Category: Stay Connected

Ranaeil Thompson (pictured at right) is a member of GCI’s church in Kingston, Jamaica. He is a youth group leader and member of the praise team.

Recently Ranaeil’s story was featured in a local newspaper. The article highlighted Ranaeil’s aspirations to become an architect.

Also recently, the church awarded Ranaeil the first-ever Edalere Scholarship to help cover his high school expenses. The scholarship was set up as a tribute to the late Lateef Edalere who pastored the Kingston congregation for many years.

At the recent GCI-USA regional conference in Chicago, recognition was given to Roger and Donna Abels for their many years of service in GCI pastoral ministry. Roger is retiring from GCI employment this coming summer. He currently serves as senior pastor of GCI’s congregation in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Below is a picture of Joseph Tkach honoring the Abels. Thanks Roger and Donna!

These updates are from GCI mission director Rod Matthews.

India: reaching out to children

GCI has two churches in India—one in Hyderabad pastored by Dan Zachariah and one in Bangalore pastored by Joe D’Costa. I visited both recently with GCI-USA district pastor Rick Shallenberger, who was representing GCI president Joseph Tkach. Both churches have a special focus on reaching out to underprivileged children.

The Hyderabad church provides spiritual and material support to the Asha Kiran Home for Girls. The parents of the girls housed there are unable to care for them due to incarceration. The Sisters who run the home are always delighted to receive visitors, and the children love to sing and dance.

In Hyderabad, Mary Zachariah directs the Faust School. The children there contribute in various ways to the Asha Kiran home. In addition, there is a growing relationship between the Hyderabad church and Shining Stars (pictured at left), an after-school-hours center where children receive personalized academic attention.

Some years ago, as an unexpected gift, the Bangalore congregation welcomed a new member, Dr. Piria Suntharam. He brought with him the Susanna Children’s Home (pictured at right), which he had founded in a rural area of the state of Tamil Nadu to care for children with no parents or whose parents are unable to care for them. Dr. Suntharam continues to face serious hurdles in developing the home, including government regulations and lack of staff. He would appreciate your prayers.

In Bangalore, we visited the Shristi Special Academy (pictured at left), a facility that is focused on educating and developing children with mental disabilities. Many of these children suffer from autism and remarkable results are being achieved. Parents benefit immensely from the support of the academy in helping their “special” child become fully integrated, accepted and valued. The Bangalore congregation is exploring possibilities of being more involved in supporting this remarkable facility.

Nepal: Deben’s Vision

Deben Sam, GCI’s mission partner in Nepal, has leased land and built a new church facility, bought land (pictured at right) for an orphanage, and conducted the first “Mobile Bible School” operating in rural Nepal villages.

Deben also runs the Himalayan Bible School (HiBiS) pictured at left in Kathmandu. It serves young men and women selected from the Mobile Bible School classes who show potential and passion for spreading the gospel. HiBiS consists of three months of classes followed by nine months of practical work, during which the students return home to conduct meetings, evangelize and teach. At the end of that time, they are assessed and, if confirmed by the local church, offered full-time missionary positions. When such appointments occur, funding becomes necessary. To help meet the need, Deben has established the Unreached People Missionary Society.

Rick Shallenberger and Mohan Jayasekera accompanied to Kathmandu where they taught some HiBiS classes. Rick’s GCI Cincinnati congregation provides much of the support for a medical clinic on the outskirts of Kathmandu, which also is supported by the Himalayan Gospel Church (a coalition of ministries led by Deben). The clinic provides free medical services to needy children and mothers. Some patients have asked why we do this work and a few have responded to the call of God as a result of hearing the reply.

Myanmar: Second Booklet in Chin Language

We are delighted to announce that our second booklet produced in the Falam Chin language of northern Myanmar (Burma) has been printed in Yangon. That booklet (pictured at right) is The God Revealed in Jesus Christ. The booklet was translated by a young theology graduate named Van Thawm Lian. We first met him several years ago when he expressed great excitement about our literature.

2500 copies of the booklet were printed for distribution among the Chin peoples of which there is an extensive community in Yangon, and for use by Van Thawm Lian in the seminary where he teaches.

GCI Canada director Gary Moore provided this update.

Montreal English church celebrates 45th anniversay

On March 29, the Montreal English congregation celebrated its 45^th anniversary. The celebration included a special church service and a meal. John Adams and his wife Edna (at left in the picture) were guests. John formerly pastored the congregation.

The day was designed as a reunion, giving current and former members a chance to reconnect and share memories. Several former pastors sent greetings, as did GCI president Joseph Tkach and GCI Canada director Gary Moore.

Men’s retreat planned

GCI men in Ontario are hosting a men’s retreat (they call it an “advance”) on May 2-4, 2014. It will be held in Eastern Ontario (about a 90-minute drive from Montreal). GCI men in Canada, the U.S. and elsewhere are invited. For information, email Ken Brady at kbrady@caladena.com or phone Ken at 514.923.0414.

In February, we reported on the “Africa Connected” competition being held by Google. We learned recently that GCI was one of ten finalists in the competition.

GCI mission director for southern Africa, Tim Maguire, was in Nairobi, Kenya recently, where Google hosted the finale of the competition. “Google outdid themselves in making us 10 finalists feel like superstars! Although we did not win the competition, Google donated $10,000 to GCI’s water project in Mozambique! Thanks so much for all your support and votes, and to Google for their generosity.”

GCI in Ghana, which has about 700 members, is conducting a year-long celebration of its 40th anniversary. The celebration includes the recently held launch celebration and an upcoming youth camp.

At the launch celebration, hundreds of members thanked God, sang and danced to gospel songs. Gabriel Ojih, associate pastor of GCI’s Dallas North, USA congregation and former GCI leader in Ghana, was the featured speaker. He exhorted those present to depend on the Holy Spirit to lead them., and urged the represented congregations to be submissive to the Word of God and to patiently seek God’s grace. According to Gabriel, the church should grow in love and share that love with society through charity and unity.

Unveiling the official cloth for the anniversary, Pastor Solomon Ayitey, a founding member of GCI in Ghana, noted that the cloth signifies the unity and bond within the church. He urged members to stay united in seeking to emulate the life of Christ.

In an interview with a local newspaper, Pastor Emmanuel Okai spoke about the two schools that GCI operates in Kutunse and Atwima-Koforidua.

This update is from Hector Barrero, GCI mission developer in Central and South America.

Last month, I visited our congregation in Ezeiza, Argentina. Upon arrival I learned that Ruben Soto Castro, a long-time member of the church there, had died. So my visit began with Ruben’s funeral on Saturday, which had been planned as the first day of a seminar.

On Sunday, amidst the sadness, I conducted a seminar on the topic of spiritual disciplines, using material from Richard Foster’s book Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth.

On Monday, pastor Julio Fernandez and I spent much of the day discussing the subjects presented during the International Conference held last summer in Orlando, Florida. Julio was anxious to receive this update. We focused much of our time on discussing the presentations from Gerrit Dawson on the meaning of Jesus’ continuing incarnation.

This update is from Anthony Mullins, coordinator of GCI Generations Ministries (GenMin).

It’s my pleasure to report the recent successful completion of GenMin’s Converge East gathering near Columbus, Ohio (I reported earlier on Converge West, which was held in the Los Angeles, California area). Now that these two events are in the books, I find myself often thanking God for the people who participated. From our camp coaches (pictured at right) who did a superb job organizing both events, to the young adults who invested their time and money to attend, to the church pastors and other church leaders who not only came but gave generously of themselves to the younger generation, to the denominational leaders who value this ministry and show it through their support and, above all, to our relational God—the love, freedom and binding together of Father, Son and Spirit were on full display in both locations.

We had a record crowd at Converge East of 167 people (see the group pictured below). The combined attendance at the two Converge gatherings was a 37% increase over last year, falling just short of our goal of 250 people total.

The feedback from Converge East has been encouraging—many commented how much they were blessed by the event. Particular mention was made concerning the time in which we gave one another verbal affirmations in small group gatherings. One young adult told me how much it meant to have GCI veterans like John Halford and Jeff Broadnax speak to them encouraging words of life. We also were blessed by the life-giving, gospel words spoken by the various Converge East presenters: Meredith Macy, Heber Ticas, Gary and Cathy Deddo, Jeff McSwain, Jeff Broadnax, Mark and Anne Stapleton, Greg Williams, Jon Kuhn and others.

During the Saturday afternoon session, we rallied around Dan Rogers and prayed a prayer of thanksgiving and blessing over him (see picture below). Dan will be retiring at the end of this year from his responsibilities as director of GCI-USA Church Administration and Development, and we wanted to express to him our deep appreciation for his unwavering support for youth ministry in general and GenMin in particular throughout the years. Dan, you are a blessing!!

For those not able to attend a Converge event this year, we’ll be posting video vignettes of some of the meetings and interviews with some of the leaders. We’ve embedded below one of those videos—this one excerpts a presentation from Michelle Fleming about this year’s GenMin camp teaching curriculum, which she authored. Stay tuned for other videos here in Weekly Update and at these other GenMin media locations:

• Our website at http://www.generationsministries.org/
• Our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/109129609109038/
• Our Twitter feed https://twitter.com/genmin1

All in all, it was a wonderful Converge experience this year and I conclude this report with our Converge 2014 rally cry: Let’s build something together! Thanks to God, that building is under way in and through the body of Christ, the church. I always encourage our GenMin folks to be active participants in their local congregation, for that is the primary means that Jesus is using to advance the Kingdom of God.

Watch on YouTube at http://youtu.be/tFlKjU6mstE

During a recent trip to Tacloban, GCI Philippines National Director Eugene Guzon, accompanied by SEND International Executive Director James Aberin, visited the ministry center that GCI is helping with to assist survivors of typhoon Yolanda. During the visit the men discussed GCI and SEND partnering to develop the ministry center into a church congregation. The leaders also discussed starting a youth camp in the area this summer to help young people heal emotionally by finding comfort and purpose in Christ and a sense of community. The camp start-up is being assisted by the Jon Whitney Foundation.

Eugene thanks those who have helped in the relief efforts, including GCI Philippines, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Bahamas and Thailand. As Eugene noted, “Typhoon Yolanda disrupted people’s lives and destroyed much of the region. Nevertheless, this has led to a new beginning—new opportunities to experience God and to share his love.”

This update is from Sonia Orozco de Vengoechea, pastor of GCI’s church in Barranquilla, Colombia.

We held our annual seminar in early March. It lasted for four days and was attended by 58 adults and 8 children. We met in a hotel in Santa Marta Colombia where we enjoyed worship services, meals and social activities (including much dancing!).

Our guest speaker, Regional Pastor Héctor Barrero, taught us from Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi to continue in our divine calling without fainting. We returned home refreshed and determined to continue serving in the work of our Lord.