Category: Stay Connected

This update is from district pastor Heber Ticas, the senior pastor of Comunion De Gracia, the GCI Spanish-speaking congregation in Sun Valley, California. Heber is also shepherding the start of a new congregation in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles.

On October 14, Comunion de Gracia (Los Angeles church plant) celebrated its first anniversary service with 109 in attendance. The first year has been filled with surprises. We have encountered the joy of seeing people come to faith in our Lord but we have also shed tears as we encountered those in bondage to alcohol and drug abuse, children suffering because of the breakdown of the family and wives suffering as they see their spouses imprisoned. We thank Almighty God for the comfort and peace of knowing that he is in control.

On November 18, we had an outreach event to the community. We also served dinners on Thanksgiving and Christmas. The ministry team continues to create connections with the community. Our growth strategy includes both “attractional” and “incarnational” approaches: attractional through “big day” events such as our Christmas celebration; incarnational through missional groups that live and share the gospel in the midst of the community life.

This update is from Kalengule Kaoma who is GCI national director in Zambia and missions director in much of Africa.

Starting in late October, I have traveled to Madagascar, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Our national directors, their wives and church pastors and leaders send their greetings. Most of them are well and are keeping the faith with determination, love for God and love for our members.

Madagascar

When I visited Madagascar, the members were completing their annual convention, this year gathering in Antsirabe, which is three hours north of Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar. Angel Bodolalao Rafiringason, wife of GCI Madagascar’s national director Dr. Rigobert Rafiringason, gave an encouraging message about the promises we have in Jesus. I then covered as many topics as time allowed. The enthusiasm and desire of the members to learn electrified the meetings. There was lots of praise, worship and prayer. The Rafiringasons invest a lot of resources in their youth—many youth leaders were in attendance.

Kenya

James Henderson facilitated the conference in Kenya with me where we met with 28 pastors and other leaders in Nairobi. A week earlier, many of these leaders had met to discuss the future of the Kenyan church. It was good for them to be together to cement relationships, beliefs and to grow in leadership skills. From Nairobi, I flew to Arusha where I met with three church leaders interested in joining GCI.

Tanzania

I met with 26 Tanzanian church leaders in Musoma. The last conference we had together was in 2010. This year there was a lot of noise as we greeted each other. Many questions were asked about grace and its implications in our lives. These leaders are eager and thirsty for more. I also met with a group of leaders in Kalisizo. I’ve been working with them over the last three years in an affiliation process.

Uganda

In Entebbe, I met Pastor Joseph Mark Emeu-Oedo, who is seeking GCI affiliation. He trains rural pastors who have not attended Bible school. A lot of these “untrained” pastors oversee large congregations. He became interested in GCI when he visited our website and found that GCI plants “all kinds of churches in all kinds of places for all kinds of people.”

I then met another pastor in Kampala who had traveled 250 kilometers to meet me. He had many questions about our stand on grace. After the discussions, he invited me to visit him in his hometown.

In Eastern Uganda we met with 18 GCI leaders in Tororo. Pastor Edward Kagoro and his wife were not able to attend because of burns inflicted by thieves who had spread sulfuric acid on his shoulders. They also stole his motor bike. Thankfully, Edward is now better. His bike was recovered and his attackers were arrested.

GCI-USA’s SEP Rockies camp and Ground Zero Church recently hosted the annual Rocky Mountain Retreat in beautiful Estes Park, Colorado at the YMCA of the Rockies. There were 45 participants this year.

The retreat is designed as an informal leadership incubator for young adults who serve in camp and church ministry. Sarah Miles and John Egbert coordinated the retreat and Anthony Mullins, director of GCI Generations Ministries, was guest speaker.

Retreat sessions addressed loneliness and depression, Christian apologetics, and the strengths and weaknesses of social networking. Lots of fellowship, food and a roaring fireplace made it a special atmosphere for all, including the ten young adults who attended for the first time.

65 singles from seven GCI Philippines congregations and fellowships attended a year-end camp at Playa Calatagan, Batangas. The camp was held as part of the year-long jubilee celebration of GCI in the Philippines. The camp was designed to address the spiritual, emotional, intellectual, social and physical aspects of life as a single.

The camp site was located beside the white sand beach of Playa Calatagan Seaside Community. Everyone was grateful to God for the perfect weather. Inspiring presentations were made by Pastor Audie Santibanez, Pastor Gil Llaneza and Julian “Jing” Concepcion, Jr.

Following Christmas Day gang violence that left three innocent bystanders dead in Pasadena, California, several community leaders including GCI pastor Glen Weber (in the picture above at upper right) gathered with about 100 city residents to pray for peace. Rev. Kerwin Manning declared, “We’re here to declare peace over our community and our city.” The leaders asked the assembled crowd to take an active role in promoting peace.

Among the dead Christmas Day was Victor McClinton, a longtime Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department employee and founder of the nonprofit Brotherhood Community Youth Sports League. He was killed by a stray bullet from a gang-related shooting.

Read more at http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_22285680/community-members-leaders-rally-peace-pasadena#ixzz2GerwdlNS.

This update is from Lee Berger, Crossing Borders director.

Crossing Borders, one of Generations Ministries’ short-term mission groups, recently completed its seventh winter mission trip to Mexico. It was a transforming time for the 16 people who spent two days sharing God’s love with his dear children of all ages in Mexico.

We delivered 450 shoeboxes filled with supplies and toys, and some additional supplies for the youth who live in various children’s homes and poor neighborhoods. We also had a great time singing, sharing in worship, speaking about the gospel, playing games, and hugging, loving and praying with the kids and adults.

A few weeks before the trip, we phoned the director of a children’s home whom we had met last summer. We asked if we could visit again. She told us that because the children had had no visitors since our last visit and no prospects for a Christmas event, they had been praying for Christmas visitors! We spent several joyous hours with these dear children sharing presents, games, food and God’s love.

One of our Mexican ministry partners is Pedro Castillo and his wife, Lourdes. Pastor Pedro had a kidney transplant three years ago. Then his wife contracted breast cancer. We were excited to be with them at both locations where Pedro’s churches meet. It was also thrilling to reconnect with the family for whom we constructed a new home last summer. There were tears all around as we shared precious memories.

Two summers ago we were visiting at the home of a ministry partner, Raymundo Rendon and his wife, Lisa. Ray got a call from a high-up city/regional official facing a serious health trial. He wanted Ray to pray for him. He came to the house and brought a younger man (Ricardo) with him—a man who was not a Christian believer and was hoping to be hired by the man’s government agency. Our Crossing Borders group prayed for the official—and also about Ricardo’s job search and for his conversion to know Jesus as Lord. The official recovered from his illness and later introduced us to the mayor of the city. As the story continues, on this recent trip our group sought help from a government agency, and who should show up to help but Ricardo! He remembered us. He had gotten the job he had desired and was helpful to us on this trip. He is still considering the truth about Jesus. And so the mission continues.

This update is from Gary Moore, GCI national director in Canada. Gary and his wife Wendy also assist GCI in South Africa.

Wendy and I recently visited South Africa where we served at the South African national youth camp near Johannesburg. There were 205 people at the camp, including about 160 youth. GCI Canada provided scholarships for about 40 of the campers (pictured at right) from GCI congregations in Moruleng (the “tent church”) and Zeerust (an area on the verge of birthing a new congregation). These areas are depressed economically, so the scholarships were a huge blessing.

The camp utilized a teaching curriculum that was developed by GCI Generations Ministries. It gave the campers a great Christ-centered focus. I had the opportunity to teach 14 sessions (two separate presentations each given seven times), and to present a communion service to the boys (Wendy did the same for the girls and helped out with softball). It was great seeing the receptivity, as many engaged well with the material. I felt I had been given the chance to both help build up new believers, and to evangelize those considering a commitment to Christ.

Tim Maguire is doing a fine job leading GCI in South Africa. He is incredibly gifted to do mission work in areas where most of us would be unwise to even attempt to visit. He has a passion for Christ and a great heart to share the gospel wherever the door may be opened.

There are, of course, always challenges (which we all face), but the churches in South Africa seem positive, have effective leaders, and are growing. There is a positive spirit there toward GCI, with a growing enthusiasm toward our Trinitarian, incarnational theology.

We are pleased to provide support to GCI South Africa from Canada, as does GCI in the United States. That funding helps with the mission work that Tim is doing as he travels to places like Mozambique and Namibia; and it helps fund the South African youth camp.

This update is from Rod Matthews who is GCI missions director in Southern Asia and the Pacific.

GCI is blessed with some marvelously remote congregations, including the one in the village of Qiloe (pronounced ‘gee-low’) located on the island of Ranongga in the Pacific nation of Solomon Islands. Most of Qiloe’s residents belong to our GCI congregation—it is traditional in Ranongga that all villagers belong to one denomination.

Recently, my wife Ruth and I visited Qiloe for their annual family festival. It was quite a trip, with a 3½ hour flight followed by a couple of boat rides (with beautiful views like that shown at left). We were accompanied by Henry and Elisabeth Kuper. Henry is our national coordinating pastor for the Solomon’s. He retired from the Solomon’s National Police Force some years ago, and served for a time as aide-de-camp to the Governor General.

During the four-day festival, we had the privilege of ordaining a second elder for the Qiloe congregation, Allowin Ketohebala. He is a fine younger man who has demonstrated his integrity and service to the people of Qiloe. He is also an excellent help with the large number of youth in the church.

I had gone to Ranongga anticipating one baptism but found on arriving that there were three other young people waiting for baptism too. We had to walk about 20 minutes through thick tropical vegetation to reach a clear stream coming out of the hills that had a pool deep enough for the baptisms. On arrival I discovered that some ladies had preceded us and built a small wall of stones across the stream to deepen the pool. It was an inspiring natural location to witness their public acceptance of Christ as Savior and Lord and to celebrate their part in the Body of Christ.

On our final evening, we had a traditional “Island Night” of songs and dancing with a banquet of local dishes and fresh fish. The children sang and groups danced with humor and skill, including the “gecko dance,” which imitates the little insect-eating lizard that lives in every home.

When we left, virtually the entire church bid us farewell at the shore. We left a growing church, a new elder and over 70 members led by Pastor Derek Jiru and his wife Pinque. They touched our hearts forever.

We are thankful for all our members in the Solomon Islands. They are a wonderful example of dedication and faithfulness. We’re also thankful for Doug and Marg Lewis from Melbourne, Australia who for over a decade made an annual trip to the Solomons as our national pastoral coordinator—lovingly guiding our members through our theological transformation. Doug still helps in keeping our members in the Solomons connected to our international fellowship.

This update is from GCI Australia pastor Bob Regazolli.

There was much excitement here at the GCI church in Brisbane, Australia. State of the Heart music minister Ross Jutsum led our Christmas service (Ross and his wife Tammy were in Australia to visit Ross’s family).

Ross provided a mixture of Christmas carols, a few songs of his own compositions, selected readings, a children’s section and a song in Swahili from members of our Congolese congregation. Ross’s daughter Lisa then spoke with us about her experiences as a missionary in the Congo. She also sang a song for us.

We had the highest attendance for a service here in about a decade – 154 people. I have never heard such positive comments from so many following one of our worship services. It was truly inspiring and wonderful to see so many joining in praises for our Savior and King.

This update is from Pastor Mary Bacheller concerning Hands for Christ Community Church–a GCI church plant in Staten Island, New York.

These are exciting times! With our first Sunday Christmas Service and Christmas Eve service behind us, we are at peace and happy.

It was so meaningful for those who attended, as they participated for the first time in Christmas worship services conducted entirely in American Sign Language (ASL). We had 24 adults and six children in attendance for the Sunday service. Deaf members actively participated. The kids signed the song “Happy Birthday, Jesus” and made gifts, drawings and notes to present to Jesus.

We also had a candlelight Christmas service combined with The Church That Never Closes–the congregation we share our building with. The sanctuary was decorated as a stable, and the service included an enactment of the journey to Bethlehem. Half of the actors were from our church and half from the other. Pastors Aldolf Pagliarulo and Mary Bacheller served communion.

Hands for Christ Community Church is now in its fourth month and thriving. We have 41 registered members and eight children. Sometimes it’s a little frustrating because they don’t all come at the same time. However, I have learned to let God worry about the numbers and I just worry about sharing the gospel, and the love and friendship of Christ with those who come each week.

We have a regular Wednesday night Bible study. Attendance averages about 14 people. We enjoy the fellowship and the wonderful growth in understanding experienced by all.

When people leave our services, it is common to hear them refer to the peace that they have experienced through the Spirit’s touch, and to express their desire to return for more. God is truly in charge!