Category: Announcements

Congratulations to Mark Porter, who leads the pastoral team in the GCI congregation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Mark was recently awarded the Master of Divinity degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois.

Mark attended TEDS full-time for four years and part-time for three. His primary goal in completing the degree was to leave his congregation a legacy of trained ministry.

Mark expressed heartfelt thanks to his congregation for covering his tuition costs. Above all, he thanks his wife Cherie who returned to work full-time so that Mark could pursue his degree.

GCI’s Glendora, CA congregation will celebrate its 40th anniversary on June 16. The celebration will be held at 10:30 AM at Glendora Friends Church, 827 Lone Hill Drive. Dr. Jeb Egbert of West Coast University will bring the main message and a catered meal is included.

Any who were members in the congregation from 1972 forward are invited to attend. Please contact Rose Neumann at alnroseneu@yahoo.com if you plan to attend.

Ministers serving in Glendora these past decades include Darryl Henson, Ken Swisher, Carn Catherwood, Dennis Wheatcroft and Greg Williams.

We are pleased to announce that Eric Wilding, a GCI elder and professor at Grace Communion Seminary was recently awarded the Doctor of Ministry degree from Wycliffe College, Toronto School of Theology and University of Toronto. Eric’s wife, family and some church family attended the graduation ceremony in joyful support.

Eric thanks all who gave him their prayers and other forms of support throughout the five-year process of obtaining his degree.

Eric’s thesis is titled Toward the Trinity: Transforming Theology and Lives of the Ministers in the Worldwide Church of God/Grace Communion International. The research question was “What effects has the 1993 shift in the Worldwide Church of God’s doctrine of the Triune God had on its ministers’ understanding of and relationships with God, self and congregation?” Eric is considering options for publishing the thesis in book form.

GCI president Dr. Joseph Tkach announced recently that as a member of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) board, he has signed NAE’s updated Evangelical Statement of Principles for Immigration Reform.

Dr. Tkach commented, “It is a good statement that I believe represents the biblical teachings accurately without taking sides with any political agenda.”

Here is a summary of the statement, which will be published soon:

Our national immigration laws have created a moral, economic and political crisis in America. Initiatives to remedy this crisis have led to polarization and name calling in which opponents have misrepresented each other’s positions as open borders and amnesty versus deportations of millions. This false choice has led to an unacceptable political stalemate at the federal level at a tragic human cost.

As evangelical Christian leaders, we call for a bipartisan solution on immigration that:

• Respects the God-given dignity of every person
• Protects the unity of the immediate family
• Respects the rule of law
• Guarantees secure national borders
• Ensures fairness to taxpayers
• Establishes a path toward legal status and/or citizenship for those who qualify and who wish to become permanent residents

We urge our nation’s leaders to work together with the American people to pass immigration reform that embodies these key principles and that will make our nation proud.

CAD operations manager Charles Albrecht and his wife Susi are pleased to announce that their daughter Hannah was baptized during the Cinco de Mayo worship service held at Community Life Fellowship (the GCI congregation in Altadena, CA).

Congratulations to retired GCI pastor Maceo Hampton and his wife Phoebe. They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on April 19.

Maceo and Phoebe Hampton

30225 Summit Drive #107

Farmington Hills, MI 48334-2446

 

 

On May 27, Christians all over the world will assemble for the Global Day of Prayer (GDOP). Some will gather in homes, while others assemble in stadiums, public auditoriums and open squares. Many will devote portions of their Sunday morning church service to united prayer.

A printable prayer and guidelines and suggestions for the events are available on the GDOP website at http://www.globaldayofprayer.com/prayer.html.

 

GCI’s churches in Spain invite members and friends from all around the world to join them from October 1-8 on beautiful Majorca Island for this year’s Spiritual Retreat.

The location is the Barcelo Ponent Playa Hotel (click here for details), which offers an outstanding facility with full sun on the Mediterranean. Here are comments from members who attended at this location:

• “It is the best hotel and location we have had for the festival in Majorca until now.”
• “To have a gorgeous sea view from your room it is wonderful.”
• “To have the beach just a few meters from your room it is delightful.”
• “The food it is so plentiful, so varied and so tasteful with wine and everything included that you cannot ask for more.”
• “The very family-oriented atmosphere at the festival was very enjoyable.”

We will hold worship services every day (in English with Spanish translation) with the exception of the one when we will have a full-day excursion. Other activities include a family dance, a talent show and an all-family beach outing.

Cost per person per the 8 days “ALL INCLUSIVE” package (in U.S.dollars):

• $ 544.00 — $ 652.50 per person 12 years and older in a SINGLE ROOM.
• $ 446.00 — $ 511.00 per person 12 years and older in a DOUBLE ROOM.
• $ 408.00 — $ 471.70 per person 12 years and older in a TRIPLE ROOM.
• $ 0.00 — $ 0.00 First child 3 to 11 years old sharing in a double room with other two adults.
• $ 223.00 — $ 255.50 Each additional child in a double room with two adults.

For a full package of information and Spiritual Retreat application form, please e-mail Pedro Rufian at: iduespana@yahoo.es or write to:

Comunión Internacional de la Gracia

Atn. Pedro Rufian Mesa

Real, 26

28610 Villamanta, (Madrid); Spain

Tel. +34 91 813 67 05

This update is from Randy Bloom, director of GCI Church Multiplication Ministries (CMM).

Thanks for praying for the Tabins – our prayers have been answered! (click here for the request). U.S. Homeland Security and Immigration have given approval for the Tabins to immigrate to the U.S. to start a new GCI congregation within the Filipino community in Southern California.

The Tabins have been planning for over two years to make this move. Angie will serve initially as an assistant pastor in New Hope Christian Fellowship, the GCI congregation in Eagle Rock, CA pastored by Glen Weber. She and Sadie will focus on starting the new church by reconnecting with the small groups they started on a previous visit.

The Tabins will bring with them their children Hebert Angelo (18) and Hazel Ann (12). Please pray that their move and other aspects of the transition to life in the U.S. go well and that their church planting efforts will bear much fruit to God’s glory.

Last February, Roger Galstad who pastors the GCI congregation in Eau Claire, WI, was awarded a Ph.D. in religious studies by Trinity Theological Seminary of Newburgh, IN. Congratulations Roger!

Roger’s dissertation, Man’s Ignorance and God’s Grace: A Case for Conditional Immortality has been self-published in a book with the same title.