Jimmy Kurts, son of Regional Pastor Paul David Kurts and his wife Emma Lee, is a gifted worship leader, singer-songwriter and guitarist. He recently recorded a music video of the song Unify. Jimmy wrote the lyrics with the music being from John Mayer’s song Dreaming With a Broken Heart. To watch the video on YouTube, click here.
Registration is now open for GCI’s 2017 Denominational Conference in Orlando, Florida! It will be held on August 2-6, 2017, with a pre-conference session for pastors and church facilitators on August 1.
Because pastors and facilitators will not receive scholarships from the denomination to attend this conference, we recommend that the cost of their attendance be reimbursed by their congregations. There are no early-bird or otherwise reduced rates for pastors and facilitators—all attendees pay the same rates for registration, onsite lodging and conference meals. By registering this month, pastors and facilitators can help their congregations spread out the conference costs across two calendar years.
As part of its national church administration system, GCI in the Philippines has an Advisory Council. Here are biographies of the current Council members. We thank them for their service, and invite you to pray for them in their important work on behalf of GCI in the Philippines and beyond.
Eugene and his wife Lourdes have a daughter who is married to a GCI pastor. Ministry for the Guzons is definitely a family affair!
Eugene became a WCG member in 1977, and was ordained an elder in 1990. Shortly thereafter, he entered full-time ministry, first as an associate pastor and then as head of the GCI-Philippines Financial Services Department. Since 2002 he has served as National Ministry Director for GCI-Philippines. He also oversees GCI’s mission initiatives in Northeast Asia and the United Arab Emirates.
Eugene received a Bachelor’s Degree in Agribusiness from the University of the Philippines in 1978. He attended the Asian Theological Seminary in 1995–96, then transferred to the Ateneo Graduate School of Business where he received a Master’s degree in Business Administration. His final paper was on Strategic Initiatives for GCI Philippines. Eugene is currently completing a doctorate with a focus on spiritual authority.
Rey and June were married in 1974. They have one son, Darryl, who now resides with his wife Marcia, and daughter Chloe, in Texas. Though Rey retired from GCI employment in 2015, he continues to serve as GCI’s mission director and area superintendent for Southern Luzon. He currently is an adjunct faculty member at the International Graduate School of Leadership (IGSL) where he teaches community transformation and development. He also serves as the academic dean of Asian School of Development and Cross-Cultural Studies (ASDECS). In 2013, he was designated Field Director and representative in the Philippines of William Carey International University in Pasadena, CA, where he also is an adjunct faculty member and a major advisor in the PhD program.
From 2009 to 2011, Rey served as National Director of the Philippine Missions Association (the mission commission of the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches). He is former 3rd vice-chairman of Asia Missions Association and a member of the mission commission of the Asian Evangelical Association (AEA). He founded the National Prisons Ministries Philippines, Inc. (NPMP) and served as its president for seven years. Currently, Rey is a member of the board of Prison Fellowship International–Pilipinas, and director of its academy.
Rey earned M.A. and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Philippine Studies at the University of the Philippines. He has also completed the academic requirements for an M.A. in Economics from the Lyceum of the Philippines University. He holds a Doctor of Ministry degree from Trinity Theological Seminary in Indiana, where he obtained an M.A. in Biblical Studies and a Master of Sacred Literature degree. He has had additional leadership training at Haggai Institute in Maui, Hawaii (1999); Canaan Farmers School in Seoul, Korea (2010); Institute of Correctional Management in Kerala, India (2003); and in restorative justice in Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada (2003).
Max was born in 1946. With his wife Lolita (now deceased) Max has three children and six grandchildren.
Max became a member of the Radio Church of God 1967, and in 1974 was ordained an elder. In 1988 he was hired into full-time ministry, and began serving bivocationally in 1998. He has served churches in Pampanga, Bulacan, Olongapo and other areas in the Philippines. He has also served as a Festival Director and an SEP Camp Director. In 2001 he became a member of the Advisory Council.
Rex married Sheila in 1998. They had attended the same congregation in their teen years and worked together at SEP camps. Rex was born in Manila, the youngest of four children. His mother became a WCG member in 1972 when Rex was six. He fondly remembers his childhood with family attending church together. Rex attended SEP as a camper and later served as a camp counselor before heading to Ambassador College where he graduated in 1994 and was hired into full-time ministry.
Rex served as a ministerial trainee in Manila and then as National Coordinator for Worship and Youth Ministries. Alongside that, he directed the flagship SEP-Philippines camp for 15 years. He was also Area Superintendent for Metro Manila for several years and now serves as coordinator of Church Development for GCI-Philippines. Rex is based in Baguio City, where Sheila works as a Branch Sales Manager for a real estate company.
Jose was born in 1947. He and his wife Virginia have four children (one deceased) and six grandchildren. Jose holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Fisheries, two Master’s degrees (one in fish culture and the other in education) and a Doctor of Philosophy degree. He is a licensed fisheries technologist, and before retirement was an associate professor at Bicol University.
Within GCI, Jose has served as the Assistant Area Superintendent for the Bicol Region and now serves on the National Advisory Council for GCI Philippines. Jose has also actively participated in the planting of five GCI churches in the Philippines.
Roy, who is married to Vilma Tolosa Valenzuela, was born in 1971. He was awarded an M.A. in Public Management in 2016 and an M.A. in Transformational Leadership in 2011. He also holds Bachelor’s degrees in law and mechanical engineering. He holds licenses to practice law and to serve as a civil servant.
Since 2016 Roy has served as Deputy Director of the Directorate for Inmate Welfare and Development, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology. Before that he was Chief of the Legal Service Office, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology – National Headquarters. Roy currently serves as chairman of Prison Fellowship International Pilipinas; chairman of National Prison Ministries Philippines; and corporate secretary of El Proveedores Foundation.
Audie married Rachel Santiabanez in 1999. They have two sons. Audie and Rachel share a love for GCI and its pastoral ministry.
After finishing a Civil Engineering degree in 1988, Audie attended Ambassador University in Texas where he completed a degree in Management Information Systems in 1994. He then became a ministerial trainee and then a pastor, serving congregations in the Visayas, Mindanao and Luzon.
Audie currently serves bivocationally as an Area Superintendent for Metro Manila and the neighboring provinces of Bulacan, Pampanga and Olongapo. He says that working in both agribusiness and ministry gives him the blessing of enjoying the best of both worlds.
Ezra was born in 1964 in the heart of Manila. A year later, his parents joined the first congregation of Radio Church of God in the Philippines. His father eventually became a WCG pastor.
After graduating with a degree in Accountancy in 1985, Ezra attended Ambassador University in Pasadena where he earned a degree in theology. Upon returning to the Philippines in 1989, he married Jina Soledad a receptionist in WCG’s Philippine Regional Office. They have three sons, all serving in worship ministry as members of a worship band called the Amplifiers.
Since ending his work with the Philippine Regional Office in 1995, Ezra has been involved in the area of Human Resources. He currently works as Manager of HR Operations for Western Digital Corporation. Ezra and Jina along with their son Everett are members of the Pastoral Team of GCI’s congregation in Santa Rosa where they are establishing “Neighbor Love Communities” to share the good news of Christ and his love with different target groups in the community. Ezra was ordained an elder in 2006 and appointed to the Philippine National Board in 2002. He continues as a member of the Advisory Council.
Mario, who is married to Belinda, received a Bachelor of Science degree in Metallurgical Engineering from Mapua Institute of Technology in 1975, and a Master of Science degree in Industrial Economics in 1978 from the University of Asia and the Pacific. After university, he worked as an Executive Assistant to the President for Corporate Planning, then as a Market Services Manager, and then as a General Chartering Manager.
Mario believes in serving God by giving back to the community through social outreach. For more than 30 years in WCG/GCI, he has participated in medical and dental missions and other relief operations under Develop Asia Foundation, Inc. He has also helped sponsor emerging youth leaders for training at SEP and has helped coordinate GCI annual worship festivals. Mario also helped found the Ambassador School for Children, which contributes to early childhood education and provides scholarships to poor but deserving children. Mario now serves as Senior Pastor of a newly planted GCI congregation in the Manila area and Belinda is Eugene Guzon’s executive secretary in GCI’s Manila office.
During a recent meeting of the GCI-Canada board of directors, Frank Gough announced he no longer will be serving as board chairman—a position he has held for many years. GCI-Canada National Director Gary Moore commented:
Frank has been doing a wonderful job for us. He’ll remain as a member of the board, but has transferred chairman duties to board member Gerry Sinkler. I’ve known Gerry for many years, and know he will do a great job in this new role.
We all appreciate Gerry’s willingness to take on this added responsibility, even as we express our appreciation to Frank for his competent and faithful service in that role. Frank is an elder in the St. John’s NL congregation, and Gerry is a deacon in the Edmonton AB congregation.
We were saddened to learn that GCI elder Jerry Cranford died recently. He had served for many years as an assistant pastor in GCI’s congregation in Salem, Oregon. A few years ago, suffering from a number of illnesses, doctors informed Jerry that he would not live to Christmas that year. But God had other plans—Jerry lived to see three more Christmases and died peacefully at age 93.
We thank God for Jerry and for his long life, well lived.
Cards may be sent to Jerry’s wife at this address:
Linda Cranford
1125 McGee Court NE, Apt #234
Keizer, OR 97303
Here is a list of recently ordained GCI elders. Congratulations to all!
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In my Weekly Update letter last week, I noted that associations of December 25 with ancient paganism have no relevance to how Christians celebrate the birth of Christ today. To think otherwise would be to fall prey to the genetic fallacy, a faulty line of reasoning also known as the fallacy of origins. Saying that celebrating Christmas on December 25 is wrong because pagans had celebrations that day, is like saying that renting a hall for church services from the Masons or Odd Fellows is wrong because those groups have ceremonies with pagan roots. (Note: renting such facilities might be unwise, but it’s not wrong.)
Claiming that the practice of celebrating Christmas on December 25 is rooted in paganism cannot override the fact that, for well over 1700 years, the worship of the church has irreversibly established the biblical story of Jesus’ birth as the focus of Christian Christmas celebrations. It’s superstitious to think that if pagans did certain things in the distant past, then Christians, merely because of that association, must avoid those things today. Pagans performed animal sacrifices, lit candles and had harvest festivals long before ancient Israel included similar practices in their temple worship. Were they wrong in doing so? Pagans breathe oxygen, must Christians avoid doing that? How far does such silly thinking go?
In deciding to celebrate Jesus’ birth on December 25, was the early church cozying up to paganism? The article below, reproduced with permission from the December 2003 issue of Touchstone Magazine, provides some interesting historical perspective. I think you’ll find it interesting.
Advent-Christmas blessings to you all,
Joseph Tkach
by William J. Tighe [1]
Many Christians think that Christians celebrate Christ’s birth on December 25th because the church fathers appropriated the date of a pagan festival. Almost no one minds, except for a few groups on the fringes of American Evangelicalism, who seem to think that this makes Christmas itself a pagan festival. But it is perhaps interesting to know that the choice of December 25th is the result of attempts among the earliest Christians to figure out the date of Jesus’ birth based on calendrical calculations that had nothing to do with pagan festivals. Rather, the pagan festival of the “Birth of the Unconquered Sun” instituted by the Roman Emperor Aurelian on 25 December 274, was almost certainly an attempt to create a pagan alternative to a date that was already of some significance to Roman Christians. Thus the “pagan origins of Christmas” is a myth without historical substance.
The idea that the date was taken from the pagans goes back to two scholars from the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Paul Ernst Jablonski, a German Protestant, wished to show that the celebration of Christ’s birth on December 25th was one of the many “paganizations” of Christianity that the Church of the fourth century embraced, as one of many “degenerations” that transformed pure apostolic Christianity into Catholicism. Dom Jean Hardouin, a Benedictine monk, tried to show that the Catholic Church adopted pagan festivals for Christian purposes without paganizing the gospel.
In the Julian calendar, created in 45 B.C. under Julius Caesar, the winter solstice fell on December 25th, and it therefore seemed obvious to Jablonski and Hardouin that the day must have had a pagan significance before it had a Christian one. But in fact, the date had no religious significance in the Roman pagan festal calendar before Aurelian’s time, nor did the cult of the sun play a prominent role in Rome before him.
There were two temples of the sun in Rome, one of which (maintained by the clan into which Aurelian was born or adopted) celebrated its dedication festival on August 9th, the other of which celebrated its dedication festival on August 28th. But both of these cults fell into neglect in the second century, when eastern cults of the sun, such as Mithraism, began to win a following in Rome. And in any case, none of these cults, old or new, had festivals associated with solstices or equinoxes.
As things actually happened, Aurelian, who ruled from 270 until his assassination in 275, was hostile to Christianity and appears to have promoted the establishment of the festival of the “Birth of the Unconquered Sun” as a device to unify the various pagan cults of the Roman Empire around a commemoration of the annual “rebirth” of the sun. He led an empire that appeared to be collapsing in the face of internal unrest, rebellions in the provinces, economic decay, and repeated attacks from German tribes to the north and the Persian Empire to the east.
In creating the new feast, he intended the beginning of the lengthening of the daylight, and the arresting of the lengthening of darkness, on December 25th to be a symbol of the hoped-for “rebirth,” or perpetual rejuvenation, of the Roman Empire, resulting from the maintenance of the worship of the gods whose tutelage (the Romans thought) had brought Rome to greatness and world-rule. If it co-opted the Christian celebration, so much the better.
It is true that the first evidence of Christians celebrating December 25th as the date of the Lord’s nativity comes from Rome some years after Aurelian, in A.D. 336, but there is evidence from both the Greek East and the Latin West that Christians attempted to figure out the date of Christ’s birth long before they began to celebrate it liturgically, even in the second and third centuries. The evidence indicates, in fact, that the attribution of the date of December 25th was a by-product of attempts to determine when to celebrate his death and resurrection.
How did this happen? There is a seeming contradiction between the date of the Lord’s death as given in the synoptic Gospels and in John’s Gospel. The synoptics would appear to place it on Passover Day (after the Lord had celebrated the Passover Meal on the preceding evening), and John on the Eve of Passover, just when the Passover lambs were being slaughtered in the Jerusalem Temple for the feast that was to ensue after sunset on that day.
Solving this problem involves answering the question of whether the Lord’s Last Supper was a Passover Meal, or a meal celebrated a day earlier, which we cannot enter into here. Suffice it to say that the early Church followed John rather than the synoptics, and thus believed that Christ’s death would have taken place on 14 Nisan, according to the Jewish lunar calendar. (Modern scholars agree, by the way, that the death of Christ could have taken place only in A.D. 30 or 33, as those two are the only years of that time when the eve of Passover could have fallen on a Friday, the possibilities being either 7 April 30 or 3 April 33.)
However, as the early Church was forcibly separated from Judaism, it entered into a world with different calendars, and had to devise its own time to celebrate the Lord’s Passion, not least so as to be independent of the rabbinic calculations of the date of Passover. Also, since the Jewish calendar was a lunar calendar consisting of twelve months of thirty days each, every few years a thirteenth month had to be added by a decree of the Sanhedrin to keep the calendar in synchronization with the equinoxes and solstices, as well as to prevent the seasons from “straying” into inappropriate months.
Apart from the difficulty Christians would have had in following—or perhaps even being accurately informed about—the dating of Passover in any given year, to follow a lunar calendar of their own devising would have set them at odds with both Jews and pagans, and very likely embroiled them in endless disputes among themselves. (The second century saw severe disputes about whether Pascha had always to fall on a Sunday or on whatever weekday followed two days after 14 Artemision/Nisan, but to have followed a lunar calendar would have made such problems much worse.)
These difficulties played out in different ways among the Greek Christians in the eastern part of the empire and the Latin Christians in the western part of it. Greek Christians seem to have wanted to find a date equivalent to 14 Nisan in their own solar calendar, and since Nisan was the month in which the spring equinox occurred, they chose the 14th day of Artemision, the month in which the spring equinox invariably fell in their own calendar. Around A.D. 300, the Greek calendar was superseded by the Roman calendar, and since the dates of the beginnings and endings of the months in these two systems did not coincide, 14 Artemision became April 6th.
In contrast, second-century Latin Christians in Rome and North Africa appear to have desired to establish the historical date on which the Lord Jesus died. By the time of Tertullian they had concluded that he died on Friday, 25 March 29. (As an aside, I will note that this is impossible: 25 March 29 was not a Friday, and Passover Eve in A.D. 29 did not fall on a Friday and was not on March 25th, or in March at all.)
So in the East we have April 6th, in the West, March 25th. At this point, we have to introduce a belief that seems to have been widespread in Judaism at the time of Christ, but which, as it is nowhere taught in the Bible, has completely fallen from the awareness of Christians. The idea is that of the “integral age” of the great Jewish prophets: the idea that the prophets of Israel died on the same dates as their birth or conception.
This notion is a key factor in understanding how some early Christians came to believe that December 25th is the date of Christ’s birth. The early Christians applied this idea to Jesus, so that March 25th and April 6th were not only the supposed dates of Christ’s death, but of his conception or birth as well. There is some fleeting evidence that at least some first- and second-century Christians thought of March 25th or April 6th as the date of Christ’s birth, but rather quickly the assignment of March 25th as the date of Christ’s conception prevailed.
It is to this day, commemorated almost universally among Christians as the Feast of the Annunciation, when the Archangel Gabriel brought the good tidings of a savior to the Virgin Mary, upon whose acquiescence the Eternal Word of God (“Light of Light, True God of True God, begotten of the Father before all ages”) forthwith became incarnate in her womb. What is the length of pregnancy? Nine months. Add nine months to March 25th and you get December 25th; add it to April 6th and you get January 6th. December 25th is Christmas, and January 6th is Epiphany.
Christmas (December 25th) is a feast of Western Christian origin. In Constantinople it appears to have been introduced in 379 or 380. From a sermon of St. John Chrysostom, at the time a renowned ascetic and preacher in his native Antioch, it appears that the feast was first celebrated there on 25 December 386. From these centers it spread throughout the Christian East, being adopted in Alexandria around 432 and in Jerusalem a century or more later. The Armenians, alone among ancient Christian churches, have never adopted it, and to this day celebrate Christ’s birth, manifestation to the magi, and baptism on January 6th.
Western churches, in turn, gradually adopted the January 6th Epiphany feast from the East, Rome doing so sometime between 366 and 394. But in the West, the feast was generally presented as the commemoration of the visit of the magi to the infant Christ, and as such, it was an important feast, but not one of the most important ones—a striking contrast to its position in the East, where it remains the second most important festival of the church year, second only to Pascha (Easter).
In the East, Epiphany far outstrips Christmas. The reason is that the feast celebrates Christ’s baptism in the Jordan and the occasion on which the Voice of the Father and the Descent of the Spirit both manifested for the first time to mortal men the divinity of the Incarnate Christ and the Trinity of the Persons in the One Godhead.
Thus, December 25th as the date of the Christ’s birth appears to owe nothing whatsoever to pagan influences upon the practice of the Church during or after Constantine’s time. It is wholly unlikely to have been the actual date of Christ’s birth, but it arose entirely from the efforts of early Latin Christians to determine the historical date of Christ’s death.
And the pagan feast which the Emperor Aurelian instituted on that date in the year 274 was not only an effort to use the winter solstice to make a political statement, but also almost certainly an attempt to give a pagan significance to a date already of importance to Roman Christians. The Christians, in turn, could at a later date re-appropriate the pagan “Birth of the Unconquered Sun” to refer, on the occasion of the birth of Christ, to the rising of the “Sun of Salvation” or the “Sun of Justice.”
Note: the author refers interested readers to Thomas J. Talley’s The Origins of the Liturgical Year.
[1] William J. Tighe is Associate Professor of History at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and a faculty advisor to the Catholic Campus Ministry. He is a Member of St. Josaphat Ukrainian Catholic Church in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He is a contributing editor for Touchstone.
This article is the second of three on the topic of Christmas. For part one, click here. For part three, click here. For a compliation of all three into one article, click here. For an essay that makes similar points, click here. For related chronological charts, click here.
The following announcement is from GCI-USA Regional Pastor Paul David Kurts.
Please join me in congratulating Lead Pastor Franklin K. Howard and his wife Leslie upon Frank’s retirement from 16 years pastoring 24-7 Community Church, GCI’s congregation in Newark, New Jersey. In a beautiful and moving ceremony held recently, Frank passed the baton of leadership to a new pastoral team. Frank and Leslie (pictured below) will continue to be involved in ministry at 24-7, but in different ways. You know the saying, “You can’t keep a good man (or woman) down!”
Frank and Leslie helped start 24-7 Community Church 17 years ago with about 14 people. Not too many folks gave them a fighting chance, but in the years since, the church has grown, engaged their surrounding community, and above all moved forward on their knees in prayer. Through Frank and Leslie’s example and leadership, a culture of empowerment was created at 24-7 whereby all people, young and old, were given opportunity to play an important role in the daily life of the church.
Frank and Leslie, your GCI family thanks you for your many years of tireless, faithful service to our brothers and sisters at 24-7, and to the members of the Newark community beyond. The impact you’ve made can’t be overstated. May God bless you as you enter into this new season of life and ministry.
We are pleased to announce the birth of Hazel Shaw Henderson, daughter of GCI-Canada pastor Fraser Henderson and his wife Julie. Hazel (pictured below) was born at 2:20 p.m., November 26. Congratulations to Fraser and Julie and to the proud grandparents, James and Shirley Henderson (James is Mission Developer for GCI-Europe).
This report, from GCI-Kenya National Director Anthony Gachanja, tells how the kindness of our members in the Naivasha church (near Nairobi, Kenya) led to a request for a church plant.
In August this year, we lost a member of our Naivasha congregation who had been sick for a long time. Church members visited her frequently in the hospital, and when she died, the congregation contributed finances and personnel to assist in the funeral, which was conducted by our pastor Michael Thuku. To our members, doing these things was simply our duty to a beloved sister in Christ; little did we know that it would have a great impact on her family and neighbors.
In late November, a delegation was sent by our sister’s family to visit our congregation and worship with us. The distance between their home and our church building is approximately 75 miles. The spokeslady for the visitors gave a very moving testimony in our church service concerning our service to the family. Some were moved to tears.
We shared a meal together, and they asked us if we would be in a position to start a fellowship in their home area. They expressed a desire to have that love in their village. This, to them is the best gift they can give to their departed sister. In response, we promised to visit them at the earliest opportune time to discuss the way forward. All glory and honor be to our Triune God for this is his doing.
