Category: Stay Connected

The following update is from CrossWalk camp director Mike Rasmussen. CrossWalk is a GCI Generations Ministries camp that is held twice a year near Oklahoma City, OK.

Our 22nd Crosswalk Camp is in the bag! This session was based on the GCI Generations Ministries camp teaching curriculum Rooted.

We were blessed with a great group of campers who rallied together and gave their all. We were equally blessed with an amazing adult staff, who made things work while passionately loving our campers. We had 35 teen campers, 28 pre-teen campers, 6 children campers and 65 staff members.

An exciting trend is developing – former campers and staff members are returning to CrossWalk after getting married and having children. In response, we have added a “Mommy and Me” dorm, which is now filling on a regular basis.

It’s great to see young people, parents and grandparents working and worshiping side by side.

With about 170 people in attendance, New Covenant Fellowship, the GCI congregation in Glendora, California recently marked its 40th year as a congregation.

Over its 40 years, New Covenant Fellowship has been a family-oriented, biblically-based church with a strong commitment to youth ministry. Young people from the congregation have gone on to study at the University of Southern California, Azusa Pacific University, Claremont Graduate University and Yale, as well as serving in the Marine Corps and the U.S. Air Force.

The day’s guest speaker, Dr. Jeb Egbert, Provost at West Coast University, was typical of the many coaches and counselors who helped motivate teens and pre-teens in the 1980s when the church met at the Masonic Hall on Valley Center. Since 2001, the congregation has rented space from the Glendora Friends Church. Co-Pastor Judy Shoemaker of Glendora Friends gave the opening prayer for the anniversary service and Curtis May of the Office of Reconciliation Ministries ended with a benediction.

Bringing greetings from GCI were GCI’s Superintendent of Ministers, Dr. Dan Rogers with his wife Barbara, and District Pastor Eric Shaw with his wife Pat. Senior Pastor Neil Earle read official greetings from Glendora Mayor Gene Murabito saying “we appreciate the service and ministry of the New Covenant church [as] part of making Glendora a great place to live, work and play.”

As slide-show narrator Rose Neumann mentioned, New Covenant Fellowship has hosted Black History Month and Cinco de Mayo services every year since 1997 as reflections of its ethnic and cultural diversity. “Glendora has always been a welcoming and warm-hearted church,” said Assistant Pastor Roger Lippross, “one has only to look around to see the blend of races and cultures that has given the church a special composition.” The church also is involved in the National Day of Prayer and other civic events planned by the Glendora Ministerial Association. Ongoing outreach activities of the church include support for the Pomona Valley Shelter; the Bengali Evangelistic Association in Bangladesh; and Amigos Sin Frontera, a medical mission to the poorest mountain tribes of Mexico.

Dr. Egbert covered the subject “We’re Getting Older—Now What?” He brought out several points on facing the senior years joyfully, including enjoying the journey, taking care of yourself, doing something meaningful for others, and finding one small area of ministry and making it special.

Filipina culinary expert Maryann Baylosis led the women in serving a catered meal of braised beef and chicken. Margaret Villanova was happy to say that three generations of her family were in attendance. “So good to see lots of old friends,” she added. “You can’t beat that.”

 

Standing Together, a group of evangelical pastors from the Salt Lake City area, recently visited GCI’s home office in Glendora. Standing Together seeks to advance Biblical unity and spiritual transformation in Utah. Their focus is on being a catalyst for uniting the Utah Christian community through relational efforts of prayer, worship and strategic evangelism.

Standing Together’s founder and director, Greg Johnson, befriended Dr. Tkach over ten years ago when GCI was going through its transformation. Dr. Tkach recommended Greg to the National Association of Evangelicals to become an NAE board member. Greg brought several Utah pastors with him on this visit to GCI where they could hear GCI’s story firsthand and learn about GCI’s views concerning how to better interact with alternative religions. The group (pictured below) enjoyed the day together and were mutually encouraged.

Following are reports on two GCI youth camps held recently.

SEP Visayas: Jesus is More than Life!

GCI Philippines held its Summer Enrichment Program (SEP) camp in the Visayas in late May at a site near Cebu City. 67 campers attended, served by 27 full-time and 15 part-time staff. 34 of the 67 campers were first-timers and 21 were from non-churched backgrounds.

The camp included several evening events, including Movie Night with the viewing of the film “Gifted Hands,” which helped inspire the campers’ performances at Talent Night later in camp. On Encounter Night, camp director Joseph Ouano shared the story of the Prodigal Father (commonly known as the Parable of the Prodigal Son) in a fresh way. Campers responded with candle lighting to symbolize their surrender to God’s extravagant love. Campers also enjoyed Dance Night on the final evening. It featured fine dining, beautiful lanterns and exciting dance moves (with some awkward moments!).

Day-time activities included snorkeling and other sports. Campers also enjoyed the team obstacle course with dirt or paint on their faces.

We praise God for moving in the lives of all the participants. Eight campers decided to publicly proclaim Jesus as Lord and Savior and were baptized on the last day. All the campers and staff experienced the theme that Jesus is more than life Truly, it is only in Christ that we live a full and happy life.

Heart O’ Texas Camp: Rooted: Deep Roots, Lasting Fruit

Generations Ministries held its Heart O’ Texas camp in early June at The Colony in Texas. The 12 campers who attended were served by 12 staff. Two of the campers came from non-churched backgrounds. The three-day long camp included acts of random kindness (neighborhood outreach), fireside chats, team-building challenges, games, and the formation of a praise band that led worship for the sponsoring GCI congregation on Sunday.

The local congregation not only provided the main facility for camp activities and lodging, but also gave financial support and served as camp workers. Off-site swimming and cook-outs were held at the home of camp directors Scott and Shawna Herridge.

GCI congregations in the Zamboanga Peninsula of the Philippines recently celebrated their jubilee year.

The two-day celebration was led by area senior pastors. Participants shared recreation, worship, prayer and communion and heard encouraging messages from Pastor Rex Dela Pena who spoke about church unity. The celebration included installation of a new pastoral team (made up of Orvel Legaspi, Reynan Fernando, Ryan Paquit, Giovannie Bahilid and Jose Ronilo Arquisal) and the baptisms of several youth and one child.

This update is from Santiago Lange, GCI’s national director for Germany.

On Pentecost Sunday, May 27, WCG/GCI Germany celebrated its 50th anniversary in Leonberg, near Stuttgart. The celebration was preceded by a fellowship meal on Saturday evening that was enjoyed by 65 guests. After a multimedia presentation covering our history in the German-speaking region we heard from Dr. Joseph Tkach whose message was greatly appreciated. Dr. Tkach also led the concluding communion service. About 80 members attended the joyful event at the Amber Hotel. We were honored to have international guests from the UK, Switzerland and Austria.

This update is from Gary Moore, GCI’s national director in Canada.

The Yorkton, Saskatchewan church recently celebrated its 40th anniversary. Maurice and Lorraine Yurkiw were in attendance. They were the congregation’s first pastoral couple and were able to travel out from Winnipeg for the occasion. Trevor Cherry, the current pastor, was also present at Yorkton’s first worship service 40 years ago, as were a number of the current members.

I enjoyed chatting with Elmer Pufaldt, who was baptized in 1952 and has been a member of our fellowship ever since! Eleanor Lucky did a fine job as worship leader. The potluck meal was excellent and the fellowship most enjoyable.

This update is from Charles Fleming, GCI’s missions director for the Caribbean region.

May 11-13, the Grenada church hosted its second annual leadership retreat, with approximately 50 in attendance. Guest presenter was Greg Williams, Regional Pastor overseeing GCI congregations in the Eastern United States. Greg drew on his experience from his years of service to Generations Ministries to lead discussions on ministering to young people.

Greg also administered the Platinum Rule (relationship styles) survey, which helps participants learn about their temperaments. This led to lively discussions and was timely as the church has been recently joined by a group of former Adventists who have increased church attendance by nearly 50%.

Carmen Fleming served as the retreat’s spiritual director, leading insightful spiritual formation exercises much appreciated by the participants. Gus Thomas, a Grenadian living in Canada and serving as an elder in Toronto gave an inspiring presentation on relational evangelism.

During meal time many persons got together to sing songs of praise to God (see picture, above right). Meals were catered by Carlyle McIntyre a retired chef who worked in hotels in Miami and once was invited to cook for President Bill Clinton.

One of the highlights of the weekend was the opportunity to have two blessing of children services. In the first, we blessed 13 children, many of whom are members of the new group that recently joined us. In the second, we blessed newborn Abby McIntyre (picture at left).

Recently, Johnny and Mollie Weatherman (alumni of GCI’s Crossing Borders mission trip) were interviewed on A Time to Reconcile, a radio program hosted by Tom Pickett (GCI pastor in Fort Worth, TX). You can listen to the two-part interview about their Crossing Borders experience by clicking on these links:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHInWxyvqBU&feature=share
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqpLqx85qQ4&feature=relmfu

 

GCI’s SEP camp in Luzon, Philippines was held in May. Participants in the six-day camp included 103 campers and 40 staff members. Staffers included Jenny and Wayne Straub from SEP Canada.

The camp theme was The Joyride – Awesome God, Amazing Journey. This theme aligned with GCI Philippines’ 50th anniversary theme, depicting our continuing journey with God. Though the journey has valleys as well as peaks, we can find joy and assurance knowing that God is in full control.

Camp activities included daily devotionals, Christian living classes, community service, basketball, volleyball, swimming and ballroom dancing, acting workshops, trekking and Ultimate Frisbee. Camp evenings were highlighted by team-building games, movie night, bonfire, an entertaining variety show, and the much-anticipated banquet and dance night. A highlight of the camp was the baptism of 19 campers on the last day.