Category: Stay Connected

This update is from Hector Barerro, GCI missions director for Latin America.

Dr. Dan Rogers, director of GCI Church Administration and Development USA, recently joined me in visiting our church located in Ezeiza, Argentina, a suburb of Buenos Aires. Dan fellowshipped with the members, delivered a sermon and presented two lectures. I provided translations.

Dan’s sermon, “Ministry and Mission in the Power of the Holy Spirit,” emphasized that in Christ a new creation has begun. His lectures on Incarnational Trinitarian Theology and GCI’s Adventist roots helped members understand our past and present theology and doctrine. Dan also held a Q&A session and the group enjoyed a traditional Argentine barbecue.

A key goal for GCI in the US is to see church planters, congregations and district networks starting and then multiplying new kinds of churches, for all kinds of people, in all kinds of places. That significant progress is being made was evident at this year’s church planting summit hosted by GCI’s Church Multiplication Ministries (CMM) in Memphis, Tennessee on March 8-9.

Forty-three summit participants (pictured below), including church planters, pastors, Church Administration and Development team members, and others celebrated several newly planted churches and the establishment of church planting networks in about half the US. Through these networks, groups of small churches are working together to identify, prepare and support church planters. Existing networks are now supporting church plants in Los Angeles; Randolph, Massachusetts; and Staten Island, New York.

The featured speaker at the summit was Hal Haller (pictured at right). Hal, who has planted several churches and now trains church planters, challenged summit participants in several areas: developing church planting networks, finding church planters and supporting newly planted churches.

Church Administration and Development director Dan Rogers shared GCI’s vision for new leaders, new ministries and new churches that reach those who are different from us. He encouraged participants to pray that God will bring new church planters to us, and give us the discernment and infrastructure needed to identify, recruit, equip and support them.

For more information about GCI’s US church planting initiative, see CMM’s website at cmm.gci.org.

A primary GCI goal is to multiply young pastoral leaders. An important tool toward that end in the US is GCI’s Pastoral Internship Program. One of our interns, Carrie Smith, recently completed her internship under the direction of her mentors Mark and Anne Stapleton, who pastor Cornerstone Community Church, the GCI congregation in the San Diego, California area.

GCI president Joseph Tkach recently visited the congregation, now meeting in a new location in Lemon Grove, California, to participate in Carrie’s ordination as an elder. Other participants in the ordination included District Pastor Glen Weber and Pastor Mark Stapleton (see picture below). Carrie is moving to Pikeville, Kentucky where she will be part of that congregation’s pastoral team.

Here are other pictures from this special service, which included presentations from Dr. Tkach and his wife Tammy, Carrie’s ordination and a baptism.

On March 10, Tammy Tkach visited the worship service of GCI’s congregation in Tucson, Arizona. She gave the sermon, entitled Freedom in Christ (and the Responsibility That Goes With It). Members and guests appreciated how she melded the two aspects together. After the service the congregation enjoyed a potluck meal.

Each year, GCI Church Administration and Development, USA hosts New Pastor Orientation at GCI’s home office in Glendora, California. This four-day-long seminar addresses various topics relevant to men and women beginning service as GCI pastors and church planters.

This year’s seminar was held on February 15-18 with 30 participants including pastors, pastoral care team members, church planters, a pastoral intern and several other pastoral leaders from across the United States and two participants from Grenada. Seminar sessions focused on church history, preaching, church multiplication, theology and other topics.

Everyone came with open hearts and minds, eager to learn. The friendships developed over the four days were an added bonus.

In an effort to reach out to people in Loma Linda and Redlands, California, John and Naomi Biswas of the Bengali Evangelical Association (BEA) sponsored a free health seminar on Sunday afternoon February 17, at the Loma Linda Civic Center.

One of the goals of the seminar was to reach out to new people by creating awareness of what the average person can do to improve their well-being. The event, entitled “Lifestyle Focus on Health,” focused on the control and prevention of diabetes.

The main speaker was Professor Susan Nyanzi who spoke about the major role that exercise and diet play in a healthy lifestyle and in the control of diabetes. She demonstrated simple ways this can be done by diet and walking, plus the use of simple inexpensive exercise equipment.

Also giving lectures were Dr. T. Sweeny and Dr. M. Westerberg who both spoke about diet and lifestyle in the management of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. Dr. Sweeny also discussed various ways that blood sugar levels are monitored and the drugs that are available to manage diabetes.

The informative evening ended with a lengthy question and answer session plus a simple meal. About 55 attended, making it possible to make new friends thus enabling BEA follow-up.

GCI Church Administration and Development, USA director Dr. Dan Rogers and his wife Barbara recently visited the GCI congregation in Bogota, Colombia.

The visit began with a Friday evening informal meeting with the congregation’s ministry leaders. Dan described how our focus in ministry is not on what we do, but on what God is doing and how we participate with him as the body of Christ.

On Saturday, Dan conducted a seminar for the church, which was entitled “On Mission with God: Multiplying Disciples, Leaders and Churches.” On Sunday, Dan preached in the congregation’s two worship services. The first service was attended by 78 people and the second by 135. At the first service, Dan gave a sermon based on Luke 10, entitled “Involved in the Ministry and Mission of Jesus in the Power of the Spirit.” At the second service, Dan’s sermon addressed what Jesus taught about missions and why churches have strayed.

This update from Angie Tabin reports on the progress that she and her husband Saddie are making in planting a church for Filipinos in Los Angeles, California.

Building the team

Recently, we met with prospective members of our church plant core team. We reviewed our church planting vision and invited them to partner with us. We asked for a commitment that would extend for six months following the launch of the church scheduled for later this year. GCI church planter Heber Ticas will be training the team. At the same time, we are mentoring some participants in our existing small groups to prepare them to be facilitators of additional groups.

Outreach

Here are recent outreach activities where our focus is building friendships within our target community:

• I am being seen on TV skin care commercials that are broadcast on a local Filipino cable station. This recognition helps me meet Filipinos in the area.
• We volunteer at our daughter’s school where we befriend children and faculty members. The school gives us the food not consumed by the students, which we then share with needy Filipinos in the area. This helps us meet new people.
• A senior we befriended asked that we visit a sick friend at the hospital and pray for her. Her daughter then asked us to visit her father, who is ill at home. In that visit, we shared the gospel and he accepted Jesus as his Savior. We continue to visit his wife in the hospital. When we do, we take bagels to the medical staff. They appreciate it.
• A lady who attends one of our outreach Bible studies told us that our prayers for her were answered. She found a job! She told us that she will be taking her Bible to work to read on breaks.
• We recently held a social gathering for our new contacts. About 80 attended. We enjoyed games, a raffle and dancing. During the event, one of the seniors asked to speak. She rallied participants to support our church planting efforts. Saddie spoke about how we Filipinos should help one another. I am grateful to several members of GCI’s NewLife Fellowship church for their help. The gathering was a beautiful picture of God’s inclusiveness as we celebrated friendship.

  

Speech training

To enhance our ability to communicate well in English, we are taking speech training from GCI Pastor Bermie Dizon and Willie Jacinto. We are learning public speaking, enunciation and grammar. We also are studying leadership and Bible interpretation.

Prayer points

We solicit your support in prayer. Here are some prayer points:

• That we continue to be in good health
• That we find more people to join our core group/launch team
• That new small group facilitators be indentified and prepared
• That people catch the vision as we present it to area churches

This update is from Jannice May, who coordinates Connecting & Bonding, which is a parallel ministry affiliated with GCI. Its purpose is to serve the wives of pastors.

The theme for GCI’s Connecting & Bonding conference held recently in the Atlanta area was Resting in Jesus’ Presence. The guest speaker was Lucinda McDowell, who is a pastor’s wife and elder.

Lucinda began Friday night with a presentation entitled, Rest: Come Apart Before You Fall Apart. Citing Jeremiah 6:16, she emphasized the need to stop and find rest for our souls. She also discussed soul care in the context of Psalm 23:2-3. She noted that Jesus, who is our restoration, restores our souls—he cares for us.

On Saturday, Lucinda presented Refuge: The Safest Place to Be. She focused on Psalm 59:9, 16: “You are my strength, I watch for you; you are my fortress, my God, on whom I can rely.” She noted that being held in Jesus’ arms is the safest place to be, and encouraged everyone to take refuge there continually.

The theme on Sunday was Renewal–Step Into the River. Lucinda encouraged the audience to make the most of their time. Focusing on conflict, commitment and courage, she highlighted Joshua 1:9: “ Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

This update is from Sonia Orozco, the pastor of one of GCI’s churches in Colombia, South America.

In February, we held our annual seminar in Santa Marta. It was attended by 66 adults and seven children. We thank God for his guidance, support and especially his presence and power in the event.

Guest speakers were GCI pastors Heber Ticas (from Los Angeles) and Hector Barrero (from Bogotá). The seminar was entitled “The Christian and Missionary Model of Jesus.” The focus was on fulfilling the Great Commission, following Jesus’ missionary model.

Each day we had a morning devotional, followed by worship and then seminar meetings. One evening we had a social event at which the various regions of the Colombian Caribbean coast were represented in costumes, songs and dances.

A highlight of the event was the baptism of three young men from our congregation.