Category: Stay Connected

The following report is from Rod Matthews, GCI’s Mission Director for Southern Asia, New Zealand and the Pacific.

Papua New Guinea

I met recently with Pastor Gabriel Mumuga who leads Papua New Guinea Ministries, a network of 25 non-GCI churches located in a rugged and remote part of PNG’s Central Highlands. Pastor Mumuga has been using our Discipleship Course in training pastors and other congregational leaders in his network. He had visited one of our Australian congregations, was very impressed, and met with me to discuss how his network might develop a closer working relationship with us.

Fiji

A group of GCI members from Fiji, the United States, Australia and New Zealand met in September for the Coral Coast Festival in Fiji. Isei and Va Colati, who pastor the local GCI church served as hosts. This annual festival is the only time Fijian members are able to get together. Special activities included some wonderful theme evenings – first dinner then a few items of entertainment – all themed to one of the countries represented (America, India, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands). An outstanding aspect of the festival was the music – both the congregational singing and special music presentations which included solo, group and choir songs along with dramatic and traditional dancing. Dennis Richards, a GCI pastor in New Zealand, served as guest speaker.

New Zealand and Sri Lanka

Back in March, Christchurch, New Zealand was devastated by a second major earthquake in six months. Members of GCI’s congregation there were directly affected, suffering loss and breakage of household goods. Two members have been unable to continue living in their homes. Nevertheless, in a living example of John 17:35, our members in Christchurch sent financial aid to those suffering from earthquakes in India and Nepal, and flooding in Pakistan! Also thanks to the generosity of our members in New Zealand, our booklet, The God Revealed in Jesus Christ is now available to people in Sri Lanka in the Tamil language. This complements our Sinhala edition, which was published last year. This is the first booklet we have ever published in Tamil and with the previously published Discipleship Course in both languages, adds to our growing inventory of biblical educational material in the two primary languages of Sri Lanka.

About 400 people attended the GCI Dells Celebration held in Wisconsin Dells, WI on September 29-October 2. The theme of “Lord, what are you up to?” was developed in messages and workshops from Willard High, Stephen Hill, Anthony Mullins, Tracy Porter, Dave and Linda Holmes, Sam Butler and Doug Johannsen. Audio recordings of most of the messages and workshops are available from Michael.Hill@gci.org.

Preparations for next year’s Dells Celebration on September 27-30 are under way. As in years past, the event will be held at the Kalahari Resort.

Members from the Philippines attended the annual Philippine Festival on October 28-31 in Cagayan de Oro City (with simultaneous celebrations in Bukidnon, Manila and Davao). The festivals followed the GCI Philippines 2011 national theme, “Growing Together in His Love.”

Festival highlights at the main site included worship services, a Trinitarian theology forum, variety show, family day, and socials for youth, singles, couples and seniors. Festival speakers included Eugene Guzon (Philippine National Director, who discussed the topic of “Our Foundation Is Love”), Len Joson (director of Philippine Media and Communications, who discussed “The Gospel of Forgiveness”), Jess Bahinting (Area Superintendent for Visayas, who discussed “Salvation That Leads to Good Works”) and Jeng Manriquez (Area Superintendent for Mindanao, who discussed “The God Who Loves Sinners”).

Naciancino and Alejandra Rico (pictured at right) celebrated their 63rd wedding anniversary during the Seniors Social. They have nine children and 24 grandchildren.

The Trinitarian theology forum was facilitated by Len Joson. Eugene Guzon answered some of the questions. One participant commented that her new understanding of Trinitarian Christ-Centered theology will help her relate with others much better.

Another highlight during the festival was the baptism of seven individuals who committed their lives to Christ.

This report is from Hector Barrero, national director for GCI in Colombia.

Our annual retreat/seminar in Colombia was held recently at a beautiful retreat center near Bogota. Members from several congregations participated.

We were blessed to have Heber Ticas, pastor of the GCI church in San Fernando, CA, as our guest speaker. Our theme was “Freedom in Christ” and Heber preached on the subject and held workshops on leadership formation. Our Colombian members were joyful and blessed to have a Spanish-speaking pastor from the U.S. visit and minister to us in such a powerful way. The work of the Holy Spirit was evident as our members gathered in unity.

GCI members in Switzerland recently gathered in the town of Zug for a few days of study, prayer, praise and fellowship. The theme for the retreat was Our Identity in Christ. Your Swiss brothers and sisters send their love and warmest regards to their worldwide family.

Joseph Tkach recently announced a change in the oversight of GCI churches in Mexico. Until recently, this oversight was provided by Hector Barrero who is director for GCI in Colombia and mission developer in Latin America. The new superintendent of GCI churches in Mexico is Lorenzo Arroyo, who will add this assignment to his work as a member of the U.S. Church and Development team led by Dan Rogers.

The reason for this change is two-fold: first because of close family connections between Hispanic GCI members in Mexico and the U.S., and second because of the relative ease of travel between the two countries.

Lorenzo, who is fluent in both English and Spanish, formerly supervised the eight Spanish-speaking GCI churches located within the U.S. (those churches are now overseen by Heber Ticas who is a GCI district pastor, pastor and church planter).

 

 

Curtis May, director of the Office of Reconciliation and Spiritual Mediation (ORM), submitted this report.

We held our bi-annual ORM Chapter Leaders’ Conference in Columbus, OH on October 7-9. I feel that this conference was one of the best we have had. It seems that ORM is entering a new phase. Kimberly Brummett, Director’s Office Program Specialist in the U S Justice Department, was a conference guest and observer. She said she enjoyed and appreciated it. She will report back to her boss, Community Oriented Policing Director Bernard Melekian. They are planning a national event on Reconciliation and Safe Cities in Washington, DC and are considering me as a guest speaker.

GCI elder John Connors, who has served as the CEO of various companies, challenged us to take ORM to the next phase of its existence. He pointed out that what began as a rather haphazard idea to “fight fires of broken relationships,” has developed into a full-fledged organization with the vision and talent to make a significant contribution in a hurting world. John reminded us that even though ORM is very much “of God,” it still is subject to the rules of good business practice. He told us that ORM had “come of age,” and must be ready for what comes next.

Tony Pierce and Cliff Parks updated us on the progress of their cross-cultural outreach in Peoria, IL. Their work is complex, expansive, and fits right in with the message of Jesus in Matthew 25 on helping to meet the needs of the poor, hungry and imprisoned.

Tom Pickett reported on ORM’s new broadcast opportunity on KCLE Big Country Radio Station in Cleburne, TX. The weekly program, titled “A Time to Reconcile” now has four regular broadcasters: Tom, his son David, Pastor Charles Dorsett and myself. You can listen to the program on the ORM web site by clicking here.

Other conference speakers included Jeff Broadnax, Evelyne O’Callaghan Burkhard, Willard High, Ron Washington, John Halford and George Hart. We also commissioned Pastor Larry Hinkle as a new chapter leader in Florida. We were joined in our final session, a worship service, by the CenterPointe congregation (the Columbus, OH GCI congregation) that hosted the conference in their church building.

ORM is now incorporated as its own non-profit organization. We are focusing on reaching an even larger community as God leads us. Our vision is to put the teachings of the Word of God into action by advancing relationships between people of different beliefs and points of view. Our website is at http://atimetoreconcile.org/.

 

Gary Moore, national director for GCI in Canada submitted this report.

Wendy, Kylie and I had a wonderful weekend at the retreat sponsored by the Vancouver congregation in Penticton, Canada. The fellowship was truly uplifting, and the setting both beautiful and peaceful. A focus on Christ permeated the occasion. It was a special treat to have Ron and Norva Kelly visiting. Ron gave two sermons and a seminar. Many of you remember that Ron was one of four presenters of the World Tomorrow television program back in the late ’80s and early ’90s. He is now retired from the employ of GCI, but continues to serve as an elder in New Hope Christian Fellowship, the GCI congregation in Eagle Rock, CA.

OMNIA was the theme for SEP Rockies, the Generations Ministries camp in Colorado. OMNIA is the Latin word for everything, and the theme expressed the truth that Christ is everything. This theme was derived from Col. 1:27: “God has chosen to make known the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” The camp theme song was Everything by Tim Hughes.

Many lessons were learned in camp, including being reminded of God’s provision and protection. The staff was on their knees on several occasions regarding inclement weather. God answered in undeniable ways. The weather kept us indoors and caused us to miss several scheduled activities. We were humbled to see how much the campers enjoyed this down-time. The more connected they are with technology, the less actual interaction they get with each other throughout the year. They had so much fun just hanging out!

The schedule was intentionally shifted to provide more life-on-life interaction between campers and staff. In one activity at the beginning of camp, each camper met for one minute with each of about 30 different staff members. As a result of this interaction, several staff members knew every camper by name within the first two hours of camp!

In an outreach class, Cliff and Mary Snyder from Higher Education for Ethiopia talked with the campers and gave them opportunity to make gifts for new friends and pen pals across the globe. Once again, the camp had a Guy/Girl Day to allow boy and the girl campers to assemble separately to discuss challenges related to their gender.

This year the camp made a shift in how worship is conducted, seeking to relate praising God with music that is culturally relevant. Doing so was a huge hit. Seeing campers and staffers singing, praising and dancing before God was pure joy!

For a glimpse of SEP Rockies in action, watch this video (the featured speaker is Anthony Mullins of GCI Generations Ministries who served this summer as SEP Rockies’ camp chaplain):

Philippine members gathered at Teachers Camp, September 21-25, for Festival 2011 with the theme, Growing Together in His Love. The celebration began with an evening service. Andrew Teng, pastor of Glory to the Lord Fellowship (GCI Quezon City) encouraged the audience to know that God loves them, to receive God’s love, to offer it and walk it. Other services (all held in the morning), included sermons from Gil Llaneza, the pastor of the Manila congregation. He discussed how GCI’s Trinitarian theology informs how we approach evangelism. In another service, Philippine national director Eugene Guzon spoke on God’s love as the foundation of the identity and activity of the GCI Philippine church.

Festival activities included a lunch for seniors, and a forum on Trinitarian theology led by Pastor Len Joson. There was also a time of fellowship and challenging games for pastoral teams and other congregational leaders. After one service, participants enjoyed a lunch provided by the Crossway congregation’s men’s group. After the lunch, members from the Manila South church, and teachers and staff from the Ambassador School for Children gathered the children for fun, games and Christian lessons. Santa Rosa church leaders hosted the teens and singles in a GCI version of The Amazing Race. That night, a dance was held, with participants dressed in Asian attire.

The members are looking forward to next year’s festival when they will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the beginning of GCI’s presence in the Philippines.