This update from Pamela Gebauer describes an event our French-speaking congregation in Montreal Canada helped plan and organize.
Several GCI members participated in Praises Beyond Cultures, an interdenominational outreach concert held on April 27 in Montreal. More than 150 attended, celebrating the unity in diversity that is a gift from our Lord.
We were blessed by the diversity and fervor of several musical presentations including ones from a Vietnamese band, a group of Cantonese singers, a Ghanaian choral group, a Mandarin praise group and two groups of GCI members: the praise group Ensemble and the youth band Collision.
Dr. John and Naomi Biswas and Roger Lippross, representing GCI and the Bengali Evangelistic Association (BEA), recently attended a meeting of the Southern California Coalition on Ministry to Muslims in North America. The event was held at the Lake Avenue Church in Pasadena, California where executive pastor Scott White welcomed the group of about 70 people with reflections on Christian leadership. He was followed with presentations from churches and pastors who are reaching out to Muslims in the Los Angeles area.
Event organizer Vance Nordman of the Jesus Film Project, gave a presentation about a new computer app that enables a person to easily email a link to anyone worldwide so they can watch the Jesus film in their own language. According to the Jesus film website, every eight seconds a person becomes a Christian due in part to the film.
Special guest speaker Zeebandee Abedini (shown in the center of the picture at left with John and Naomi Biswas) told of her brother Saeed Abedini, an ex-Muslim who was sentenced to an eight-year-long prison term in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison. Saeed, who is a Christian pastor, has been the subject of various press reports telling of how he has been beaten and tortured due to his Christian faith. Zeebandee also told of how she and her parents were led to Christ by the Jesus film. She asked for our prayers for her brother and for the underground church in Iran.
Other presentations at the event focused on the worldview of Muslims and how to reach Muslims with the gospel message. During the event, GCI/BEA representatives received many positive comments concerning what BEA and GCI are doing to reach out to Muslims in the US and in Bangladesh.
GCI in the Philippines recently held one of its youth camps (called SEP) in Luzon at the Alta Rios Resort in Alfonso, Cavite. There were 151 campers representing about 20 GCI congregations in Luzon.
click on the picture to enlarge
The camp theme, Make Your Mark, encouraged participants to discover their unique God-given potential and make a difference in the world. When campers were asked if they would like to be part of SEP again next year, they shouted “yes!” and were excited to pray for it, to prepare early and to invite friends to join in.
In addition to camps held already in Luzon and Mindanao, others are scheduled for this summer in other parts of the Philippines. According to national director Eugene Guzon, the SEP program is one of GCI Philippine’s highest priorities in that it helps young people grow in their relationship with God and with the church. He commented further: “As our youth realize their identity in Christ and the ways that they can participate in his work, I know that their generation will make a wonderful mark in the church and in the world. To our young people—we love you and we praise God for you!”
New Covenant Fellowship, the GCI congregation in Glendora, California recently celebrated its 17th annual Hispanic Heritage/Cinco de Mayo festival.
Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Battle of Puebla in Mexico in 1862, in which the Mexican army defeated a French invading army. Cinco de Mayo has become a major holiday and is celebrated with great enthusiasm among the Hispanic population in the U.S. The congregation’s annual celebration has proven to be an effective way to reach out to honor members of the Hispanic community.
Glen WeberSaddie and Angie Tabin
Guest speakers were district pastor Glen Weber and church planters Saddie and Angie Tabin. Pastor Glen gave insights into how church planting efforts can renew and revitalize existing congregations as well as giving new or returning Christians a church family to worship with. The Tabins told about what it really takes to plant a church—meeting their neighbors, showing concern for them and praying with them, forming small groups and holding neighborhood social events leading up to launching a new church.
After church, the congregation and guests enjoyed a festive potluck meal, followed by the children smashing a piñata filled with candy.
Here is an introductory video from GCI Generations Ministries, featuring GenMin director Anthony Mullins. The video was recently posted on the GenMin website homepage.
SEP Mindanao, a GCI youth camp in the Philippines, was held on April 24-28. The camp’s theme was Make Your Mark. It was attended by 81 campers and 44 staff from various parts of the Philippines. 70% of the campers attended for the first time and almost 30% were non-GCI members.
The camp focused on chapels and Christian living classes using the GCI Generations Ministries’ Behold curriculum. Recreational activities included soccer, dance, basketball for boys and volleyball for girls.
Campers and camp visitors testified how the Lord revealed himself in so many ways during the camp. Many first-time campers commented that they had never received so much love from people around them.
GCI pastor Doug Johannsen reports that Jonah Skrove, a 16-year-old member in one of Doug’s congregations in Minnesota, recently had to have his leg amputated due to bone cancer.
GCI’s Tucson congregation held its second annual Easter-themed children’s outreach on April 7. The event was led by Pastor Tom and Michelle Landess, and the congregation’s outreach coordinator, Nanette Krestel. 29 guests (adults, teens and children) attended along with members of the congregation.
The event began with a short message from Pastor Tom and music led by Michelle; both pointing to Jesus’ resurrection. Then there were five workshops where members mingled with the children, followed by an Easter egg hunt. The day ended with a meal where members sat at each table to fellowship with the guests.
At the event, a table with free resources was manned by Pastor Ted and Lila Millhuff who answered questions from adults and children. Many told their stories, giving them opportunity to share their struggles with others.
Last week, over 75 GCI leaders joined with about 5,000 others at the Exponential Conference in Orlando, Florida. In addition, about 45,000 church leaders from 93 countries watched the conference on live video streamed over the internet. Those in Orlando from GCI included church planting teams, ministry developers, regional and district pastors and pastoral leaders from established churches. Several GCI leaders (pictured below) traveled to Orlando on behalf of GCI churches in the Caribbean, Latin and South America.
New GCI pastor Justin Meier and his wife Laura Beth
Exponential has grown to be the largest gathering of church planters in North America (and possibly on earth). Its theme this year was Discipleshift, emphasizing the importance of recapturing the church’s Great Commission focus on multiplying mature disciples of Jesus who then disciple others.
The conference included day-long pre-conference seminars addressing topics related to church planting and transformation. The main conference had five plenary sessions and five workshop tracks, with dozens of selections in each track, all focused on one of the conference’s primary themes related to shifting to a more intentional focus on disciplemaking.
Here are comments from several GCI participants:
Hands for Christ church plant team and Randy Bloom
This has been a wonderful, difference-making experience. It has helped me visualize what and how we can help our pastor make disciples.
WOW…. such a new experience and wonderful spiritual feeling to take home and share.
Such a worthwhile conference… so many resources to glean from!
Praise God for such information and the dedication shown for reaching people to become disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In 2014, the Exponential Conference is titled, Seek and Save, Rethinking Evangelism. It will be held in Orlando on April 28-May 1. For further information, go to www.exponential.org.
This update is from Rod Matthews, GCI’s mission developer for SE Asia.
Death of Karen Elder
Moolah Shi and Kushi
It is with deep sadness and concern for our Karen members in a camp in Thailand that I report the death of Moolah Shi on January 27 at the age of 72. He served the Karen members with dedication, humility and faithfulness for over 30 years. He is survived by his wife, Kushi and five children. He was baptized by John Halford in 1978, ordained a deacon in 1986 and an elder in 1996. Moolah Shi once served as an officer in the Karen National Union (KNU), a liberation movement in conflict with the Burmese army in his homeland of Myanmar. He was related through marriage to one of the top Karen generals and found himself in a difficult situation as he was called of God, came to understand the scriptures and developed a relationship with his Creator. He started reading The Plain Truth magazine in 1970 when a Baptist minister shared it with him. Ultimately, he and a number of associates in the KNU were discharged from the organization due to their hearts not being in the revolution.
With thousands of other Karen people, he found himself a refugee in Thailand, restricted to a corridor along the border with Myanmar, unable to gain Thai citizenship or equivalent benefits. His heart for his people and their welfare was demonstrated again when he became heavily involved with the Karen Refugee Committee set up to assist the Thai authorities in managing the refugee camps established along the border in Thailand and holding tens of thousands of mainly ethnic Karen people fleeing the fighting in Myanmar.
As a result of this advantageous position, he was relatively free to come and go from the camp where our congregation was located. Through personal family circumstances he found himself able to live outside the camp, more easily coordinating with the church leadership and conducting church business as well as visiting other non-camp members in that area.
The camp congregation started with a foundation of ex-members of the KNU and their families and grew in numbers with a weekly attendance that at times reached about 80. In due course, some families were granted UN refugee status and were resettled overseas, and some were denied refugee status and remained stateless in the camp. In the last few years, the UN has made a concerted effort to resettle more Karen people in the hope that the refugee crisis along the border can finally be resolved. But as some are moved to new lives overseas, their places are often filled with economic refugees seeking a better life than what is available in Myanmar. And so today, our congregation still numbers around 50, with about half being children.
As pastor, Moolah Shi travelled to the camp regularly on a church-provided motorcycle to conduct services in our own church building, constructed on acquired land within the camp and built by the members with materials funded by the Australian churches. Southeast Asian senior pastor, Wong Mein Kong and I met with him in the nearby town of Maesot once each year and in most years were permitted to enter the camp to meet with our people and conduct worship services. I was always impressed that in spite of his remoteness, Moolah kept up with and embraced the doctrinal enlightenment in the church and, led by the Holy Spirit, provided humble, effective and faith-filled leadership in spite of the church’s difficult journey and our Karen family’s own physical deprivations. He was highly respected among all the Karen people and the Thais who knew and worked with him. He set a wonderful example of Christlikeness—patient, meek, faithful, encouraging and always dedicated to his people. Please pray for us as we move into a new phase of pastoral care for the congregation there. Actually, we might one day be thanking God that the congregation closes, which would mean that the refugee camps are no longer needed there. May God speed that day.
Bangladesh
I recently returned from visiting several of our groups and the mission center of GCI’s mission arm in Bangladesh, the Bengali Evangelical Association (BEA), accompanying its director, Dr. John Biswas. BEA supporter and southern California member, Ron Boyer joined us.
John talks with book seller
Our trip by auto takes us to a ferry across the Padma River (the Ganges in India). On the ferry, John Biswas tells a young bookseller (see picture at right) that he too once sold books to fund his education. When asked if he had heard of Jesus, the young man said he had—but all he knew about him was that he was a Christian! John offers him the opportunity to come with us—right there and then—and be employed in the physical care of our mission center with the promise of food and lodging and education. But the young man can’t bring himself to accept. So John buys a few of his books and gives him some extra taka (the local currency) with instruction to save it for his education—and the young man moves on.
Congregation in Anandapur
Late in the day we detour off the main road to visit the congregation at Anandapur. Nearly 60 people, mainly women and children since the men are working in the fields, are waiting to welcome us dressed in their beautiful best. We are honored with flowers and food and give short messages of encouragement before we move on. The next day there are now strikes in Barisal and we are advised to stay put for another day. That evening we meet with a little group of Christians in the hotel. It’s a delight to talk about the resurrection for a short while. They surprise me with a cake and gift celebrating my birthday two days earlier! I am struck with what a privilege it is to be visiting brothers and sisters in Christ in one of the most challenging and remote environments in which to be a minority Christian.
Batajor
On Friday we set out early to visit two rural congregations I haven’t seen before: Batjor and Bagdha. At Batajor we were presented with flowers, a welcome song and a graceful dance. We brought Bengali Bibles and offered short encouraging messages. It’s amazing and humbling that God has chosen us to plant congregations of poor yet very responsive Bengali people in these remote rural locations in southern Bangladesh.
Later at the BEA mission center in the village of Sathsimulia, we were honored with a shower of flower petals as we entered the facility through an honor guard of members and workers. We are led to the chapel building for a short service and welcome ceremony. The compound is a hive of activity with construction under way for the new building that replaces the old original “Canadian” building which had to be demolished due to cyclone damage. A large part of the compound is taken up with piles of building materials as construction has reached the second level of the three-story building. It will stand as a partner to the Herman L. Hoeh building and will provide needed facilities and accommodations for the training of nurses’ aides and gospel workers and other outreach activities emanating from BEA’s mission center. Our sincere thanks to the many who have donated toward construction of this building, including many individuals, congregations in Canada, our denominational headquarters in Glendora and our Australian office.
On our return to Dhaka, we met about 30 gospel workers from several of our groups so John Biswas could have opportunity to discuss plans for the year ahead, evaluate projects and assess the means to continue the outreach and evangelism in a wise and appropriate way in a most challenging environment. I encouraged them to let their already bright light shine.
This update from Pamela Gebauer describes an event our French-speaking congregation in Montreal Canada helped plan and organize.
