Category: Stay Connected

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

About 60 people from El Salvador and Honduras gathered April 5-7 for their annual seminar at the Agricultural Center of Comayagua, a city two hour’s drive from Tegucigalpa the capital of Honduras.

Five main lectures were presented: Started in heaven; The Vicarious Work of Jesus; Participants by His Spirit; A Church that Reflects the Grace of God; and Avoiding Pitfalls in Ministry.

Marco Antonio Mejia, GCI pastor in San Pedro Sula brought to the seminar three young people that started as children in his congregation and now actively serve with other youths. It was a positive and productive seminar that got us closer as brothers and sisters.

We have started monthly video conferences (using Skype) where leaders from different areas in Latin America gather online to discuss different aspects of their congregations, personal experiences and other subjects of mutual interest. This has proven to be a very positive way to edify each other.

This update is from GCI Canada director Gary Moore.

I recently had a most enjoyable visit with the Thunder Bay and Winnipeg congregations. I found my time with them most uplifting. It was great to see Chris and Emma Linke again, and I enjoyed a meal with Alan and Carolyn Redmond and Maurice and Lorraine Yurkiw.

Recently, my wife Wendy attended the 10th anniversary of the replanting of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Abbotsford. About 165 attended a time of inspiring worship and fellowship. Here are some pictures:

The following update is from GCI’s pastor in Haiti, Joseph Franklin.

In the past six months, Haiti has been experiencing a high level of criminality and there is a threat of civil war. Some uniformed people calling themselves members of the old army, carrying heavy weapons, are massed in old barracks belonging to the former national army. People are upset and express it loudly. The authorities declare those bands illegal and instructed the police to disband them, but there seems to be conflict in the chain of command because the police refused the order. Our assurance is that Jesus is at work. This is what gives us the strength we need for keeping on mission. We are not on the front line, but Jesus is.

On a daily basis, the news reports killings by the dozens. Fear, mistrust and suspicion are the norm all over this country. We are watchful – that is the least we can do. However, we cannot close our eyes to a situation that becomes out of control day-by-day. We pray and ask our spiritual family around the world to join with us.

Recently, one of the teachers in our school left the office with his paycheck and went straight to the nearby bank to cash it. As he left there and walked two blocks to find a taxi, two young thugs stopped him and took away the money while people looked on. We are taking special precautions at the school to keep the 150 children in the school and their parents safe.

We are grateful for the assistance we have received for the school. We have received help from GCI churches in Martinique, the U.S. and Bermuda. This assistance has enabled us to restore the school building to the condition needed to serve our population much earlier than we could on our own.

Several of our scattered members were able to be with us this year for services on Maundy Thursday and Easter. Several slept in our church building during the week.

This update is from Todd Crouch, who pastors Fountain of Life Church, the GCI congregation in Washington, PA.

I heard recently from RKP Radio in Washington, PA that our congregation’s Fountain of Life Broadcast program is reaching locally, nationally and internationally. We have listeners from as far away as India, the Philippines and the Czech Republic, in addition to stateside listeners in Ohio, Texas, Virginia and other states.

Most of our listeners catch the broadcast online, though it can be heard on local radio as well. I was told that this sort of widespread distribution, which has taken us one year to achieve, typically takes at least two.

Fountain of Life Broadcast can be heard on RKP Radio 1710 & 1670 AM or online at www.rkpradio.com Tuesday and Thursday at 2:00 PM.

The following update is from GCI Church Multiplication Ministries (CMM) director Randy Bloom.

CMM conducted its third annual Church Multiplication Summit in Memphis, TN on March 30-31. The event brought together those who have been working to advance the planting of new GCI churches in the U.S. Others attended to learn how individuals, congregations and districts can support church planting. Here is a picture of the participants:

Summit presentations included:

• Randy Bloom discussing church planting progress, identifying and resourcing potential church planters, and the role of district pastors in church planting networks
• Dan Rogers urging national, district and congregational ministries to place high priority on advancing church planting
• Church planters Mary Bacheller, Dishon Mills, Tom Kennebeck and Heber Ticas discussing their experiences and needs
• Several district pastors sharing insights and resources related to developing district church multiplication networks

In addition to these presentations, Heber Ticas consulted with the other church planters in attendance. At the end of the Summit each participant defined their next steps forward in advancing church planting.

The next Summit is planned for March 8-9, 2013, in Memphis, TN. Anyone who would like to participate in GCI church planting is welcome to attend. For information, email Randy.Bloom@gci.org

 

Grace Fellowship, the GCI congregation in Mineral Wells, WV held a special service on March 18 in celebration of its 40th anniversary.

The congregation began meeting in Parkersburg, WV on March 4, 1972 with members who had been attending the Charleston and Wheeling, WV congregations. Six of the original members were present for the 40th anniversary.

Following a short message from Pastor Warren D. Wilson, messages of greeting and congratulations were read from Joseph Tkach and six former pastors by Associate Pastor Roger Calendine. Hearing how these gentlemen remember the congregation and how they and their families are doing was a source of great encouragement. After these messages were read a microphone was passed around to allow members to share their memories concerning their time in the congregation.

Following the service, a buffet meal was enjoyed, accompanied by more memories and visiting among all who attended. Many expressed how much they enjoyed the day, thankful for God’s blessing and for the love and fellowship they have enjoyed together as a church family.

The following update is from GCI pastor and U.S. district leader Heber Ticas concerning the new church he and his congregation recently started in Los Angeles, CA (for a previous Update report on this church plant see https://update.gci.org/2011/11/new-church-launched-in-l-a/).

We give God thanks that our new satellite church plant is prospering. Attendance is steady with an average of about 80 (including the church plant team). Because we’ve reached critical mass, it is no longer necessary to have families attending from the mother church.

Recently, we held a community outreach event where we blessed families and encouraged family unity. In February we celebrated our first Lord’s Supper. Ministry is falling into place from all angles!

Now we are gearing up for additional community outreach events. We hope to see attendance increase to over 100 people. Planned events include special outreach services on Easter and Mothers’ Day and a community fair in June.

The ministry team in this new plant is doing a wonderful job! My primary responsibilities are to cast vision, mentor and preach. Recently, we commissioned Enoch Palacios to serve as campus pastor and my associate pastor. I am thankful to the Lord for Enoch – he is a gifted speaker and passionate for the community. Enoch and the rest of the team are now covering the day-to-day responsibilities of this church: cell group meetings, personal visitation, gathering for prayer and continuous evangelism. Their active involvement has allowed me to redirect my time back to pastoring the mother church.

We are progressing well in helping people travel our discipleship pathway (connect to Christ, connect to one another, connect to Christ’s mission). New people are taking our discipleship course taught by Enoch. About 15 people have expressed interest in being baptized in June.

Please join us in prayer about these developments, as we continue to ask the Lord to give us the ability to discern where the Holy Spirit is working so that we might join him there.

Blessings,

Heber

 

The following report is from Tim Maguire, GCI mission developer in Southern Africa.

My sincere thanks to GCI Canada for funding my recent visit to Namibia. GCI South Africa has been walking alongside a group of churches in Namibia since late 2010. This was my third trip to visit with their pastor Lascan Sikhosi.

A brief history

In 2006, a German missionary planted a small church in Katimo Mulilo in the Caprivi Strip in northeastern Namibia (see map at right). The missionary returned to Germany in 2008, leaving the new church without a support structure and suggesting that they find a mother church to associate with.

Unsure what to do, Lascan searched the internet and found the GCI South Africa website and started corresponding with me by email. I forwarded him a lot of our literature, which he read. He then asked for a visit. My first visit came in late February 2011.

On that first visit I found a group struggling with legalism and unable to understand the freedom we have in Christ. The Seventh-day Adventists are active in the area and had been trying to get the little group to follow them. Their leaders asked me if they should change their day of worship to Saturday. In reply, I explained the distinctions between the old and new covenants and the reality that Jesus is our Sabbath rest.

I returned to Johannesburg and sent them additional reading material as well as CDs dealing with Trinitarian theology. Also, I had hymn books made for them, with their songs in their language, which I delivered to them on my second visit in September 2011. Lascan then traveled to Zimbabwe towards the end of the year to spend some time being mentored by Zimbabwean National GCI Director, Joseph Mpophu. Lascan then attended a Southern African regional conference in Harare, Zimbabwe in February 2012, a week before my latest visit.

The trip

David Linker, a GCI member in Canada, had shown interest in a mission trip to Africa, and so it was arranged for him to accompany me on this trip. He flew in from Canada, and we left Johannesburg at 3:00 a.m. on Friday, February 24 in order to make our first destination (Kasane in Northern Botswana) by nightfall. We tented in a small camping ground at the confluence of the Zambezi and Chobe Rivers. This is a beautiful, remote part of Southern Africa, with wild elephants known to be found wandering through the streets.

After a 16-hour car journey, we slept well that night and awoke to a beautiful African morning. We then travelled through the Chobe Game Reserve, before entering Namibia on our final leg to Katima. The contrast in living standards as we entered Namibia was obvious. Small, basic rural homes with mud walls and grass roofs were scattered randomly along the main road into town.

We arrived after lunch and Lascan’s excitement was evident. We discussed the following day’s program and went to examine the church building where we were planning to make improvements, which would turn the little mud structure into a more weather-durable church building.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday was a day of rejoicing. Fifty attended the morning church service. David’s musical talent was a hit – he was asked to keep on singing and playing his guitar. I spoke on Christ’s centrality to all things. As an aside, I mentioned that Christ fulfills the Sabbath-day, quoting Hebrews chapter four. Unknown to me, Lascan had invited four senior Seventh-day Adventist leaders to attend the service. One of them came to him after the service and said they had never seen the scriptures quoted in this context, and asked if they might continue attending with the group. Clearly, the Holy Spirit was giving the message that they needed to hear!

My sermon was followed by a joyful ceremony in which Lascan’s four congregations were welcomed into GCI fellowship: Cow Boy (the congregation with the building) with 58 attending, Makalabani with 64, Singalamwe with 18, and Musambo with 24.

Near the end of the worship service the group shared the Lord’s Supper – the first Communion service they had ever taken part in! Following the service we all enjoyed a meal together of boiled chicken and ground corn porridge.

We then traveled to share worship services with two outlying small churches pastored by Lascan – one in Katima Mulio town (about 18 attended), and one about 25 kilometers west of town (about 12 attended). Both congregations meet outdoors.

On Monday we went to work on the church building – arranging building materials and trying to arrange for contractors to make badly needed repairs to the building.

A couple days later we traveled about 150 kilometers west along the Caprivi Strip to a small San (Bakwena) community where we held church under the trees. The San (previously known as Bushmen), claim to be the original inhabitants of Southern Africa. The greatest problem we face in this community is that the Bible has never been translated into their language. Fortunately, one of the members speaks Afrikaans, a South African derivation of Dutch, and has an Afrikaans Bible, which he translates for them.

On Wednesday we held an evening service back at the church building. At the congregation’s request, we again shared Communion, so touched were they by the experience the previous Sunday. We then said our goodbyes and early Thursday morning headed home.

It is comforting to know that on trips like this, the Holy Spirit leads us to participate in what God is already doing in the region. The greatest comfort of all, however, is knowing that when we depart we do not leave them alone, but in continual communion with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who guides them into all truth. These GCI churches in Namibia will now be served by GCI South Africa. Lascan will participate in our Pastoral training programs, and our national office will send them our GCI South Africa magazine, Face to Face (www.face2face.org.za) as well as audio CDs and articles.

Lascan has big plans to spread the gospel in Namibia. He is extremely excited by the truth he sees in Trinitarian theology. I’m sure you will hear again from Lascan and GCI Namibia!

The following report is from Rod Matthews, GCI mission developer in SE Asia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.

Thailand

In Thailand we have a congregation made up of Karen refugees from Myanmar. It is probably one of the most isolated of our congregations – not because of physical distance from others but because of their unfortunate circumstances.

This congregation has about 50 in attendance, more than half being children. They are in one of five camps along the Thai-Myanmar border which together hold more than 100,000 Karen refugees. Most have fled the fighting with the Burmese army over the last few decades. Most have nothing to return to, even if it was safe. Many of the villages back across the border in Myanmar have been burnt down and/or repopulated. So most of these people are essentially stateless and cannot move freely within Thailand. The children know of no other way of life but living in makeshift homes of wood, bamboo and thatch, in a vast town where (in this case) 40,000 people exist in cramped conditions with dirt lanes -either dusty or muddy – lining the hills for kilometers along the road that follows the border in the picturesque country north of the town of Maesot.

Yet we are privileged to serve the congregation that God has given us there to look after. On February 12, South East Asian pastoral coordinator from Malaysia, Wong Mein Kong and I were able to visit the congregation in the camp for services. It has been two years since we had gained approval to enter the camp.

Upon arrival we were amazed to see the large (and permanent) baptism pool the church members had built in preparation for four pending baptisms. The church service was planned around the baptisms – three people from member families, and one new member. Wong Mein Kong spoke on the significance and meaning of baptism (with local pastor, Lah Shi, translating into the Karen language).

After the baptisms, the celebration of this wonderful event included a communion service, and before we all took the bread and wine, I explained its significance and the joy of partaking together the elements that recognize Christ’s life-giving work to reconcile us to our Triune God and his Body of which we are now a treasured part.

Several more member families have been granted UN approval for resettlement overseas in the months ahead after the paperwork and medical exams have been completed. But although the numbers regularly attending our congregation have declined in the past few years for this reason, others have started attending. This day there were over 40 children in attendance.

As I meet with congregations like this one, I am moved to note that none of us chose our nationality or place of birth, and in their case, their very difficult circumstances. We pray more earnestly “Thy kingdom come” as well as hoping that the day will soon be here when these refugee camps will no longer be needed. Only God knows how many millions around the world live in such distressing circumstances as a result of man’s inhumanity to man.

Vanuatu

On November 6 last year, Obed Slee, the eldest of our members in the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu, died, possibly of a heart attack. His age was not known but he was probably in his mid 80’s since he had mentioned that he was a teenager when the Americans were in the country (then called the New Hebrides) during World War II. More intriguing, however, is that Obed (pictured with his grandchildren) had confessed that his grandfather had been a cannibal. Rex Morgan, pastoral supervisor for Vanuatu, recalls Obed once telling him this, so perhaps he was one of last surviving adults who have heard accounts firsthand from a relative who practiced cannibalism. (The last recorded incident of cannibalism occurred in 1969 on the island of Malekula where our church is located).

The following report is from Joseph Franklin, GCI pastor in Haiti.

Recently, I was approached by Pastor Jeremy Nicolas, representing a church of about 55 adults and children meeting in the Haitian village of L’Asile, about 100 kilometers south of Port-au-Prince. The congregation’s name is Eglise Universelle de Dieu of Pradine. Pastor Nicolas, who has read GCI literature since the 1980s, desires that his congregation become part of GCI.

I first spoke with Pastor Nicolas by telephone. He had many questions. Then, along with his leadership team, he visited with us for two days. During our time together we studied God’s nature. They had questions about baptism, the Holy Spirit and Jesus’ dual nature (as the Son of God incarnate).

We found Pastor Nicolas and his members to be a fine group of believers with an honest desire to seek God.