We have had several prayer requests concerning Jason Richards (click here for the last one). We are pleased to report that he is doing fairly well as he continues to wait for a heart transplant. For an inspiring newspaper article about Jason, click here.
Author: GCI Media
Sikh community
During the closing worship service at the recent Orlando, Florida GCI Regional Conference, members spent time together in a “concert of prayer.” As part of that concert, intercessory prayer was offered on behalf of the Sikh community in Oak Creek, Wisconsin where several were murdered recently during one of their worship services.
This prayer was in response to a request that had come from the Sikh-American Community. They asked for prayer for the injured, for the grieving families, and for time to reflect in memory of the victims. The request also noted that at the end of every Sikh worship service, the congregation makes a request of the Divine in a prayer called ardas, which says in part, “May everyone in the world be blessed and may good come to all.” The goal of the prayer request was that churches, mosques, synagogues, temples, gurdwaras and community centers across America might together send a message of blessing for all and that together we stand against hate and intolerance and as part of a common humanity.
For an article about this prayer request, click here.
Bahamas mission trip
This report is excerpted from an article in the August 13 edition of The Freeport News. It tells the story of a mission trip to the Bahamas by several GCI members from the U.S. The trip was organized by Grace Missions, of GCI Generations Ministries.
A group of eight adult and eight teen missionaries traveled from Ohio and West Virginia in partnership with Grace Communion International. The partnership began a few months ago between Pastor Calvin Parker and Pastor Dave [David Botha] out of the United States. Parker also joined up with Victoria Wright, Principal of Hugh Campbell Primary School so that the school can be used as the venue for the Vacation Bible School (VBS).
Every day, 52 children crowded the hallways and classrooms at the school participating in a number of activities such as basketball, singing, drama, craft and storytelling. Then after the free lunch that is provided is served, the kids experienced a special activity known as “soaking.” Parker described soaking as a quiet time set aside for the children to meditate, concentrate and soak in the word of God. “We really want them to learn and be taught about the saving grace of God,” he said.
Robert O’Quinn from the West Virginia Senior Leadership team of Grace Community Church is one of the adult missionaries who said this experience has touched his heart and soul. “This is my first missionary trip and it’s amazing to see God moving through the kids. The joy in them is unbelievable, they jump up and give you a hug and they play, dance and sing with you so freely,” he said. O’Quinn said that each day is exciting for him, as well as the others because its radically different. “We have a team of young and old missionaries and this trip has turned into a multi-generational mission that will kind of unite us all and touch people from a different nation,” he added.
Seventeen-year-old, Brandon Bapst is preparing to enter his senior year come September but said after hearing and praying about the trip, he felt coming on it was the right thing to do. “It’s been an amazing experience, I feel like I’ve been called by God to come here and I’ve met such wonderful kids. It’s uplifting to see that they’re always so ready and willing to learn and everybody here is so nice.”
Michelle Greider, a sixteen-year-old missionary, said that she is enjoying her time here in The Bahamas very much and although at first she was scared, she now considers this to be a second home. “It’s awesome, this is my first mission trip but after my experience it certainly won’t be my last. The little kids are so sweet and I love them,” she added.
All of the missionaries, both young and old agreed with O’Quinn when he said, “It’s very encouraging to see the kindness and hospitality of the locals. They went out of their way to make us feel at home, comfortable and happy.” They would like to possibly visit another island, but if not, they hope to come back to do mission work with other local churches in the community.
Africa update
This update is from Kalengule Kaoma, GCI’s missions director for central Africa.
LIBERIA
I arrived in Monrovia on June 4. My visit had two purposes: to meet with Pastor Robert Browne III about a GCI presence in Liberia and to meet several church leaders who have written to GCI to express interest in being part of our denomination.
I am pleased to report that Pastor Browne, who we met first in May, 2011, is still enthusiastic about working with GCI. In fact, he organized a conference attended by 80 local leaders on June 8-10. I then met with four leaders from other denominations that have asked to become a part of GCI. One of these leaders, Pastor Leo Boimah Brosius, expressed interest in becoming a GCI missionary in Liberia, Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire. He has left the church he planted, leaving it under the care of his brother. He and I agreed to wait on God for further direction.
RWANDA
Kimani Ndungu, Area Pastor for East Africa, met me in Nairobi on June 12. From there we travelled to Kigali, Rwanda. Last year, I started cultivating new ground for a GCI presence in Rwanda. On this trip, I wanted to see what the Holy Spirit had been doing since I last visited. A group of pastors represented by Benjamin Sibo-Muzi of Calvary African Ministries International, are interested in having GCI facilitate a pastors’ reconciliation conference. These leaders do not want to see a repeat of the genocide of 1994.
Kimani and I had further discussions with Pastor Eugene Munyampama who runs a youth skills training center in Rwanda’s second largest city. After the meeting, he felt more confident to do what the Holy Spirit will lead him to do. He knows there is a need for GCI to be planted in the city where he lives. Both Kimani and I are looking forward to a fruitful harvest of God’s work in Rwanda through GCI.
BURUNDI
We traveled to Burundi on June 15. Prior to this visit, I had been in touch with Pastor Eugene Sibomana by email. For several months, Pastor Sibomana urged me to visit because he considers himself and his church of seven congregations to be a part of GCI. I thank God for his provision that when funds where available, Kimani and I were able to travel and meet Eugene Sibomana and his leadership team.
Pastor Eric-Armie Niyindengera (General Secretary) and Pastor Sibomana and his family met us at Bujumbura International Airport. As overseer of International Revival Church of Life (IRCL), Pastor Sibomana planned that we travel on June 16 to Cibitoke where IRCL was first planted. In the board – church council meeting, we were given reasons for affiliation. The team is eager to be part of GCI. As soon as some funds are available, we plan to make another trip there to consolidate our relationship.
The following day, 550 representatives from most of the congregations joined us for a worship service at the church in Cibitoke. From there, we drove back to Bujumbura to attend a service with members of two city congregations with about 200 in attendance.
MALAWI
Leigh Smithson, from the Red Deer, Alberta, Canada church, traveled to South Africa, where he met Tim Maguire, National Director of GCI, South Africa. Tim and Leigh traveled together to Mozambique. After visiting churches there, they traveled to Malawi where they found me waiting in Blantyre. We shared time talking to GCI Malawi church leaders during the conference on July 14-15. We also visited rural churches in Mombezi, Naminjale, Mwanza, Kabanga and Dowa where our displaced members from the Democratic Republic of Congo live. We encouraged our brethren with the hope of the gospel.
A vision for church planting
Church planting is a key part of GCI’s vision of all kinds of churches, for all kinds of people, in all kinds of places. Accordingly, GCI Church Administration and Development (CAD) helps individuals, congregations and district networks in starting new GCI churches in the United States. Our mission developers provide assistance elsewhere.
A recent Outreach Magazine article discusses why church planting is so important for the health of the church (download it by clicking here). For more information about church planting, see the GCI Church Multiplication Ministries (CMM) website.
We belong!
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, 
One of the problems with religious jargon is that it is often meaningless and sounds strange to people who are not “believers.” Another problem is that, after a while, some expressions become clichés and thus lose meaning to those who are believers.
For example, it is common to hear church-going people say things like “Jesus is in my life,” or “Jesus is my life.” But do they stop to ask themselves what, exactly, do those expressions mean? There is a subtle, but vital distinction between Jesus being “in” my life and Jesus “being” my life. Authentic Christianity is about becoming who Jesus created us to be. It is not a matter of prioritizing our life to make Jesus number one on our to-do list. The vital distinction is that he does not just come into our life; rather, he becomes our life. He has given us a new life in him.
I know we have all heard that. But how deeply do we understand it? As Paul wrote to the Galatians, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). As he explained to the Philippians, “It is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13). These are familiar scriptures, but, like clichés, they can become so familiar that they lose their impact. So let’s dig in a little and see if we can go deeper.
The typical understanding of the Christian religion is that it is a system of things to do and to believe in order to receive eternal life. However, that is not authentic Christianity. Authentic Christianity is not simply another religion.
Although most Christians agree that they are saved by grace, some think that they must maintain their salvation by their good works. It is as if Jesus “jump-starts” them, but then it is up to them to “stay saved.” But this misunderstanding completely misses the point about the nature of salvation and about our sanctification as well. Both are about our ongoing life “in Christ.” Both are about who Jesus is and the work he has done, is doing and will do to save and sanctify us completely. We are then invited to trust in and thus join in what he is doing.
Consider sanctification. Rather than being about our works, it is about our ongoing fellowship and communion with God, in Christ. It is about the ongoing reality that we belong to Christ. It involves making an integral part of our thinking the reality that “he belongs to me and I belong to him.” We have a bond that is far stronger than one based on “staying ahead of the game” through our good works.
As we awaken to this reality, we gain confidence that comes from the realization that we really do belong to Christ, body and soul. I get a glimpse of this when I reenter the United States after a trip abroad. There are two lines. One is for visitors, who have often had to go through a lengthy process to get their visas. The immigration officials are courteous, but they scrutinize every document and often conduct long interviews. It sometimes takes hours of anxious waiting and if everything is not 100% in order, the hapless visitors may find they are denied entry. If they are allowed in, they have to be careful to obey all the rules.
Sadly, that is the way many Christians feel about their relationship with God. As an American citizen, I do not have to go through all that. The line for citizens moves much faster. The immigration officer quickly scans my passport and welcomes me home. I have no anxiety. I belong.
That is the kind of relationship God offers us. However, because we seem to naturally gravitate towards legalism, the question arises, how then do we obey God? But can you see that, even by asking the question that way, the quality of the relationship is not being fully recognized? If my life truly is at one with Christ, I want to be involved in the things he is doing. And, equally important, as I learn about the things that he has no interest in, I don’t want to be involved in those things. Obedience, then, is a matter of staying in communion with Christ, living out the reality that, by the Spirit, we are joined together.
When we “do religion,” we always struggle to find the balance between rest and service. However, when we are authentic Christians, we do Christ’s work while we rest and trust in him.
God’s love flows from him, through us, to others. Another way of saying this is that Christianity involves both our being (who we are) and our doing. This is because we are a new creation in Christ. Paul explained it this way: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17, NIV 1984).
The relationship we have with Jesus is nothing less than glorious. As we grow in understanding, expressions like “we were created through Christ,” or “God’s destiny for us is in Christ” no longer remain pious sounding religious clichés. They take on a powerful meaning as they describe a dynamic relationship in which we with Jesus are bonded together for eternity.
This is a level of authenticity that all Christians yearn for. But because it sounds too good to be true, many pull back and accept a lesser form of relationship that is based, at least in part, on their good behavior. They live as if they have only a conditional visa to the Kingdom of God. However, as Paul notes, “All who are led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons and daughters. You didn’t receive a spirit of slavery to lead you back again into fear, but you received a Spirit that shows you are adopted as his children. With this Spirit, we cry, ‘Abba, Father’” (Romans 8:14-15, Common English Bible).
In other words, we belong! And there is no need to settle for anything less.
With love, in Christ’s service,
Joseph Tkach
A community of discernment
A ministry team is called to be a community of discernment – by the enablement of the Holy Spirit, discerning both what Jesus is doing in our world and his instructions to join him there as he fulfills the Father’s mission to the world.
But how do we go about discerning God’s activity and instructions? Helpful tips and tools are offered by Ruth Haley Barton in the four videos embedded below. They form a series she calls, Do Something Before Everything. You can also access these videos on her website by clicking here. Also, to view a recent article of Equipper that addressed the topic of spiritual discernment, click here.
Chaplain ordained
On August 5, Major Chaplain Joseph (Bo) Welch was ordained a GCI elder serving as a U.S. military chaplain. He was ordained by GCI ministry developer Randy Bloom during the Sunday worship service at Good News Fellowship, the GCI congregation in Nashville, Tennessee.
Bo served as an active duty Army Chaplain for nearly nine years and has been a U.S. Army Reserve Chaplain for the past three. He now serves as Command Chaplain for the 290th Military Police Brigade in Nashville, where he provides direct ministry for soldiers and family members of the brigade headquarters and supervises five battalion chaplains throughout the Southeast region of the United States. The entire brigade and subordinate battalions have around 2000 soldiers.
Bo has a Master of Divinity degree from Reformed Theological Seminary (Jackson, Mississippi 1992) and a Masters of Marriage in Family Therapy degree from Trevecca Nazarene University (Nashville, Tennessee 2012). He recently opened a private practice counseling agency in Fairview, Tennessee called the Fairview Counseling Center.
Jamaica mission trip and VBS
For the past four years, GCI’s Kingston, Jamaica church has hosted a week-long Vacation Bible School (VBS). This year, they were assisted by a GCI Generations Ministries (GenMin) mission team from the United States. Here is a report from team member Anne Marie Fleming.
At GenMin’s national summit meeting last year, a dream was expressed by some of our Jamaican members that their VBS would have more of a “summer camp feel.” At the same time, sisters Tabitha and Natalie Wendt, and my sister Mychelle Fleming and I were expressing a desire for an overseas mission trip. With over 30 years of combined experience in camps and missions, we felt called to help our Jamaican brothers and sisters realize their dream.
Well, God opened the door, bringing together a mission team that included Tabitha, Natalie, Mychelle, Mat Morgan, David Perry, Jeff Snyder, Charles Fleming and me. Some of us served in construction, working on the church hall where the VBS was held. Others partnered with Jamaican members to form a team of eleven VBS teachers and five assistant teachers.
God also blessed the VBS with help from local companies that donated food and from individuals who donated money to scholarship kids. Campers from Base Camp, a GenMin camp in Tennessee, made bracelets for the kids and teachers. And the Wendt sisters, who are Base Camp leaders, donated 50 soccer balls that had been signed by their campers.
Through these combined efforts, the VBS was able to minister to more than 70 children between age three and eighteen. The kids were given opportunity to learn, to be fed and, most importantly, to feel the love of Jesus.
The VBS theme was Rooted (from Ephesians 3:16-19) – the same theme used this year in many of GenMin’s camps. This theme had special significance for my sister Mychelle and me since we were returning to our Jamaican roots. We lived in Jamaica when we were young – our dad, Charles Fleming, was a pastor there for 13 years.
Warkentin family
Maureen Warkentin, who works in GCI’s home office in Glendora, California, requests prayer for her family. Her father, George King (age 85), recently suffered a massive stroke and fell, breaking his hip and shoulder. The doctors could do little for him and placed him in hospice care. He died on Friday, August 3.
Please pray for comfort for Maureen, her mother and brother as they face this loss together.
Cards may be sent to:
Maureen Warkentin 1484 Valencia Ave Pasadena, CA 91104