It’s always a joy to learn of baptisms in our congregations around the world. Recently seven people were baptized in New Outlook Christian Fellowship in Attalla, Alabama (pastored by Rannie Childress), and four were baptized in our church in Bogotá, Colombia (pastored by Hector Barrero). The pictures below show some of those baptisms (Alabama in the top row, Colombia in the bottom row). We praise God for this fruit of the gospel in our midst.
As mentioned by Joseph Tkach in his letter in this issue, Pathways of Grace, one of GCI’s congregations near Dallas, Texas, hosted an “Outside the Walls” training event. The video below shows highlights of the community outreach segment of the event.
On YouTube at http://youtu.be/HMf4ahtonbw
In addition to sponsoring camps within the United States, GCI Generations Ministries sponsors short-term mission trips to locations around the globe (see http://www.generationsministries.org/mission-trips.html). Here are reports on two recently completed trips—one to Mexico and one to Colombia.
In June, Crossing Borders mission trips marked its tenth year of conducting mission trips when 19 missionaries from around the U.S. participated in the organization’s 19th mission trip to Mexico (they make two trips each year).
God blessed the group with good weather, safety, great camaraderie and many opportunities to join him as he writes his “epic story” in the lives of each individual he has created. No two years are the same on a Crossing Borders trip. The leaders communicate in advance with ministry partners in Mexico, asking, “What can we help you with this trip?” The goal is to be a blessing by supporting the on-the-ground ministries of these partners.
These partners request various kinds of assistance: teaching VBS classes, fixing broken items, helping with outreach events, preaching, providing food, etc. Almost all the requests on this trip were for repair and construction projects. As the trip planning team considered how to fulfill the requests, God was sending applicants with great construction skills.
Though the missionaries preached, played with children, fed the needy and conducted other outreach activities, their main focus was to build a large shade shelter for a church, hanging new ceiling fans and doing a major bathroom remodel in a children’s home, repairing a refrigerator, mowing grass, painting two houses and more. The group also conducted an all-day Fiesta at a children’s home with face-painting, games, balloon animals, Bible lesson, squirt guns (a big hit!), two meals and a piñata filled with candy.
The next Crossing Borders trip to Mexico is scheduled for December 11-14, 2015. For more information and an application form, go to www.cbmission.org or phone 903-746-4463.
As reported last week, a group from the U.S. (pictured below with trip coordinator Janet Morrison at left) traveled in June to Barranquilla, Colombia to work alongside the GCI church there. The missionaries hosted a Vacation Bible School for children 5–12 years old. One requirement for the trip was that participants have had at least three years of Spanish in high school or grew up speaking the language.
Seventy children attended the VBS, with about 22 people serving as staff, including the 10 from the U.S. The theme for the VBS was the “I am” statements of Jesus: I am the Good shepherd, I am the Bread of Life, I am the Resurrection, I am the Light, I am the Way the Truth and the Life. Each day included a Bible story, crafts and games to match the theme. The children loved the VBS and at dismissal each day would excitedly tell their parents what they had done and show their craft.
On the Sunday following the VBS the children and their parents were invited to church. The Barranquilla, Colombia church usually has about 70 in attendance but this Sunday it had 170 (including 51 children). Hector Barrero, pastor of the Bogotá church and GCI’s mission developer for Latin America, gave the sermon. The children enjoyed an age-appropriate class and made a craft. Here are comments about the VBS:
This report is from GCI pastor Karl Reinagel, who pastors a GCI congregation in St. Louis, Missouri.
Our congregation recently hosted an Experiencing the Trinity retreat that was conducted by a team from Odyssey in Christ. Several of our local members attended along with GCI members from Colorado, Illinois and New York.
Experiencing the Trinity is designed as an opportunity to enjoy the presence of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The retreat was run on “Kairos time.” Watches and electronics were banned, allowing one to simply sit in God’s presence without the distractions of email, phone calls and worries of getting to the next scheduled event. To help enter Kairos time, the retreat started with a night of silence. One participant said, “That night was a great way to refocus the mind from our lives, ministries and the people around us and to focus in on God alone.”
A theme of the retreat was: it is okay for your prayer time to “accomplish” nothing. “Few things are better than to ‘waste time’ with God,” Bill Wells from the Odyssey in Christ team said in his presentation. Throughout the retreat, the theme of unwinding and relaxing in God, experiencing him and being experienced by him, was prevalent.
Many of the local members who attended said they received encouragement and strengthening by having a time set aside just to sit in God’s presence and talk with him, fulfilling Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:14-16, “That out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith.” There is a time to accomplish tasks, but we also need time to be with God as a child sitting in the lap of their Father.
Each day during the retreat we went through different spiritual rhythms and prayers. It was meaningful to us that the day we focused on the ministry of the Spirit was very windy and fell on Pentecost. It was a perfect ending to a weekend filled with experiencing our triune God and enjoying the fellowship of other believers. We look forward to another Odyssey in Christ retreat in 2016.
Nine young missionaries from the U.S. on a short-term mission trip to Colombia (led by Generations Ministries missions leader Janet Morrison), recently teamed up with twelve volunteers from GCI’s congregation in Barranquilla, Colombia (pastored by Sonia Orozco) and young adults from a local college to conduct a camp for 70 community children age five to twelve. Camp activities included songs, games and crafts. The children were enthusiastic and eager to participate in the camp, which lasted for five days. Here are some pictures:
GCI’s congregation in Big Sandy, Texas, recently conducted a Vacation Bible School (VBS). Here is a report from Sarah Strub, who serves as a youth ministry leader in the congregation.
Our recent VBS was a great success, due largely to our emphasis on including the youth in mission projects in the community.
During the first two nights, we worked at Love Big Sandy, sorting and organizing food supplies. We filled 30 food boxes for families who requested food assistance for school-age children during the summer. Five teens from our congregation participated, as well as other area teens and several adults.
The last night, we went to the home of an elderly couple in the community. The husband had served for many years as superintendent of Big Sandy schools. Now elderly, he can’t do much yard work and so our group of four teens and two adults spent two hours raking, cutting brush, weed-eating, etc. His yard now looks fabulous!
Overall, our community service projects as part of the VBS benefited 31 families! We shared a lot of God’s love with Big Sandy. The teens were great workers and we were glad to include them in serving others in Jesus’ name.
GCI-Australia recently held a conference for pastors followed by a national conference. Here is a report from GCI-Australia national director John McLean.
We were blessed by two wonderful, positive, joy and love-filled conferences on the Gold Coast. Over 50 pastors and their spouses gathered for the first one on Friday, June 12. Then on Saturday and Sunday, June 13-14, the group grew to over 200 as we held our national conference. Both were great learning opportunities, occasions for connection and re-connection, and a vital spiritual boost to all who attended.
The theme of the national conference, A Flourishing Life, focused attention on the nature of God and our union with Christ, and what that means for a truly flourishing human life. I began the conference with these words:
Since the divine reality is that God is love, human flourishing is about participating in that lavish love and grace, and sharing this with others. We live well and flourish best when we find joy loving God who loves us and loving our neighbors in him. In this way the Christian faith has much to contribute to the common good, and to the flourishing of individuals, groups, communities and nations.
The fellowship of the Spirit was powerfully evident in the love, peace, unity and grace experienced by those attending. Joseph Tkach presented an “International Family Update,” which included exciting reports of a large number of churches seeking GCI affiliation. Dr. Tkach also gave a session entitled “God is Love.” He also introduced communion at the end of the conference. Gary Deddo spoke on “Union with Christ,” “Life in the Spirit” and “Faith, Hope and Love.” Guest speaker Keith Farmer spoke on “Flourishing as a Christian,” and Cathy Deddo gave a session on “Living and Growing in Christ,” along with several elective sessions.
Many commented on how much they learned and some told how life-changing the conference had been. Everyone was inspired and encouraged by Dr. Tkach’s talk about the wonderful and surprising things happening in our denomination around the world. Following the conference Dr. Tkach made this comment:
I very much enjoyed taking part. Gary and Cathy Deddo, and Charles Albrecht accompanied me. In addition to those attending from all around Australia, a wonderful dimension to the conference was the participation of brothers and sisters from Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand, Nauru, India, Malaysia and the Philippines. We truly are an international communion of grace.
Charles Albrecht, from our denominational home office in Glendora said, “I was genuinely inspired to see how God is working through our pastors and members in Australia.” Rex Morgan, from New Zealand, said, “In addition to the inspiration gained through the excellent messages, the conference was a great opportunity for fellowshipping with old friends from around the region, and developing new friendships.”
Dr. Deddo enthusiastically endorsed the conference, commenting how valuable it was and how important it was to keep doing conferences like this. Dr. Farmer said that the theme, A Flourishing Life, was one of the most important themes the Australian Christian Church could focus on, in terms of mission.
Here are reports on recently held GCI youth camps.
Great Lakes Camps is the newest of the Generations Ministries U.S. camps. Their inaugural session was held this month with 21 campers (four who are unchurched) and nine staff members. Activities included a hayride, fireside chat, high ropes course, ziplines across a lake, climbing tower, swimming, boating, a blob on the lake and Christian living classes. The praise band was made up of teens with some staff members in support. Teaching in camp chapels utilized an abridged form of the GenMin Epic Story curriculum. Here is a video with camp highlights (on YouTube at https://youtu.be/gcJg5XQY7mM):
GCI in Colombia, South America recently held a youth camp near Bogotá. The theme, Arraigados en Su Amor (Rooted in His Love), was nspired by the GenMin camp curriculum from 2012. There were 41 in attendance from Bogotá and one from Venezuela. The camp featured worship and prayer along with many activities and workshops. For a video of the camp in session, click here.
Grace Communion Seminary (GCS) is pleased to announce the installation of Dr. Gary Deddo as its new president. Dr. Deddo was installed by outgoing president Dr. Russel Duke. Below are videos of the installation ceremony held at the GCI home office in Glendora, California (the first has highlights, the second shows the full ceremony).
On YouTube at https://youtu.be/l5TxjGgqaXM.
This report is from Sondra Peters, co-director of Camp Oasis.
On a beautiful (and hot) Saturday, June 6, Grace Fellowship hosted our second Camp Oasis afternoon of fun for children in Summit Heights, a public housing area only a few blocks from our church in Clarksville, Tennessee. Our 22 volunteer staff members spent the afternoon with 23 campers (plus a couple parents) playing games, gospel face painting, and staying cool with brain freeze (water balloon game) and popsicles. A local agency, Tender Paws, stopped by for a visit with two therapy dogs. We ended the afternoon with a short message from the book of John, a time of prayer, and then sent the campers home with some treats, a Grace Fellowship water bottle, and info about Good News Clubs during the school year.
We offer the camp to children age 4-12, though we allow younger children to come (with an adult present) and we don’t turn away older youth if they want to participate.
One older youth came just before we were starting and began talking with a few of our volunteers. He told them he is Wiccan and described some health and spiritual issues that he has dealt with lately. He was skeptical about staying if all we played was Christian music, but after talking with our volunteers he decided to stay. He participated in most of the activities and as he left he asked for our website address because he wanted to list it as a site he likes.
Some of our volunteers will follow up by visiting this young man. We see camp as the beginning of an opportunity to show our campers that we care about them and that God loves them.
Our relationship with The Clarksville Housing Authority and other community organizations has led to more opportunities to serve in our community. Grace Fellowship will continue to work in the Summit Heights area helping children practice their reading over the summer. Several members are involved with Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) through their Good News Clubs after school. We also partner with a local elementary school as tutors to students in need in various classrooms. It has been a joy to see the overlap with some of the organizations and our Camp Oasis outreach.
This report is from Michael Rasmussen, director of CrossWalk Camp.
We just concluded our 27th Crosswalk Camp and walked away deeply grateful for all God has allowed us to do at his side through the years. This was the first camp session totally planned and led by our young adults. Months of planning went into coming up with a theme (#Selfie), putting together skits, determining worship, assigning ministry breakouts, creating team building, etc. All of this work was designed to carry out the camp theme while bathing our kids in God’s unconditional love. They did a wonderful job!
We were blessed with 95 campers in our Junior Camp, Senior Camp and Mini-Camp; 29 were first time campers! We had 76 staff members with 8 joining us for the first time.
For the first time in 15 years, we had to send one of our campers home for behavior issues. I was so proud of our staff in the way they lovingly handled the situation. It was made abundantly clear to this individual that we loved them and all were glad God had brought them to camp and we definitely wanted them to come back next camp, but the rules and boundaries would be the same. We were reminded as we reach inner city, unchurched and hurting youth, it’s going to get messy. Many youth struggle when they encounter God’s unconditional love and acceptance for the first time.
One of our staff members, who is a middle school teacher, brought 14 youth from her school to camp. She not only invited them, but helped them raise the funds for camp and arranged transportation to camp. She is impacting these young people in a wonderful way. Another staff member had been intentionally reaching out within her neighborhood—opening her house to children within her neighborhood and sharing the love of God in a tangible ways. Because of this ministry, she was able to bring eight pre-teens with her to camp. Through this ministry, these women are investing in the lives of young people both at camp and back home throughout the year.
This report is from SEP Florida director Marty Davey.
2015 was our 20th year of having a youth camp in Florida. We had our largest turnout ever (most are pictured below): 71 campers (including 26 first-timers) and 30 staff members. The weather was excellent, and so was the lakefront setting at beautiful Camp Shalom in Orange Springs, Florida.
Camp activities included swimming, canoeing, a water park outing, basketball (with a workshop from a professional women’s basketball player), football, soccer, volleyball, games, arts & crafts, music and drama, a dance, Christian living discussions, and daily chapel. The theme and curriculum were built around God’s “Epic Story.” It was a time of drawing closer to Jesus, coming to understand better his part in our life stories, and our part in the Triune God’s epic story, which includes all humanity.
