Greg Williams, director of GCI-USA Church Administration and Development, recently visited the Hildebran, North Carolina church where he commissioned Paul David (PD) Kurts as one of six U.S. regional pastors.
PD, who had been serving as the lead pastor of the Hildebran congregation and assistant regional pastor in the U.S. eastern region, will now, along with his wife Emma Lee Kurts, be focusing his ministry on pastoring the lead pastors and pastoral teams who serve the congregations in the GCI-USA Mid-Atlantic region. The Hildebran congregation is now being served by a pastoral team made up of elders and ministry leaders.
In addition to commissioning PD (see picture), Greg preached a sermon from Ephesians 4 in which he encouraged the congregation to promote unity by walking in step with the Holy Spirit. He challenged PD to do the same in serving his region.
According to Frans Danenberg (national director of GCI in the Netherlands), GCI’s congregation in Friesland is rejoicing in the baptism of two young adult members, Bubasha Nyembo and Zawadi Aksante Magendane. They were baptized in a swimming pool in the home town of the congregation’s pastor, Matendo Makoti. The congregation was established (planted) two years ago.
Grace Communion International is a member of several national evangelical alliances around the world. In the U.S. we’re members of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) and Joseph Tkach serves on the NAE board. In the UK we are members of the Evangelical Alliance (EA); the brother-in-law of one of our pastors served as EA president.
In the Philippines, GCI is a member of the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC) and its missions arm, the Philippine Missions Association (PMA). Two of our GCI-Philippines national leaders (Eugene Guzon and Rey Taniajura) are close friends of Bishop Efraim Tendero who leads the PCEC and PMA (Rey formerly served as PMA director and now is a PMA board member).
Bishop Tendero (pictured at fight) will be leaving his PCEC/PMA responsibilities soon to serve as Secretary General of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), which represents more than 600 million evangelicals around the world. “I am humbled by the trust that is given to me to be the leader of Evangelicals around the world,” Tendero said in a statement released by WEA. “This is an enormous task and I put my whole trust and confidence in the Almighty God who called me into this ministry, believing that he will provide the wisdom, favor, and grace needed in carrying out this solemn responsibility.”
This update is a praise report from Dustin Lampe, lead pastor of GCI’s Cincinnati, West congregation (Christ Fellowship Church).
Dustin and Rachel Lampe
For years, Christ Fellowship Church (CFC) has met in a rented facility tucked in the woods on the west side of Cincinnati. A new day dawned this past June when we were asked by the owner of a building in which another church formerly met to take over ownership. The building is in a highly visible location on a main road. The prospect of owning it seemed exciting—some might say, “Too good to be true.” And so we took our time and had a period of prayer as we decided as a church whether this was an opening that God was calling us to. Ultimately, it became clear that his answer for us was “Yes!”
Moving into the building brought many blessings, including several new members—some from the church that met there before, and some who just dropped in. But the move also brought challenges—owning a building is more expensive and demanding than renting. But throughout, our main question, instead of, “What are the costs?” has been, “What is the call?” We have decided as a church to go forward in faith. Our common refrain now is, “For all that is behind us, thanks. For all that is before us, yes.”
The people we “inherited” from the church that formerly met in the building came to us spiritually wounded. Their congregation had become badly divided and decided to no longer meet due to diminishing attendance and leader conflicts. The wounds ran deep, and some had a hard time trusting us and decided not to become a part of our congregation. But several decided to join. We had gained their trust.
In January, we decided to offer a new members’ class to provide information and answer questions. We held three sessions, covering doctrine, denomination and worship. None of these topics were new for these people, but the classes gave us opportunity to go into greater depth on these subjects and learn what they were struggling with in particular. Though there is not perfect agreement and consensus on all matters among those who joined us, it is evident that God is bringing people to our church who feel led here. Because our new guests value that they are loved and accepted by us, they are able to handle some of the things they might not fully understand.
Not all who attended the membership class decided to become CFC members. Some are still thinking about it. But as it turned out, on the first Sunday in February, ten people from the former church and eleven who have come to us otherwise (most are pictured below), decided to make a commitment to become members of our congregation and of GCI!
To commemorate the new members joining, we held a celebration worship service. We spoke about each of the new members and how we are glad to have them as part of us. Each of our elders stood up and gave a word of welcome and encouragement. Then near the end of the service I handed each new member a membership certificate (pictured at right) and gave them words of welcome to our church family.
The most powerful moment occurred at the end of the service when all of CFC’s members stood up and formed a tunnel (see picture below). The new members then walked through the tunnel and were welcomed warmly by the existing members. It was a beautiful picture of what the Holy Spirit loves to do: bring people together in the name of Christ!
One of our newest members testified, “God has led me to CFC, here to this building, for his purpose and he has led me back here to caring souls and loving arms and to this place where I have found true joy. Thanks be to God!” And to that, as a relatively new member in GCI myself, I say ditto!
Note: for a previous Weekly Update article about Dustin and his congregation, click here.
GCI recently held a leaders’ conference in San Salvador, El Salvador. Led by regional director Hector Barrero, the conference included members from churches in El Salvador and Honduras. The main topics addressed were the work of a pastor and building a healthy church (based on Acts 2). During the conference, David Agreda was ordained to serve as a pastor.
In 2015, instead of regional conferences, GCI is hosting retreats for senior pastors (and equivalent, with their spouses) in various locations within the six U.S. regions. The first of these retreats was held recently in Southern California. Here is a report from Pastor Glen Weber, who hosted and facilitated the retreat on behalf of Regional Pastor Lorenzo Arroyo.
The retreat group, which represented 15 congregations in the southern part of the Western Region, met at the Holy Spirit Retreat Center in Encino, California. The retreat provided refreshment and inspiration with a focus on prayer and worship. The only “agenda” for the event was to listen together to the Spirit as we walked together through Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. That focus led us to worshiping our triune God, who has predestined us to a relationship with himself in Christ. It also led us to a deeper appreciation for our call to ministry with Jesus and thankfulness for those who minister with us, including our many bi-vocational pastors.
Most left the retreat asking that we hold events like this again. One pastor stated, “An old friend came up to me during the retreat and said he felt born again a second time.” Another wrote, “The retreat was thoroughly enjoyable! Time spent praying for one another, praising God with music and prayer, time together over meals—an opportunity to get to know one another better. It was refreshing. Thank you!!” Another wrote, “Coming together in open, honest prayer about where we are in ministry and life, gave way to a great sense of unity. It also provided time to realize just how much we are to trust the Lord for our (his) ministries and churches.”
One of the participants who is new to GCI said, “I think the most insightful thing for me was the time we broke into groups and shared our testimonies. I learned a lot by listening to the stories of believers who left legalism for true liberty. Since then I have watched the film, “Called to be Free.” What a remarkable story of God’s deliverance of and love for a group of people who once had it so wrong.”
Greg Williams, the new director of Church Administration and Development USA, attended the retreat. He announced that the current plan is to hold regional conferences like those in past years again in 2016, and then a single international conference in 2017.
February in the United States is Black History Month. The background is helpfully explained in an interview with GCI elder Curtis May at https://www.gci.org/history/bhmonth.
Snowblast 2015 was held recently in Minnesota. This intergenerational winter camping event has been a GCI tradition for nearly 20 years.
About 60 people participated this year. The primary organizers were from the Fargo/Moorhead church. Activities included ice fishing, pottery, knitting, model rubber-band airplane making, hiking, ice skating, games and some indoor sports. The cold dark evenings were brightened by popcorn, snacks and movies in the warmth of Lakeview Lodge.
By using an auger to drill a hole in the three-foot-thick ice, and erecting a canvas ice fishing shack for shelter (see picture below), the group was able to enjoy excellent fishing—62 fish were caught: 2 bass, 40 sunfish, 15 crappies and 5 northern pike.
The event included times of worship with messages about God’s love from Tom Kennebeck, Betty Johannsen and Troy Meisner. Doug Johannsen and Becky Deuel gave interactive devotionals.
The GCI home office recently hosted several new pastors and their spouses for New Pastors’ Orientation. The conference, which was facilitated by Church Administration and Development (CAD), had a two-fold purpose: to share ministry tools and information and to provide an environment that would nurture mutual love, support and respect. An immediate bond of love developed among participants (pictured below) as the group experienced God’s presence in prayer, worship and meals.
Topics addressed during the conference included church history, participation in the mission of God, reading and interpreting Scripture with trinitarian eyes, a pastor’s ministry, preaching and pastoral counseling. Home office staff from IT, Media and the Treasurer’s Office presented helpful practices and shared ministry vision and goals. GCI President, Joseph Tkach, ended the gathering by commissioning the new pastors and leading communion. He reminded the group of the privilege we have to labor together in the shadows of the triune, loving God.
Two conference participants received special recognition. Dan Rogers, one of the instructors, was honored on the occasion of his retirement as CAD director. Mike Rasmussen, who accompanied several new pastors to the event, was commissioned as a regional pastor (see picture at left). Mike will continue to pastor the GCI church in Oklahoma City while serving the pastors and churches of the U.S. south-central region.
Many event participants commented that they felt a renewed sense of hope and courage, now viewing challenges in their ministries as opportunities to share the abundant love of Jesus. In a survey to receive feedback, one of the questions asked was, “What are your greatest take-aways?” Here are a few of the most frequent responses:
God loves me. God is love. His love is constant.
Sense of community. I’m not alone. We all work together for a common goal. Network.
There is a huge support system and encouragement base.
Being free to go and do what God has called me to do.
It is with humble hearts that we thank our congregations for their generous support as we partner in ministry.
We look to the future with excitement and anticipation.
PD, who had been serving as the lead pastor of the Hildebran congregation and assistant regional pastor in the U.S. eastern region, will now, along with his wife Emma Lee Kurts, be focusing his ministry on pastoring the lead pastors and pastoral teams who serve the congregations in the GCI-USA Mid-Atlantic region. The Hildebran congregation is now being served by a pastoral team made up of elders and ministry leaders.
