Category: Stay Connected

Last December, GCI South Africa held a youth camp attended by 42 children, 57 teens, 26 young adults and 58 staff members. Camp activities included worship, Christian Living classes, outdoor sports, dancing, life skills, crafts and camp improvement.

Cycling, the newest camp activity, was widely enjoyed. Many campers, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, had never learned to ride a bicycle before.

The camp theme, Connected, proclaimed the reality that we always are connected to God, and in that connection we are connected to each other. The theme was preached and explained in morning worship sessions and included in all camp activities. The theme came to a conclusion in a full church service on the last day of camp. The service included the Lord’s Supper led by camp chaplain, Timothy Maguire. During camp, two youth committed their lives to Christ and were baptized.

Thanks to the generosity of congregations and the mission fund in GCI Canada, many of the disadvantaged campers were fully sponsored in attending.

Jannice May, president of Connecting and Bonding, hosted the annual Lexington, Kentucky conference for pastor’s and minister’s wives on March 13-15. Women came from various parts of the country to enjoy the time together.

Jan Taylor kicked off the conference with a devotional showing how much God loves us. Keysha Taylor led the group to “the heavenly places” in worship. Powerful, heartfelt messages were given by Leslie Howard, Alma Smith, Doreen Ray, and Leigh Sniffen. A concert of praise was given by Edna Barr, Tamar Gray and Keysha Taylor. The group also heard an audio-taped message from Naomi Beard, who, over the years, has served as a valued mentor to the group. Little did they know that this would be Naomi’s last message—she died of a heart attack just a few weeks ago.

Jannice honored the wives of retired pastors for their many years of service to the church. These women truly are a gold mine of godly wisdom. The group ate, sang, laughed, cried, prayed and played together. They left feeling pampered and loved with “full cups and full hearts,” ready to face the joys and challenges of participating in ministry with Jesus.

In the video below, GCI Intern Program coordinator Jeff McSwain invites candidates to apply for an internship. Your assistance in getting this information to potential candidates is much appreciated. Also note related resources at https://www.gci.org/internprogram.

View on YouTube at https://youtu.be/26tw–SY-VM

A special celebration took place on March 15 when Brian Smith was ordained as an elder in our Coulsdon Community Church in south London. James Henderson (GCI national director in the U.K.) performed the ordination ceremony, assisted by David Silcox, Hilary Buck, Annette Woods and Anthony Dady. Congratulations to Brian and to the congregation he serves.

The island of Vanuatu in the South Pacific recently was devastated by a powerful cyclone. GCI has members there—here are two reports:

From Rod Matthews (GCI mission developer in the South Pacific):

A very severe cyclone hit the island nation of Vanuatu doing great damage to a number of islands including the capital Port Vila. We have a couple of members in Port Vila and have been in contact with one who is OK and no contact with others yet. Due to disruption to communications, there has been no contact possible with members on islands to the north of Efate where Port Vila is located, including Malekula where our congregation is located and Santo where elder William Davies lives.

From Rex Morgan (GCI pastor in New Zealand):

We have heard that William’s son John Davies (who manages the power station in Port Vila) is fine and his property is largely unscathed. Clearly he has his work cut out for him as he leads the struggle to restore the power supply. We have not yet been able to contact William who lives in Santo, or our members in Rory, Malekula. Even the Vanuatu government authorities in Port Vila don’t yet know what has happened in Malekula and the other outlying islands, as power supplies and phone lines are down, and even air reconnaissance is prevented because aircraft in Port Vila have been destroyed, and the airport is closed to all but military aircraft, which are now beginning to bring in relief supplies from New Zealand and Australia.

As it happens, Isei and Va Colati [Fijian pastor and wife] are scheduled to fly from Fiji to Vanuatu on March 29 to spend a week with the Rory church. It now looks like this trip could be well timed to support and encourage the members there, as well as to assess damage and provide necessary help.

Note: At this time we do not know if the members in Vanuatu need financial assistance. We will let you know if that is the case, and ask at that time for donations to the GCI Disaster Relief Fund.

GCI in the Philippines recently hosted Odyssey in Christ retreats in two locations. Here are links to reports:

• http://my.gci.ph/gci-luzon-leadership-conference-odyssey-in-christ-retreat/
• http://my.gci.ph/gci-visayas-mindanao-leadership-conference-retreat/

JWM in SoCal

The last issue of Weekly Update reported on a Journey with the Master (JWM) event held recently in Southern California. In the video update below, GCI-USA CAD director Greg Williams shares testimonies from teens and young adults who participated in that event.

Watch on YouTube at http://youtu.be/3n5Vs6c4XPs.

JWM in the Northwest

Though it was football playoff time in Seahawk territory, several young adults from GCI’s Christian Family Fellowship church (in Kenmore, Washington) gathered on the weekend of January 16 for their fourth Journey with the Master retreat with GenMin national coordinator Anthony Mullins, and the congregation’s pastor Wayne Mitchell and his wife Patty. The group (pictured at right) embarked on a discussion about their own stories and the kind of stories they want to live in the future. Inspired by the book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: How I Learned to Live a Better Story by Donald Miller (author of Blue Like Jazz), the group talked about what makes an epic story and how our Creator is the ultimate author of our stories.

The group was strengthened and encouraged by this opportunity to reflect both individually and collectively on their lives as servants. Though they are in the beginning phase of their lives, the next chapters are being written. The weekend was a great time to explore those stories, to reconnect, to take walks in or between downpours, to eat lots of food, to solve a small “coffee crisis,” to play games and to take communion together. Anthony good-naturedly joined the young adults in watching their beloved Seahawks in a playoff game against the Packers. It was a win/win weekend in the Pacific Northwest!

Hands for Christ Community Church (HC3), is GCI’s newly planted church primarily for deaf people in Staten Island, New York. Under the leadership of church planter and lead pastor Mary Bacheller, the congregation continues on a pathway of growth and development.

Recently, Mary commissioned four new HC3 ministry leaders (see group picture below). Joyce Coletti (pictured above left, being commissioned by Mary with regional pastor Randy Bloom assisting), Louis D’Amico (pictured above right), and Marjorie D’Arrigo were all commissioned to serve in HC3’s communion ministry. Christina Trunzo-Mosleh was commissioned to serve in the voice interpreting ministry—HC3’s worship services are conducted in American Sign Language (ASL), with interpretation provided for the hearing.

Here are links to updates concerning a single’s event and reopening of a church in GCI-Philippines:

• http://my.gci.ph/gci-dgf-youths-singles-activity-on-valentines-day/
• http://my.gci.ph/gci-valencia-reopened/

New Hope Christian Fellowship in Eagle Rock, California, recently hosted a Journey with the Master weekend attended by about 50 churched and unchurched teens and young adults, along with a score of older adults. The focus was to discover and deeply understand one’s identity in Christ.

Anthony Mullins, national coordinator of GCI Generations Ministries (GenMin), led the weekend using a guide for the first part of the four-part Journey with the Master, entitled “Epic Story.” Through a variety of speakers together with videos, conversation, games and testimonials, participants were helped to hear and reflect on what Anthony referred to as “the mind-boggling [epic] story that God is telling us.”

On the second day, everyone was invited to take a relationship styles assessment based on the book The Platinum Rule. The assessment shows not just what makes a person “tick,” but how they relate to others—helping them understand how God places each of us in the body of Christ to complement and work together. Along the way there was plenty of food, fellowship, and fun.

Many said they can hardly wait for the next part of the Journey! The older adults who attended were greatly encouraged by the variety and commitment of the youth who participated.