Category: Stay Connected

It was a day of mixed emotions recently at Christ Fellowship Church (one of GCI’s churches in the Cincinnati, Ohio area). The congregation said good-bye to their senior pastor Rick Shallenberger and his wife Cheryl who have served them for 12 years. They then celebrated the installation of their new senior pastor, Dustin Lampe, who serves with his wife Rachel.

CAD director Greg Williams (pictured above, right) was present and gave specific charges to the congregation before he and Rick commissioned Dustin. Rick then passed the baton of leadership to Dustin (see picture below). After the baton-passing ceremony, Greg commissioned Rick as a U.S. regional pastor. A meal for the congregation followed the service.

The oak baton used in the ceremony was made from an ancient tree located on the grounds of a Wesleyan church in Minnesota. The display (pictured below) was crafted by CFC elder Mike Lockard.

Reflecting on the day, Dustin posted this comment on Facebook:

Twelve years ago I was beginning my journey in church ministry by voluntarily teaching Sunday school class to teens. At about the same time my current church was beginning a journey with a new senior pastor named Rick Shallenberger. I didn’t have the foggiest idea where I was going with it or why I felt so compelled to teach. Now I see that God knew.

This past Sunday, I was commissioned as senior pastor of a most wonderful, down to earth, good-hearted church. Rick graciously and selflessly empowered me to take over what many would consider the dream job that was his. Christ Fellowship Church was of the same mind, patient with me and always willing to find reasons to accept my approach and the changes that have resulted.

Faith is present at times like these and even seems more real than “certainty.” Certainty is its own end, but faith opens up the world into a greater mystery. Because of the faith of Christ, I am filled with wonder and awe and belief in God and his unrelenting pursuit of people. Because of Christ, I am filled with hope and energy to believe in God’s love for all, from the wealthy and satisfied to the broken and downtrodden. I will not discriminate between the two.

Many are now looking at me with a great expectation that I will be a fine senior pastor for them. I realized this with the utmost of awareness on Sunday. I have never been one to enjoy a lot of attention on myself. But a funny thing happened as I was struck with the awareness of the expectations of my new role. I had a series of images flash through my mind of times in my life when I felt at peace. And the still small voice said, “so it is now.”

And so I rest easy in the arms of my Father in heaven. And I wake up working like crazy each day (except one) glad for the opportunity to be united completely in my heart and mind as a testimony to a God who is good!

This update is from Lee Berger, the director of Generations Ministries’ Crossing Borders mission.

In December we conducted our 18th trip to Mexico in nine years. When we began this mission several years ago, three or four churches donated about 150 shoeboxes full of gifts for needy children. This time 12 churches donated over 750 shoeboxes. Many other churches supported the mission with prayer.

Thirty-five people participated in the mission trip this time. They represented eight U.S. states as well as Monterrey and Guadalajara, Mexico. On previous trips we had about 12-15 people. More missionaries equals more person-to-person interaction with the people we serve. It also means that the mission experience and mindset is taken back home to more churches and communities, spreading the attitude of “being on mission wherever you are”—in your own family, school, with friends and neighbors, in the workplace, with strangers. Jesus is at work everywhere and invites us to join him on mission!

God also brought more people than ever for us to minister to on this trip. At two stops we expected to find about 75-100 people. But the buildings were packed with over 200! We shared God’s love through singing, preaching, sharing food, talking and laughing. We also presented a skit about Jesus’ birth and distributed the shoebox gifts to all the children and totes full of infant supplies (including beautiful handmade baby quilts) to the mothers of babies.

On this trip we also visited two children’s homes, spending several hours jumping rope, face-painting, treating them to pizza, listening, laughing and hugging. I wish you could have seen the radiant faces of the children as they excitedly greeted us on arrival and soaked up the love we shared with them (see the pictures above). When they opened their shoeboxes and unpacked the simple gifts, their appreciation was amazing to see.

Muchas gracias to all who supported this trip. Our next one into Mexico is planned for June 20-28, 2015. For details, go to our website at www.cbmission.org or call me at (903) 746-4463.

Grace Communion Fellowship (GCF), a GCI church plant in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, recently was officially chartered as a GCI congregation.

GCF was planted by Angie and Sadie Tabin—a missionary couple from the Philippines. With financial, legal and immigration assistance from the GCI home office, a GCI Church Planting Network in Southern California, GCI Philippines, and several GCI-USA churches, the Tabin family came to the U.S. about two and a half years ago and started connecting with the Eagle Rock community. After a year of gathering new contacts, GCF now averages 35 people in attendance, fulfilling GCI’s requirement to be chartered as a full-service congregation.

The charter document was officially presented to Angie and Sadie by Glen Weber (picture at right). Glen, who is a member of GCI’s Church Multiplication Ministries’ team and senior pastor of New Hope Fellowship (another GCI church in the Los Angeles area), challenged GCF members with these words:

Always think of yourselves as a church plant. Now that you are an official church it’s easy to let down and go into “doing church” mode instead of doing what a church plant should do. Ask yourselves, what have we done in the past that got us here? All the things that you have been doing to get new people to come—keep doing those things. In order for a church to continue to grow, you need to stay in church planting mode for at least another five years. A year from now, if each of you prays for and brings in three new people to church, next year you’ll be four times the size of what you are today.

In addition to providing weekly church services and other church planting tasks, the group is focusing on providing a full range of disciple-making ministries and completing formation of a finance committee to provide prudent stewardship of finances in compliance with relevant tax laws. The congregation is also developing its own website at http://gracecommunionfellowship.com. Your prayers for their continuing journey of development as a new church are much appreciated.

GCI’s congregation in Barranquilla, Colombia recently held a community outreach event. Members went house to house inviting young people to a banquet. Over 75 came, with several parents attending as well. In addition to a festive meal, the event included a gospel message and music. Members of the congregation donated prizes and provided support in other ways.

This year the town of Big Sandy, Texas did not have anyone to set out their traditional Christmas decorations. In response to this need, New Beginnings Church, GCI’s congregation in Big Sandy pastored by Sonny Parsons, volunteered to join with the fire department to prepare the community decorations. Children and adults from the congregation joined in serving the community in this way.

Pictured below is the worship service on the first Sunday of Advent at New Hope Christian Fellowship, a GCI congregation in Eagle Rock, California. Pictured on the bottom row, center, is Sharon Morris from the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), presenting to New Hope pastor Glen Weber a certificate of appreciation for “commitment and service to youth.” Several New Hope members received special training so they can bring foster children to church. Several have attended, with two doing so regularly.

Rey Taniajura, GCI-Philippines missions director, recently led a group of Filipinos on a journey around the U.S. exploring opportunities to plant GCI churches focused on reaching Filipinos living in the U.S. In this update, Rey reports on the final leg of the journey.

Together with Joe and Gie Manzano, my wife June and I were guests of Bart Baril and his wife Teresa who pastor GCI’s congregation in Port Orchard, Washington. Bart had arranged for us to meet representatives of the Pacific Northwest Ilocandia Association (PNIA), a group of more than 100 Filipinos living in the area. We gathered at PNIA’s building (where the GCI congregation meets for worship).

Bart and Teresa’s congregation and PNIA have partnered in various outreach activities in the area. Also, one of PNIA’s members, Josie, had been trained as a missionary by GCI-Philippines and sent to the Northwest. She has been connecting with various churches in the Port Orchard-Bremerton area and has raised up a small group. Josie will be connecting some of those she is working with to Pastor Bart.

Geoff Sole provided the following updates on Life Club meetings held recently in various locations around the world.

Last spring, GCI’s London congregation held a trip for their young people to view a replica of Noah’s ark in the Netherlands (see picture below). It houses full-scale plastic animals, some small live animals and birds, two cinemas and a restaurant. As a result of the trip, the congregation’s Life Club held a meeting with a Noah’s ark theme.

The Great Baddow, England, congregation held two Life Club meetings. At the first one, speeches were given on overcoming difficult circumstances, honoring parents, making a helpful difference in the lives of young people and perils and pitfalls of the first year of marriage. Graduation certificates were awarded to Maaike Mantel, Ricky Fowler and Annabelle Woolford (pictured at right). In the second meeting, speeches were given on the Church as “safety net,” health risks in eating genetically modified crops and cake-making.

At a Life Club (pictured below) hosted by one of GCI’s Cape Town South Africa congregations, the winning speech was given on career perspectives. The club also helped organize a youth service in the host church, a walking trip up Lions Head mountain, and a social day visiting area beaches.

GCI in South India held two Life Club meetings during their annual worship festival. At the first one, Patricia D’Costa (pictured at left), daughter of GCI pastor Joseph D’Costa, presented table topics. This was followed by four speeches, then a talk from pastor D’Costa on overcoming procrastination. Mission developer Rod Matthews then gave the overall evaluation, mentioning how club had helped him and encouraging others to participate.

Colin Lauchlan (pictured at right), pastor of two GCI churches in Canada, runs a weekly Life Club in a Teen Challenge drug rehabilitation center in London, Ontario. Colin writes:

We usually average around 6-8 attendees on any one evening. I have a few people in the Club who really see the benefit and are very enthusiastic about it. I rely on them to recruit new members as they join the program. Because of the frequency of the meetings and the few attendees, some members have now given several speeches and it’s great to see their progress. We have just started a new format for our meetings so that members can have more time to prepare. We now have a regular Club one week and a lecture the following week. What I am doing on the lecture evening is playing a recording of a speech to the Club, then discussing with them techniques the speaker has employed in organizing and delivering his speech. Last week we discussed Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address. It is fascinating to see how even the “great” speeches of our time employ the simple principles we teach in Life Club. Next time we will be looking at Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

The Owerri, Nigeria congregation recently held a Life Club with 14 adults attending (see picture above). Chairperson Samuel Obih reminded members of the benefits of Club, including “taming the tongue” (from the book of James). Speeches were given on building a career and alternative ways of learning.

In England, a Life Club meeting was held during the annual fall festival in Paignton. The chairperson was Gemma Brown and the topics leader was James Esom (pictured at left). Speeches addressed planting seeds spiritually, overcoming a poor childhood, how astronomers know if planets exist, and gratitude. Meeting director Roger Lippross said that “speech enhances life and we should not miss opportunities to speak in Club.” He also mentioned the importance of having vision and of persevering by keeping one’s goals clearly in mind.

This update is from GCI-Philippines director Eugene Guzon.

Last weekend, typhoon Hagupit (Ruby) passed through the Eastern Visayas and Bicol region of the Philippines. The typhoon followed about the same path as typhoon Haiyan last year and affected about a third of the Philippine population. Thankfully, our prayers were answered and initial wind speeds of 150 miles/hour quickly diminished. People had been evacuated to higher ground early on, and military personnel were widely deployed to prevent looting.

Reports from GCI pastors in the affected areas indicate that damage to life and property was only slight, though there was some damage to crops and homes. The pastors reported that our members are safe, though are tired as they clean their homes. Electrical power is still out in some areas, so GCI is providing generators to offer free phone charging services to the community.

We appreciate your prayers. We are thankful to God that he has spared so many of our countrymen from severe damage and loss of life. Nevertheless, we know that even so, many have experienced inconveniences and may have been traumatized because of their experiences last year. God is good, and we count on the fact that he is always with us even during these times.

Word of God Christian Fellowship, GCI’s church in Canfield, Ohio, recently hosted three non-GCI churches in a combined potluck (pictured below). The event focused on fellowship among churches and outreach to the surrounding community. Total attendance was about 250 people.

With leadership from their pastors (pictured below—GCI pastor John Dobritch and his wife Mary are at left) the four churches are partnered in a group called “Family First.” The group focuses on helping strengthen Canfield area families in Christ.