feel passionately. We must also be cautious on another level. Instead of making things better, there is a risk of complicating our ministry situation, while undermining the main purpose of the church in this world at this time. It is important not to lose focus. We need to ask, “Where is Jesus in these debates? What is his perspective and priority? What does he want us to do?”

So this week, as we in the US celebrate our comparatively abundant freedom and independence, let’s remember that God has called us to proclaim a much greater freedom—one that God has for all humankind. Jesus Christ shares this freedom with us by the Holy Spirit who works to renew us from the inside out.

In thinking about celebrating freedom, it’s appropriate that we remind ourselves of what Jesus said to his disciples following the Last Supper. It was a time of national frustration for the Jewish nation. They were under the yoke of the Roman Empire and like the American colonists in the 18th century, they yearned for freedom. Some of Jesus’ disciples had been political zealots. They all looked forward to Jesus turning his thus far peaceful preaching into a militant protest movement that would lead them to freedom. Isn’t that what the Messiah was supposed to do?

Let’s read what Jesus said in his prayer recorded in John 17 (quoted from The Message, with emphasis added).

I gave them your word; the godless world hated them because of it, because they didn’t join the world’s ways, just as I didn’t join the world’s ways. I’m not asking that you take them out of the world but that you guard them from the Evil One. They are no more defined by the world than I am defined by the world (vv. 14-16).

The world tends to define us by our political and moral views—conservative or liberal, pro-life or pro-choice, etc. Jesus prayed for his followers to be above that. If we are to be defined, let it be by our Lord’s agenda.

Make them holy—consecrated—with the truth; your word is consecrating truth. In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world. I’m consecrating myself for their sakes so they’ll be truth-consecrated in their mission (vv. 17-19).

Jesus knew that to be successful, his followers must be united. That does not mean that we must be exactly alike in every way. From the earliest days, it was obvious that different cultures and customs could all be accommodated. The church in Jerusalem was different from the church in Corinth. But in their overall mission, Jesus’ followers must present a united front, so that the world will be in no doubt about what we stand for and who we represent.

The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind—just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, so they might be one heart and mind with us. Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me (vv. 20-21).

While I am not opposed to those who lobby for the government to protect our Christian worldview, our emphasis on lobbying for a certain political position will not always be met with success. Some, if not most, will even misunderstand our motives and aims and have no ability to follow our reasons. Therefore our focus must be on the mission that Christ has given us—to proclaim his gospel and in doing so to multiply his disciples throughout the world—and that, eventually, leads to true freedom for all people.

George Orwell once said that, “freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” I’m thankful that we have the political freedom to share the gospel, even if some do not want to hear it. Though I enjoy the fireworks and other celebrations of Independence Day, I realize that true freedom is found only in and through Christ. Sown in the soil of our souls, that freedom can never be taken from us. It is a gift from God that brings peace and joy to all people for all time.

Your brother in Christ,

Joseph Tkach

Skills for leading transformation

essential skillsIn our world of rapid change, pastors frequently are called upon to help their congregations follow the lead of the Holy Spirit through seasons of transformation. Doing so calls upon certain leadership skills that are helpfully summarized in a recent ChurchLeaders.com article entitled 6 Essential Skills for Transformational Pastors.

This article was written by Tod Bolsinger, a church pastor and seminary professor.

To read the article, click here.