Category: Be Inspired

Clifton Charles is a regional pastor who also pastors two GCI congregations in Trinidad and Tobago and one in Barbados. Clifton grew up in poverty. He notes that at age 13, following the death of his father, his meals consisted mainly of bread or breadfruit and there was no money to buy schoolbooks. According to Clifton, this “taught me to be resourceful and resilient.”

Clifton feels that these hardships shaped him into the pastor he is today. “Many influences brought me to where I am today. Among the more significant, apart from my surrender to the Lord, are (1) the fine role models of my diligent and outgoing parents who had a great work ethic and were always helping people; (2) the blessing of a keen mind so that learning was easy for me—as a result, all of my education, up to my PhD, was scholarshipped; (3) my divinely chosen wife, Pearl, who is my excellent ministry partner; and (4) many extremely supportive members and leaders in the congregations where we have served.”

Clifton and Pearl have been married for 40 years. “She is my best friend and personal assistant and travels with me most of the time. We have no children. However, one of our members told me that we have children who are even older than we are!”

Clifton became interested in WCG/GCI at age 19. “HWA’s description of his repentance—when he came to see himself as a ‘hunk of junk’ and told God if he could do anything with his life he could have it—grabbed my attention. I was at that point that I realized God was leading me to repentance. One night at age 19 or 20 I went into my room, knelt down and told God that I realized what he wanted me to do but I needed his help. Then I asked him to bring me to the point where I saw myself as a ‘hunk of junk’ and turned my life over to him so that he could do with me as he pleased. That began my surrender to Jesus and my walk with him.”

In 1978, Clifton was ordained an elder and started pastoring GCI churches part-time. “I became a full-time pastor in 1984. This meant resigning from my full-time job at the planning division of the ministry of agriculture in Trinidad & Tobago. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed full-time ministry. To this day, I have never been bored or burned out.”

When asked what he enjoys most about pastoring, Clifton said it is his relationships with God and people. “What I enjoy most is helping people catch God’s vision and mission for them and seeing them transformed by God as they surrender to the Lordship of Christ at new levels in their personal lives. I also enjoy helping develop new generations of leaders, as leadership development is one of my hobbies. Finally, I also enjoy marriage ministry, which is another hobby that God is blessing wonderfully.”

Speaking about GCI, Clifton said, “I enjoy most the freedom we have in Christ to help move people to God’s agenda. I did not anticipate that our transition to a focus on being missional disciples of Jesus would take as long as it did. By God’s grace, it had become my own focus by July 1995. But the wait has been worth it, for God is producing good fruit in our midst. I now feel free to serve disciples of Jesus both in GCI as well as the wider body of Christ in Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago. I currently serve on several national and regional boards of various Christian organizations.”

Clifton transitioned to part-time employment with GCI in 2000 and began teaching economics at the University of the West Indies in Barbados. “At present I teach microeconomics to second year students (about 150 each year) and international economic integration to final year students (about 20 each year). This teaching gives me opportunity to enjoy serving young people and to be on mission on the university campus.”

Clifton’s passion is “making disciples of Jesus and helping them to reproduce more disciples of Jesus.” He said he doesn’t focus on most memorable moments because he doesn’t spend a lot of time looking back. “I live in the present with my eyes on the future. As a result, memories are quickly overshadowed by present realities and future developments.”

Tom Pickett, pictured at right with his wife Adrienne, pastors New Hope Christian Fellowship, the GCI congregation meeting in Fort Worth, Texas. When Tom was just six years old, he was sent to live with his uncle, aunt and cousins in Phoenix, Arizona. “My Dad had graduated from an optometric college in Chicago. During the time he was setting up practice and moving, my parents thought it would be best for me to live temporarily with my family in Phoenix. After they got settled in Gunnison, Colorado, my parents came and got me.” Growing up in Colorado, Tom says, “instilled in me midwestern ethics and a conservative mindset that I still have today.”

In the early 60s, Tom’s dad started listening to The World Tomorrow radio program in the evenings. “He decided to share what he had found with his family. After I first listened in 1963, my dad and mom drove to California to check out Ambassador College. He came back with an application for me to apply for the fall semester. I was 19 at the time.”

Tom got much more than an education at Ambassador. “I met my wife-to-be, Adrienne Russell there. It was 1964 when we first dated on the Pasadena campus. It didn’t take long to realize that she was the one for me. We were married after graduation in 1967. She is the mother of our two sons, David and Andrew, and the love of my life.”

Tom worked at the Pasadena headquarters for a number of years, serving in many capacities. “Before being commissioned as a pastor, my experience in the church was one of service. I was a deacon for 14 years and then a local elder for five. So when I became a pastor, my joy was to serve the members.”

Tom and Adrienne moved to Texas where Tom now pastors the Fort Worth congregation, which meets in Euless. Tom says that Adrienne is a big part of his ministry. “She is my confidant, counselor and prayer partner. She also leads praise and worship at church and gives encouragement and counsel to the members. We are ‘connected at the hip’ in ministry and everything else in our life together. She truly is God’s gift to me!”

Tom’s sons are a big part of his favorite memories of ministry. “My most memorable moment came in three parts when I had the blessing of baptizing my sons David and Andrew and the privilege of officiating at their weddings to their beautiful brides, Joni and Jonelle.”

When asked what he enjoys most about being part of GCI, Tom said, “I appreciate that we are continually growing in the grace and knowledge of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Just when I think I understand who Jesus is, he reveals himself more fully. We as a denomination have responded positively to that revelation each time.”

Tom is also involved in the Office of Reconciliation and Mediation (ORM). “I became involved in 1998 when we hosted a reconciliation conference in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Since then I have been an ORM chapter leader. I also got involved in a related radio ministry with my son, David and Curtis May. It’s titled A Time to Reconcile. It’s a weekly program on KCLE, 1460 am in the Fort Worth and Dallas area. It also is uploaded to YouTube at www.youtube.com/atimetoreconcile.”

When asked about his passion, Tom said, “the reconciliation or eternal relation that Jesus has given to all humanity, and the reality that he has made all believers the ministers of it.”

Todd Crouch (pictured at right with his wife Denise) is living one of his life’s dreams. “For as long as I can remember, even from age four or five, I have always wanted to know God and to really understand the Bible. I even talked to my Methodist minister about becoming a pastor.” Todd’s dream came true and he now pastors three GCI congregations: Wheeling, West Virginia; Washington, Pennsylvania; and Cambridge, Ohio.

Growing up in the small town of Speers, Pennsylvania, Todd’s first contact with GCI was through a cousin. “He gave me a subscription to The Plain Truth as a Christmas gift in 1974. I read it and for some reason it struck a chord…there was a real zeal. I appreciated that the WCG encouraged people to look into Scripture and that Christianity was meant to be something engaging that would change us.” Todd began attending WCG in 1981 in Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania (now the Mt. Pleasant congregation), and was baptized later that year.

Todd met his wife Denise at a church function. She was attending the Washington, Pennsylvania congregation. “In 1983 we got married and we moved to Bentleyville which is where we still live. It’s about halfway between our two families. We attended the Washington church with family.”

Todd and Denise have two sons, both married. David and his wife Elissa live in Moore, Oklahoma. David works as a SharePoint Administrator for Chickasaw Nation Industries. Elissa is a meteorologist for Weather News in Norman. They attend the Oklahoma City church. No grandkids yet.

“Our youngest son Jonathan is an officer-ranger with the Pennsylvania Department of Natural Resources and Conservation policing the state parks. His wife Jill is a forensic scientist with the Pennsylvania State Police. Jonathan is a member of the Washington, Pennsylvania church. Jill attends the church she grew up in. No grandkids yet.”

Todd, who worked in advertising, was asked to become the bi-vocational associate pastor of the Mt. Pleasant congregation in 1999. “I’m not sure what led to it other than at that time when many were leaving our fellowship, we stayed. We attended new pastors’ training at HQ in 2000. In 2005, Todd was hired full time and became the senior pastor of the three congregations.

What Todd enjoys most about being a pastor is, “Telling others about Jesus and having conversations with people about Jesus. I also love fellowship and worship. Pastors have the opportunity to participate with Jesus in ministering in many ways. You are bound up with the lives of so many and you experience so much through these relationships. Building relationships with other Christian pastors and churches is also a big plus.”

His most memorable moment as a pastor happened in Palm Springs during the International Pastors’ Conference, “when I first realized that Jesus had not left his humanity in the grave and is thus still ‘one of us’ and always will be.”

Speaking about GCI, Todd said, “God has given us a unique history and story to be a part of. I also like that so many of us know one another and have mutual friends. Also there is an intangible quality with GCI that is hard to define, but it’s there. It’s the desire, I think, to be transformed by the Holy Spirit with the focus on Jesus. We desire to know Jesus deeply and to see lives changed as we understand what Jesus has done for us all.”

Todd loves to share what God is doing with the three small churches he pastors. “We have a radio program called Fountain of Life. It is heard on a small radio station here in Washington and we have an ever-growing audience of online listeners in over 310 cities in America and all over the world at www.rkpradio.com. This shows us that Jesus uses our loaves and fish as we bring them to him.”

When does Todd feel closest to God? “In times of worship, both privately and when the church comes together.”

Mike Swagerty’s career track made a radical turn at a young age. He explains: “I have never been convicted as an arsonist, but as a child I am afraid I was a budding pyromaniac. At age eight I started a fire on our farm that nearly burned down all the houses and out-buildings. Needless to say the punishment that was forthcoming basically got me over my ‘fire bug’ ways.” Mike has replaced pyromania with playing cards. “I love to play cards, especially bridge. I have belonged to a Thursday night bridge group for many years.”

Mike, who pastors GCI’s church in Sacramento, California, lives about 100 miles from where he grew up. “I grew up on a peach farm about 11 miles southeast of Modesto. I never moved from birth until college from that farm. After being accepted to college and being ordained a minister at graduation, I simply moved wherever HQ told me to go. My first assignment was in Toledo, Ohio and my last transfer was to Sacramento in 1991.”

At age 15, Mike started listening to The World Tomorrow radio broadcast. “I remember the question on the broadcast that caught my interest: ‘Why were you born?’ This led to booklets, 58 Correspondence Course lessons, magazines and then applying to college after my graduation from high school. I became a baptized member of GCI during my freshman year at Ambassador College in 1964.”

Mike and his wife Sandy will celebrate their 46th wedding anniversary in May 2014. “I met Sandy while we were in college in Pasadena. Funny that we didn’t even date until we were seniors. Our final week was a real whirlwind. We got married on a Sunday. We graduated and I was ordained the following Friday. By Monday we were headed for Toledo, Ohio, our first pastoral assignment.”

Mike and Sandy have two sons. “Terry, our first, was born while we were finishing our stay in Toledo. He was only three weeks old when we traveled to New Jersey. Our second son, Robert, was born in New Jersey. Terry is now 44 and Robert is 40. We have four grandchildren—a boy and a girl from each son. The boys are Jakob and AJ,and the girls are Trinity and Maddie.”

When asked what he enjoys most about being a pastor, make replied: “There’s almost nothing I don’t enjoy—even the paperwork. But my greatest love is sharing the lives of people. I have met so many interesting people over the years and I never get tired of hearing their stories.”

Mike has several stories of his own. “The one that stands out is a baptism in a stream. I was in my suit and didn’t have a bathing suit. So I took off my socks and shoes, and my coat and tie, and rolled up my pants. I was baptizing a lady and her adult daughter. The bottom of this stream was covered with round stones that had moss growing on them. The footing was treacherous. Just as I bent over to lower the daughter into the water, my foot slipped and the whole crotch of my pants tore from one end to the other, leaving me just a bit exposed! Not to be defeated, I tied my coat around my waist like an apron and we finished the baptism. Funny thing, the mother was a seamstress and we went back to her house where she sewed up my pants!

Sandy is a big part of Mike’s ministry. “Besides helping me with office work, visitation and all the normal things pastors’ wives do, Sandy has hosted a women’s small group at our home for 18 years. She has been involved as a singer on the worship team for our entire 22 years here. She has been very much involved with Connecting and Bonding, which is an outreach to ministers’ wives led by Jannice May. Sandy is a prayer warrior, never missing the opportunity to add to her considerable prayer list. She also works as a cashier at Target, where I refer to her as “Mother Teresa,” as she is always a good listener, comfort giver, and prayer partner for all who come through her line.”

When asked what he loves about GCI, Mike shared, “The fellowship and the many friends. We have folks scattered all over the world that we consider friends. I know of no other church denomination that can say this.”

When asked about his passion, Mike said, “My passion right now is to pass along my faith to the next generation. I am very active in the lives of my children and grandchildren. In the last two years I have found a real interest in summer camp. I am part of the team preparing to start a new GenMin camp at Lake Tahoe.”

Mike feels closest to God “in the early morning, and especially in the beauty of his creation. I love my morning time spent with God at around sunrise each day.”

John Knaack, pastor of Living Hope Christian Fellowship in Buffalo, New York, grew up on a dairy farm in central Wisconsin. “I began attending WCG in 1974 after my dad and I began listening to The World Tomorrow. We asked for a ministerial visit and were invited to attend the local congregation.”

John’s parents and most of his siblings eventually became WCG members. About his early life, John says, “I loved the fact that our family had many activities and social events that involved extended family and I realize now how much that shaped me to be part of a bigger spiritual family.”

John went to Ambassador College in Big Sandy, Texas in 1976. After the campus closed, John transferred to the Pasadena campus for a year. In 1978, that campus started reorganizing and John left for a year to return in 1979. He was part of a ministry training program during his senior year (1981). That May, John was hired to serve as a ministerial trainee. His first assignment was Monroe, Louisiana.

John met Hannah (Pope) in college and their relationship blossomed while serving at the SEP camp in Orr, Minnesota. “Hannah and I celebrated 32 years of marriage last October; we were married in Wausau, Wisconsin, six weeks after our second year as SEP counselors.” John says, “God has blessed us with three children: Matthew is an officer with the Milwaukee police department, Sarah and Andrew live locally and enjoy coming over to harass their dear old dad on frequent occasions. Hannah and I have been dropping hints about grandchildren, but they seem to fall on deaf ears. Hannah’s mother has lived with us for the last four years. She will celebrate her 90th birthday in May.”

After getting married, John and Hannah began serving three congregations in Monroe. “From there we moved to Iowa where we served for ten years. We are in our 17th year of service here in the snow belt of Western New York.” John says he and Hannah love old movies. “And soon I’ll be watching my favorite, It’s a Wonderful Life.”

About being a pastor, John shares, “I truly enjoy being able to help people through the difficult journey of life. I’ve noticed over the years that my gifts fall in areas of comfort and encouragement. I receive more feedback from this area than any other. Pastors like encouragement, too!” This ties in with what John enjoys most about being part of GCI. He loves, “being able to freely share how much God loves each person. I realize this can be done outside of a church, but this is where being a part of GCI has brought me over the years.”

When asked about his passion, John said this: “Bottom line: telling others how special they are to our Lord and how much he cares for them. I find this to be the central theme in my sermons and in my work as a chaplain.

Due to declining financial resources, John took a second job as a chaplain. “Because of our transitions in GCI, I’ve been encouraged to share the gospel wherever I go. My work as a chaplain allows me to do that. I’m now a division director with Marketplace Chaplains, USA where I oversee 60 chaplains in the upper Northeast. I love most of the work, but driving in Boston traffic is not one of them!”

John said his most memorable moment as a pastor was “being able to baptize each of my three children!” When asked when he feels closest to God, he said, “It’s in the ‘aha!’ moment that comes after I’ve been burdened with an issue or trial for some time and finally I hear the Spirit’s voice in the matter. Praise God!”

Dan Rogers serves GCI as the director of Church Administration and Development (CAD) and the superintendent of US ministers.

An only child, Dan was born in rural Tennessee. “We lived in a tar-paper shack with no electricity and no running water. My parents picked cotton for a living.” When Dan was six, the family moved to St Louis, Missouri. “My parents found work in the factories there. We then lived in a single room in a tenement, sharing a bathroom with five other families.” Shortly after Dan began attending school, he was selected to be part of a program for gifted children. He refers to this as “one of the great blessings of my life.”

Dan’s parents were listening to Herbert W. Armstrong on the radio before they were married. Dan says that one of his earliest childhood memories was hearing HWA’s “distinctive voice.” His mother, who was deeply committed to HWA’s teaching, was also committed to having Dan attend Ambassador College. This was not Dan’s original plan. “Most of my youth was devoted to sports. In high school I was approached by two major-league baseball teams and offered minor-league contracts. My father and I were interested, but my mother insisted that I attend Ambassador College. She got her wish.”

Dan graduated from Ambassador’s Pasadena, California campus in June 1970, then entered a whirlwind weekend. “I graduated on a Friday, married Barbara (Rand) on Saturday, and on Sunday my new bride and I left for my ministerial assignment in Boston, Massachusetts. I was ordained an elder less than a year later and a year after that I became the pastor of the churches in Concord, New Hampshire and Montpelier, Vermont at the ripe old age of 23.” Dan and Barbara served in New England for 12 years. “During our time in New England I was privileged to start all the churches in Maine. I also enrolled in the M.Div. program at Boston University.”

Dan and Barbara have been married for 43 years and have three children. “Our daughter, Christine, was born in Rhode Island in 1971, our son, Christopher, was born in New Hampshire in 1973 and our son, Steven Earl Preston Rogers (SEP, OrR), was born in 1989 in North Carolina.”

After leaving New England, the Rogers were transferred to Greensboro, North Carolina and soon started a congregation in Winston-Salem. “Later in 1989 we were transferred to the Atlanta area and during the seven years we served there I was the area coordinator for YOU and then the district superintendent for that area. While in Atlanta I was able to get a Master of Theological Studies degree from Emory University with the hope of someday teaching at Ambassador University.”

Dan’s life took a dramatic turn in 1996 when he received a phone call from headquarters. “After serving seven years in the Atlanta area, I was surprised that instead of being asked to go teach at Ambassador University, I was asked by Michael Feazell and Joseph Tkach to come to Pasadena to serve as director of CAD and to pursue a PhD degree. The doctrinal changes that began in late 1994 had resulted in the loss of many members, ministers and money by 1996. By this time, there had developed a great deal of mistrust of headquarters by the field ministers. An “us” and “them” mentality prevailed. It was thought that bringing in a long-time pastor to direct CAD might help heal the breach.”

It was a difficult assignment for a difficult time. “My first several years as director of CAD were spent battling doctrinal division, reorganizing the structure of the field ministry and planning for regional conferences that would not only be opportunities for training pastors but also provide opportunities for fellowship between pastors and headquarters personnel.”

In the midst of it all, Dan gave much needed attention to providing ministry development services that would help return the church to a clear focus on the Great Commission to “make disciples who make disciples.” “I envisioned the need for multiplication of members, ministers, ministries and churches in the face of all the denomination’s declines in those areas.” It was also during this time that Dan encouraged what he calls “the most unpopular move I have ever made since I became director of CAD.” Dan asked the Church Board to close and sell our SEP camp in Orr, Minnesota. “Instead of one camp, I wanted to see many camps throughout the US with many camp directors, multiplied staff and campers. Eventually, I hoped our camp system would spawn short-term mission trips and would train our youth to be missionaries (both domestic and international). This development led to the ministry we now call Generations Ministries (GenMin).” Though Dan initially received “tons of hate mail and several death threats,” the decision helped launch now 17 camps and hundreds of youth having the opportunity to participate in the camp experience.

Dan also realized for GCI-USA to meet the needs of the future, we needed to start new churches. “Even as some of our long-time congregations began to close, we needed new churches for new people in new places, doing church in new ways for the future. This concept led to the ministry we now call Church Multiplication Ministries (CMM).”

When asked what he enjoys most about being director of CAD, Dan said, “Perhaps my greatest joy has been to dream of what might one day be for the denomination in the US, to pray for it, to strategize for it, and now to begin to see it happening. There is much left to do, of course, but it is encouraging to see how far we have come since 1996.”

Dan says he is passionately loyal and committed to this denomination and to its future. He adds, “I have been privileged to be a member of the Radio Church of God, the Worldwide Church of God, but most of all, a member of Grace Communion International. We have always sought to worship God, to take God’s Word seriously, and to make whatever sacrifices and changes necessary in order to live by every word of God. Where we are today in Grace Communion International is a testimony to God’s grace and, by his continued grace, I believe the best is yet to come.”

Jonathan Rakestraw is the bivocational pastor of GCI’s Tallahassee, Florida congregation. “I grew up near Tallahassee where my family has lived for over 150 years. I grew up hunting and fishing with family and friends on a Civil War battlefield along the St. Marks River.”

Jonathan left Florida for a few years to attend college and work in Pasadena, California, but he and his wife Carolyn moved back in 1987 after Jonathan accepted a position with the state of Florida. “I am in my 25th year of employment with the state and currently serve as lead over the Contract and Project Management Office for the Division of Telecommunications. My primary responsibility is to oversee 40+ telecommunication service contracts.”

Jonathan was 10 years old when his family was visited for the first time by a WCG pastor. “Being from a small community with a large extended family, having traveling visitors was unheard of—much less ministers from another state!” Jonathan credits his grandmother for his family’s interest in the church. “My dad started listening to The World Tomorrow radio program in the ’60s but was skeptical about the offer of free literature from a church in California. By chance he mentioned to my grandmother Dosia that he had been listening to the program but that he thought the free offers too good to be true. To my dad’s amazement, my grandmother said that Mr. Armstrong was good to his word because she had requested and received free literature herself in the ’40s. Because of my grandmother’s endorsement, my dad and the rest of my family started the journey of becoming part of WCG/GCI.”

Jonathan and Carolyn (Tatham) met in 1980 as Ambassador College students, and married after graduating. They have been married for 28 years and have three children: Matthew (24), Charlotte (21) and Andrew (13). “All three are GCI members who enjoy participating and serving at our youth camps.” Of Carolyn, Jonathan says, “She is my best and most helpful evaluator in ministry. She does the weekly church bulletin, leads youth church, manages our congregational Facebook page and keeps in touch with our church family and friends around the world.”

Jonathan served as an elder in both the Tallahassee, Florida and Moultrie, Georgia congregations and also served briefly as interim pastor during a change in leadership. “I was installed as pastor of our Tallahassee congregation in November 2004 when the current pastor retired.”

Jonathan’s favorite part of pastoring is “serving my brothers and sisters in Christ and being part of what Jesus is doing in GCI.” What he enjoys most about being part of GCI is “the close relationships and the shared experiences together with such a diverse group locally and internationally.” He credits his District Pastor, Larry Hinkle, as his mentor. “He has helped me grow in my relationship with God by mentoring me in spiritual formation and providing the Odyssey in Christ retreats.” Jonathan mentions his three most memorable moments as pastor: “baptizing each of my three children.”

When asked about his passion, Jonathan said, “Freshwater fly-fishing is my hobby and passion. It’s my way of enjoying God’s wonderful creation and recharging my soul. Thankfully, I have fishing buddies in Florida and also in New Hampshire when we visit my mother-in-law there.”

When does he feel closest to God? “During quiet time at sunrise on the weekend while my family is asleep. I enjoy the time with God to listen and reflect so I can be more balanced and centered for the day.”

“My wife and I were victims of an armed robbery in a grocery store,” shares Charles Young, pastor of Living Hope Christian Fellowship, one of GCI’s congregations in the Atlanta, Georgia area.

“My wife once worked as a cashier at a major local grocery store. At the time she was six months pregnant. Masked gunmen entered the store before it was open to the public. I had just dropped Debbie off for work, and I was sitting in my car just about to return home. One of the gunmen approached me, showed me his gun and told me to get out of my car.

“I was told to enter the store through one of the side doors. When we entered, another gunman had me help him carry bags of money to another area of the store. (So technically, I took part in an armed robbery.) Then one of them led me to an area where there was a walk-in meat cooler. The door was opened. My wife and several of her co-workers had already been placed in the cooler. I was told to get in with them.

“For what seemed like an eternity I stood in that cooler, holding my wife. We didn’t know what was going to happen next. We all wondered if our lives would end there. But by God’s grace, after some time another employee arrived. As he was going about his duties he opened the cooler and we were able to escape. That experience showed us God’s amazing grace and faithfulness in a very real way. A few weeks later in a similar type of hold-up, some of the employees were shot and killed.”

Fortunately, Charles’ life hasn’t always been quite as dramatic. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, where he attended school all the way through college. “I am from a very large family, six brothers and five sisters. We are a very close family. We have annual family gatherings and most of my siblings live near each other.”

Charles was introduced to WCG/GCI through his mother. “She began listening to the radio broadcast and subscribing to the church’s literature in the early 60s. She wanted to join the church, but we didn’t live near a congregation at the time. So my mother had church with my siblings and me at home, using the church’s literature. My mom was my first pastor and she taught me and my siblings to love the Lord. I wanted to be a part of WCG because of what I was taught about God and the church at an early age.”

In the midst of this, Charles met and married Debbie. “I met my wife Debbie while we were in high school. I was a sophomore and she was a freshman. I don’t know if there is such a thing as love at first sight. If not, she was certainly someone that I wanted to spend a whole lot of time with. A year after we met, Debbie and I became high school sweethearts. We were married a year after she graduated from high school. During that time I was in college and I worked for an airline.

Charles and Debby have now been married for 39 years and have two sons, Robert and Michael and five grandchildren. It was after the birth of their two sons that Charles and Debbie started attending church regularly. “The first church service that I attended was the Chicago south-side congregation.” Then in 1982, after a job transfer to Atlanta, Georgia, Charles and Debbie started attending the Atlanta congregation. “Within a couple of years the Atlanta church gave birth to three other churches in the area.”

Charles was ordained a deacon and became a pastor in 1997. “I was given the opportunity to serve as a bi-vocational pastor after completing the ministerial training in Pasadena.” He and Debbie share the ministry together. “My wife is my best friend and greatest prayer warrior. She helps chiefly by praying for me daily. She goes on every visit with me and has since day one. Being an excellent cook, Debbie often prepares meals for our members and non-members as a ministry. Debbie is one of our primary worship leaders and on occasion gives messages. My wife is my biggest cheerleader, counselor and confidant.”

What Charles enjoys most about being a pastor is helping people. “It’s truly amazing to see how God is able to touch people through my life. If I can help people see Jesus Christ through my words and works, to me that’s pretty awesome.” And what he enjoys most about being part of GCI is “the sense of being a part of a large extended family. I’m from a large family and being a part of GCI is like being a part of a huge worldwide family. That sense of family is experienced every time we have church services, district meetings and especially when we have our international conferences.”

Charles shared that his most memorable moment as a pastor was when the congregation “marched into our new church building for our first worship service. We have been blessed with the opportunity to build our own church building. During its construction there were many obstacles we had to overcome. The county, the contractors, the bank, all provided challenges that we had to deal with. At one juncture, it seemed like the church project just wasn’t going to be completed. But God prevailed.

“The day we were finally able to hold our first worship service, the whole church, beginning with our oldest member down to the youngest, all marched into our new building while praising God for the good things he has done.”

Charles gives credit to Al Barr for being a mentor. “Pastor Barr baptized me back in 1979. He was my pastor in two different congregations and my first District Superintendent when I became a pastor. Now he is a retired pastor and member of my congregation. I still look to him for advice and counsel.”

When asked about his passion, Charles gave a similar answer to why he loves to pastor: “Simply helping people come to know and experience the amazing grace and the indescribable love of our Great God.”

When does he feel closest to God? “Solitude is when I feel closest to God. When I’m alone in our church sanctuary kneeling in prayer at the altar, or just sitting alone silently in his presence, that’s when I feel closest to God.”

GCI Generations Ministries (GenMin) administrative leaders met recently in Denver to make plans for the year ahead. Below is a video of a conversation in which some of them discussed why they value GCI, GenMin and camp ministries.

View online at http://youtu.be/gaEYa1TOHPU.

Growing up in the restaurant business, Larry Hinkle learned an important principle: “My mother taught me from her many years of hard work in food service to always tip waitresses well. ‘That’s what put you through college,’ she would tell me.”

Larry grew up in the Chicago area and his mother ran a soda fountain-restaurant at the back of a drug store in Winnetka, Illinois. “I recall one of my first job responsibilities was peeling and cutting potatoes down in the basement of that establishment.”

Love of sports influenced Larry’s choice of college. “My interest in sports ultimately led me to majoring in physical education. I began bowling in junior high school and on through the high school years worked in a bowling alley from where I participated in national tournaments. Although I have come close to bowling a perfect 300 on several occasions, that is still my goal. I also loved playing baseball and basketball and later played college-level baseball. I also developed a love for the Spanish language in high school and went on to minor in that subject in college.

Larry, pastor of GCI congregations in Port St. Lucie and North Broward, Florida, first became interested in the WCG/GCI in 1960. “As a teenager I began to listen to the church’s radio broadcast and was intrigued by the strong admonitions to believe the Bible. I diligently studied the church’s literature including the Correspondence Course.”

It wasn’t until his senior year in college that Larry started attending WCG church services in Louisville, Kentucky. “After graduation from a college in Indiana, I attended Ambassador College in Pasadena for one year. Since I held a teaching license in the Spanish language, the next year an opportunity to teach Spanish at both Imperial High School and Ambassador College was presented to me. In 1968, I became a faculty member in Pasadena and worked in that position for approximately 10 years. In 1976, a Spanish church was started on the Ambassador campus. The experience of serving in that congregation and travelling to serve various Latin American congregations made me aware of a calling to serve in full-time ministry. In 1979, we moved to Puerto Rico to serve in the Caribbean regional office under Stan Bass. From there I was called into full-time pastoral ministry serving various congregations in the New York City area including a Spanish church in Queens.”

In 1990, Larry and family moved to North Carolina where he served three congregations for four years. In 1994, they moved to Florida where Larry has served several congregations and now serves as the district pastor.

Larry and his wife Joanne just celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary. They have two children. “Our daughter, Christi and our three grandchildren, Coty, Warren and Elizabeth live in North Carolina and our son Glen currently lives near Salt Lake City, Utah. Both my wife and my daughter have worked for many years in the field of physical therapy and my son in the area of computer programming.

When asked what he enjoys most about being a pastor, Larry said, “It is the opportunity to be a change-agent in people’s lives, helping them to know God’s love and to learn to enjoy all of his benefits (Psalm 103).”

Larry is excited about GCI. “What I enjoy most about being a part of GCI is witnessing the dynamic changes that God has brought about in our fellowship through our doctrinal understanding of God as Trinity. I see God’s sense of humor in bringing us full circle from a disbelief in his triune nature to fully embracing that reality. In the context of this doctrinal position it is exciting to see and to experience the many new pathways that have been opened up for us to participate in Jesus’ ministry.”

This love of pastoring and love for our understanding of the Trinity has formed Larry’s passion. “My passion is to help people come to know God better and to experience him more fully in their lives. This is the goal and purpose of the ministry that I’ve founded, Odyssey in Christ, Spiritual Formation for Leadership (OdysseyinChrist.com). This ministry continues to grow in scope and provides a way for those hungry for more of God in their lives to be exposed to means through which they can be spiritually filled and satisfied.”

Larry’s most memorable moment as pastor? “What comes to mind is a time when we had been about four years into our denominational changes and some Christian communities were doubtful that our transformation was for real. Upon being introduced to the ministry of the Walk to Emmaus in Florida, the church and I were fully accepted and welcomed with loving and open arms into that community. This experience and our church’s participation in that spiritually-focused fellowship over the past 12 years have been a highlight of my pastoral ministry.”

Asked when he feels closest to God, Larry replied, “I feel closest to God when walking in the morning hours enjoying his presence and peace through the beauty of his creation, and also when offering spiritual direction to individuals and to groups.”