Category: Stay Connected

In 2015, GCI-USA is hosting retreats for lead pastors (and equivalent leaders) and their spouses. Doing so aligns with a primary goal Greg Williams (director of GCI-USA Church Administration and Development) set for the year—to facilitate closer relationships between pastors, and between pastors and denominational leaders, as the new regional structure is implemented.

Four pastors’ retreats have been held so far this year. The first was in Southern California (click here for a report) and three were held recently near Salem, Oregon; Shreveport, Louisiana; and Atlanta, Georgia. Each retreat focused on worship (prayer and singing), reflection on scripture, discussion and fellowship at meals along with relaxed conversation and solitude in the beauty of the retreat site.

Salem

The retreat near Salem, attended by 28 leaders from several Northwest states, was hosted and led by NW associate regional pastor Tim Sitterley. It was held at a Christian retreat center in the Cascade Mountain where GCI has held prayer retreats for 15 years running. One of the center’s leaders joined the group for opening worship and noted that he and his family had been praying for GCI long before GCI began meeting there 15 years ago. As a reminder that pastors run the risk of becoming ministerial “hat racks,” each participant came to Friday worship wearing a hat (see picture above). During prayer they removed the hats, symbolically setting down their titles and responsibilities for the duration of the retreat. Encouraged by prayer for each participant (see picture below), and guided by the words of Ephesians 4, the group picked up their hats on Sunday and headed back to their pastorates.

One of the highlights of the retreat was a ceremony in which Greg Williams commissioned Tim Sitterley as associate regional pastor (serving with regional pastor Lorenzo Arroyo)—see picture below.

Shreveport

The retreat near Shreveport was held at a Baptist camp and retreat center. Attended by 20 leaders from Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas, the retreat was hosted by pastor Lee Berger and his wife Sue and led by regional pastor Ted Johnston. Time was devoted to getting to know one another since those attending formerly gathered in different districts. A highlight was the ordination of Kathy Houston as an elder (see picture at right). Kathy pastors the GCI church in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. She led the group in an “ice-breaker” discussion that was followed by a time of intimate sharing and prayer in small and large groups in which connections were made, friendships renewed, encouragement given and helpful advice shared (see pictures below). An emphasis that arose in the discussions was summarized by discussion leader, pastor Mike Booze, as “putting the communion back into Grace Communion International.”

Atlanta

The retreat near Atlanta was held at a Presbyterian camp and retreat center. Attended by 25 leaders from Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee, the retreat was hosted by pastor Dennis Wheatcroft and his wife Sidni and led by regional pastor Ted Johnston. One of many highlights at the retreat was a discussion about rallying as a family of churches in support of pastor Rannie Childress who recently left his career with the State of Alabama to focus more of his time on developing the newly planted GCI church that he now pastors in Attalla, Alabama.

Comments

Here are representative comments from Salem-area retreat participants:

The prayers of blessing and encouragement we offered for one another and for other local churches capped the retreat wonderfully for me. It was three hours of divine communion with our Lord and with each other. During our time of prayer, the Spirit inspired me with these words, “Lord, open our minds that we can contemplate on your wonders and mysteries. Open our eyes that we can see that the fields are ripe for harvest. Open our mouths that we can praise you and proclaim the gospel. Open our hearts that we can love unconditionally. Open our arms that we can embrace all kinds of people.” – Dee Bulante

It was wonderful to become better acquainted with our fellow elders and to make new friendships. I used to feel intimidated around ministers, now they are all my friends and always show care and concern for individual members. Praise God for His grace and Love. – Jim Harries

I am still floating and full of the Spirit and treasuring every minute of it…what a blessing. – Anne Gillam

I enjoyed the fellowship, prayers and the worship more than I can explain. I wish we could have this kind of meeting every week. – Dan Winger

GCI’s congregation in Barranquilla, Colombia, which is pastored by Sonia Orozco, recently held its annual conference in the city of Santa Marta. The conference was attended by 59 adults (including three from the Bogotá church) and 8 children (see the group picture at right).

Guest speakers were Héctor and Paulina Barrero. Hector is GCI’s mission director for Latin America. The main topic addressed during the conference revolved around the question: What is prophecy?

During the conference, Jairo Florez and Paulo Offshore were commissioned as deacons to serve the Barranquilla congregation. Also Barranquilla members Nestor and Giselly Carreño renewed their wedding vows.

GCI youth ministry leaders from throughout the Caribbean met recently in Nassau, Bahamas to discuss youth ministry strategy. The 25 participants represented GCI churches in Trinidad, Martinique, Haiti and the Bahamas.

Guest speakers at the event were Anthony Mullins (GCI-USA Generations Ministries national coordinator, at left in the picture at right) and Charles Albrecht (GCI-USA Church Administration and Development assistant director, in the center in the picture at right).

Among other agenda items, the group worked to establish a “community of practice” that will focus together on how best to serve GCI’s Caribbean youth and reach out with God’s love to the children and communities of the Caribbean Islands.

At the event, a worship service was held with about 100 people attending. During the service, Charles Albrecht presented Robert and Nathania McKinney with a plaque and watches to thank them for 25 years of full-time employment in GCI pastoral ministry (see picture at right). The pastoral leaders present laid hands on the McKinneys, offering a prayer of thanksgiving and a request for the Spirit’s continued guidance. (Robert currently serves as the senior pastor of GCI’s church in the Bahamas—for a previous Update article about Robert and Nathania, click here.)

Tammy Tkach recently visited GCI’s congregation in Tucson, Arizona, which is pastored by Ted Millhuff and Tom Landess. Tammy gave a sermon entitled, “What God’s love really means to you.” A potluck meal was shared following the service. Members of the congregation thanked Tammy for her visit, which she has made annually for several years.

GCI in the Philippines recently conducted training for the men and women who direct their youth camps. For details, go to http://my.gci.ph/gci-youth-camp-directors-training-held-in-cebu/.

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).

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.