Category: Announcements

All GCI members, families and friends are invited to Converge 2015. We are expecting a capacity crowd, so don’t delay—register now at https://gci.org/go/converge15 (sign-in required).

Converge is an annual gathering hosted by GCI Generations Ministries. It has always been an amazing time of worship and fellowship in the triune love of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We anticipate that 2015 will be the best ever. Because there will be no U.S. regional conferences in 2015, we’re opening Converge 2015 to a general church audience. Converge is no longer just for youth ministry types!

In 2015, Converge will be held on March 20-22 in one location—beautiful Deer Creek Lodge and Conference Center located near Mt. Sterling, Ohio, 30 minutes south of Columbus. The facility has over 3,000 acres with hiking, fishing, boating and golf. The entire facility will be ours that weekend, including their 110 hotel-style lodge rooms. To see pictures of the lodge rooms click here.

Converge 2015 will have something for everyone, no matter your age or ministry focus. Guest speaker Paul Young (pictured at left), author of The Shack, will share the jaw-dropping, life-changing, epic story of the gospel. GCI president, Joseph Tkach will also address one of the plenary sessions and there will be workshops focused on all kinds of ministry renewal needs: youth ministry, camp leadership and management, worship leading, intro to Christian leadership, theology and practice, missional life flow, children’s ministry, GCI Internships, camp curriculum, ministry coaching and more. Childcare will be provided so you can have uninterrupted time at plenary sessions and workshops. To take advantage of this service, provide the names and ages of your children when you register.

Converge 2015 begins at 7:00 P.M. EST on Friday, March 20 and concludes at noon EST on Sunday, March 22. It’s important to arrive early enough to check in prior to the opening session. If flying to Converge, the Port Columbus International Airport (CMH) is only 45 miles north. GenMin will provide limited transportation to and from CMH on a first-come, first-served basis at $12/person ($20/couple/family). If you want transportation, email Jeff Broadnax at jeffrey.broadnax@gci.org. The Dayton and Cincinnati airports are also within reasonable distance.

Converge registration allows individual or group registration. The lowest cost option of $175/person is available when four people share one lodge room. The cost for single occupancy is $328/person. These costs include registration, two-nights lodging and the meal package (four meals). If you want to share lodging, please register as a group, listing the names of all the group members, then pay the fee for the entire group. If you desire to stay an extra night before Converge starts, please notify us when registering. Questions about registration? Email Anthony Mullins at anthony.mullins@gci.org or text him at 678.427.9967.

Regarding scholarships or otherwise giving people financial assistance to attend Converge 2015, why not partner as a church, camp or mission event?

Once again, to register, go to https://gci.org/go/converge15 (sign-in required).

Since 2006, GCI Generations Ministries’ Crossing Borders mission trips have delivered hundreds of shoeboxes full of school supplies, toys and toiletries to children of poor villagers in Mexico. We visit their villages during a week-long summer trip, then reconnect and deepen relationships while sharing gifts and the gospel on a winter return trip. We would love to have you join us on this year’s winter trip (December 12-15). Though you’ll need a passport, you don’t need to speak Spanish.

For further information, including ways you can participate by providing shoebox gifts, go to http://www.cbmission.org/shoebox.html or call Lee Berger at 903-746-4463.

Throughout the year, certain days, weeks and even months are set aside for thanking the moms, dads, teachers and other groups that serve us throughout the year. In the U.S., October has been set aside for churches, hospitals and other institutions to express special thanks to those who serve them as clergy.

The denominational staff of Grace Communion International extend their heartfelt thanks to the pastoral leaders (pastors, elders and pastoral care team members) who serve within GCI’s congregations. We know that your acts of service express not only your love and dedication but also the infinite love that God has for us all.

As fellow servants, we deeply appreciate your continued service within our denomination. We would not be the same without you!

As GCI continues its journey on mission with Jesus, we are blessed to have gifted men and women shepherding the members entrusted to their care. We know that your labor is not only making a difference in their lives, but also in the lives of others within the communities in which you serve. Our sincere thanks for who you are and all you do in our Lord’s service.

We are pleased to announce that Phillip Hopwood, pastor of GCI’s congregation in Tasmania, Australia, was recently engaged to Deborah Isaac. Deborah was born in the United Kingdom but has spent most of her life in Queensland and Tasmania. A November 15th wedding is planned in Hobart, Tasmania, with Bharat Naker, pastor of GCI Adelaide, officiating.

Notes of congratulations can be emailed to phil.hopwood@gci.org.au or sent to:

Phillip Hopwood

19 Tulloch Court

Lindisfarne, TAS 7015, Australia

We are pleased to announce that the following individuals recently were ordained as elders. We thank God for raising up these leaders and offer congratulations to all.

• Emmanuel Andrews, Atlanta, GA
• Chad Pendergraft, Springfield, MO
• Jan Taylor, Nashville & Murfreesboro, TN
• Hilary Buck, Brighton, UK
• Anthony Garside, San Jose, CA
• Frederick Dwamena, Kumasi GHANA
• Richard Kindi, Mt. Wilhelm PAPUA NEW GUINEA
• Ben Galwa, Mt. Wilhelm PAPUA NEW GUINEA
• Mark Kuberski, Edmonton, Alberta CANADA
• Wendy Holladay Moore, Abbotsford, Alberta CANADA
• Jope Uqeuqe, Suva FIJI
• Carmen Acosta, Barranquilla COLOMBIA
• Fe Martinez, Kalibo, Aklan PHILIPPINES

GCI’s congregation in Essex, England is pastored by Tony Goudie. It’s a lively church, with an average attendance of about 55 people of various ages. Among the members are five couples that all have celebrated their gold wedding anniversaries—50 years of marriage! We offer them our hearty congratulations on this wonderful attainment and extend to them our best wishes for many more such celebrations in the years ahead.

In addition to posting on our website (GCI.org) and here in GCI Weekly Update, we also publish some of our writings in the form of books that are published online (e-books). These books can be read online or downloaded (often at no cost) to be printed or stored on your computer or other device. Here are four e-books now available for free:

• Trinitarian Conversations: Interviews With Ten Theologians
• Trinitarian Conversations Volume 2: Interviews With 15 Theologians
• The Kingdom of God by Gary Deddo
• Scripture: God’s Gift by Gary Deddo

The Trinitarian Conversations books are also available for purchase in paperback form, go to https://www.createspace.com/pub/simplesitesearch.search.do?sitesearch_query=trinitarian+conversations&sitesearch_type=STORE.

This announcement is from GenMin national coordinator Anthony Mullins.

Occasionally pastors and others request copies of the messages given in our camp chapel services. Sometimes they want to revisit the messages after camp—using them for sermons or small group discussions. Doing so is a great way to create a tie-in between the camp and a local congregation.

We’re glad to make these curricula available on the GenMin website at www.generationsministries.org/camp-teaching-materials.html.

This year’s “Superhero” curriculum was a hit. Thanks to Michelle Fleming for writing it. It’s fun seeing kids honor Jesus as the ultimate Superhero that he is!

Pastor Roger Abels recently retired after more than 40 years of GCI employment in pastoral ministry. Together with his wife Donna, Roger has pastored many GCI congregations, most recently in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Kalamazoo, Michigan. The Fort Wayne congregation hosted a celebration service honoring Roger and Donna on June 1. Pastor Jim Valekis from Ohio gave the sermon and Pastor Stephen Hill from Illinois led worship.

Roger has been replaced in the Fort Wayne church by Pastor David Howe who, with his wife Ann, also serves as senior pastor in the GCI congregation in Elkhart, Indiana.

Our thanks and congratulations to Roger and Donna and to David and Ann!

Long-time GCI pastor Bill Ford retired in June from GCI employment. Bill and his wife Harriet moved from Cleveland, Ohio, to New England in 1993, where Bill served as a pastor, most recently in the Holden and Waltham, Massachusetts, congregations. Bill and Harriet moved back to Cleveland to be near family (some of them are pictured below—Bill is third from left behind the couch; Harriet is third from right on the couch). The family in the Cleveland area includes eight grandchildren (a ninth lives in Las Vegas). Bill quipped, “We’re back where we started, a little beat up, but still kickin’!”

Bill has been replaced as senior pastor in the two Massachusetts congregations by Dishon Mills. In recent years, Dishon and his wife Afrika (pictured at right) have been working to start a new GCI church in the Boston area. Now their focus will be pastoring the Holden and Waltham congregations. Those who were part of the Randolph church plant will join the Waltham congregation as they look toward future church-planting opportunities. Dishon will also continue as the director of GenMin’s New Heights Camp located in Connecticut.

Congratulations (and thanks) to Bill and Harriet and Dishon and Afrika.