Category: Stay Connected

Join us in honoring Warren Wilson, longtime pastor, who retired in August.

Cards may be sent to:
Warren & Lorraine Wilson
220 Waverly Way
Clarksburg, WV 26301-4047

Congratulations, Warren and Lorraine! We are very grateful to you both for your faithful service and love for Jesus’ church.

We asked Warren to share his reflections.

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I retired at the end of August after 34 years in full-time ministry. It’s amazing how quickly 34 years can fly by. Now I’ll be able to spend more time with my wife, Lorraine. She and I are celebrating our 50^th wedding anniversary on September 16, 2022. I’m also looking forward to spending more time with our two sons and daughters-in-law, our five grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren and two step great-grandchildren. It should be a lot of fun!

My faith journey in GCI began in the early 1960s. Our family listened to the radio broadcast, and we moved to Southern California in 1964. Shortly thereafter my sister Janet and I began attending church and were welcomed warmly by the members.

In 1968, I began attending Ambassador College in Big Sandy, TX, where I met my future wife, Lorraine Holtkamp. During my time there I really didn’t feel that I was being called into the ministry. So, after our graduation and marriage in 1972, we moved back to Southern California. We moved around and attended various congregations, finally ending up in the Bay Area in the early 1980s.

While attending the San Jose church, I began to sense that I was being called to ministry. I was ordained an elder in 1986 and hired into the full-time ministry in 1988. In the summer of 1994, we were transferred to Clarksburg, WV, where I served as their senior pastor. Little did I imagine how things would change in six months, and that I’d serve the rest of my ministry in West Virginia.

It was a difficult time in 1995 as some of our members left. But through it all, I encouraged the remaining members. We are saved by God’s grace, not by our attempts to keep the law. We were wrong — it’s been humbling to accept that. The scripture that has meant the most to me in our transition is Galatians 5:1.

So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law. NLT

The thing that has been the most meaningful to me during my years in ministry is the chance to serve the members and to share their joys and sorrows. I can’t imagine doing anything that would be as meaningful as that.

Now that I’m retired, I’m looking forward to seeing how God wants to use me going forward. I don’t believe he’s finished with me yet, so I pray and look forward to him revealing to me what’s next. I still want to serve him and serve others wherever and however I can.

Pastor Warren D. Wilson

We asked our members to tell us why they appreciate their pastors. Click the image below, and read what they had to say!

Welcome to GCI Buzz! What is GCI Buzz? It’s a tool we use to recap GCI buzzwords and terminology — definitions at a glance.

This month’s GCI Buzz defines integration and describes ways to create a welcoming space for guests. #gcibuzz

Click on the image below to check out the full PDF.

Tracey was a retired pastor, who served in Jacksonville, Florida. On August 26, 2022, at the age of 86, he died in Colorado. The following was written by Pastor Marty Davey, who served with Tracey.

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Our dear brother and faithful GCI minister, Tracey Rogers, recently passed. Tracey and his wife, Judi, moved from Jacksonville about 4 years ago to live near their daughter and family in Colorado. He and Judi have been living of late in a very nice, assisted living facility together.

Tracey’s family held a memorial service for him in Colorado. They plan to bring his ashes to Florida in the future, to scatter them where he loved his life and precious wife, whom he met on the beach in Jacksonville.

Tracey passed, having completed his pilgrimage and sojourn in this mortal life. As was so eloquently said in Acts 7, we join with Tracey in saying with him, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

Well done, Tracey – you have been a good and faithful servant!

Cards may be sent to:
Judi Rogers
c/o Morningstar Assisted Living & Memory Care
575 Tantra Drive
Boulder, CO 80395

The U.S. Southeastern region hosted a webinar series early in 2021, facilitated by Ted Johnston, featuring our We Believe curriculum. Ted emphasized how instructive and impactful this tool can be for discipleship and spiritual formation in the Faith Avenue. Several congregations in our region began engaging the We Believe content with their connect (small) groups.

GCI Miramar (Florida) and Pastor Charles Taylor reaped another “graduating” class that completed the We Believe series! The held a special meal to celebrate. I’m grateful for their willingness and diligence to engage trinitarian theology and its implications for life and mission in and with our triune God.

Would you like to learn more about We Believe? Check out the We Believe workbook which explores our core beliefs with individual study and communal discussions: We Believe Workbook

Congratulations to the GCI Miramar We Believe graduates. Praise God!

By Anthony Mullins
Regional Director, Southeast U.S.

We attribute the success of our kids’ back-to-school carnival to the Holy Spirit and the prayers of many who partnered with us in the weeks leading up to the event. Every Sunday for three months, members and friends of GCI Glendora were encouraged to pray for enough volunteers and for God’s will for the carnival.

A week before the event, our Love Avenue champion took the initiative of emailing and mailing out a specific prayer list of what to pray for before, during, and after the carnival. We prayed not just for ourselves and the volunteers, but also for the Holy Spirit to prepare the hearts of the neighbors who would come. Some members performed a “prayer walk” in the surrounding neighborhoods, while going door-to-door to pass out fliers announcing the carnival.

We are compelled by the love of God to serve our neighborhood – that’s our central reason behind neighborhood engagement. Specifically, we held this initial event because we desired to:
• get to know our neighborhood and have some fun with them,
• allow the neighborhood to get to know us and know that we exist,
• bring about a change of mindset from inward to outward,
• provide training for volunteers to be more effective at future activities, and
• create an opportunity to celebrate obedience to God’s call to reach out and serve, regardless of the outcome.

Our goals for the carnival were:
• to give people a good time,
• to start getting to know kids in our neighborhood,
• to help the kids have a good time. Every player wins a prize.

We would have been content if only two kids had attended – but we were amazed and grateful that approximately 200 people showed up! All our neighborhood engagement and carnival preparation has been an act of faith in our God who provides so much more than we expect or imagine.

Through this new Love Avenue experience, we are learning the slow and consistent process of getting to know our neighborhood and how we can best serve with the gifts we already have. It’s as if God is saying to us, “Trust Me. Watch and see what I will do through your obedience to me.”

By Jillian Morrison
Associate Pastor, Glendora, California

Greetings GCI family,

The Zambian church is excited and humbled to have raised an African Champion! Muzala Samukonga won a gold medal in the 400 metre event at the 2022 African Championships in Mauritius in June. He also won a gold medal at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, finishing in 44.66 seconds in the 400 metre race.

Muzala, age 19, is the first born in a family of six boys and one girl. Together with his mother and siblings, he congregates at GCI Central church in Lusaka. We are very proud of the young man as GCI family and thank God for being with him. Let’s remember him in our prayers, asking for him to stay focused on God as he is an example to the youths in our congregation and indeed all of Africa.

By Grace Namukolo
Lusaka, Zambia

An exciting milestone has been accomplished in Ghana with the launch of a Ministry Training Centre (MTC). A ribbon cutting ceremony was performed to the cheers of more than 500 members who witnessed the significant moment. Joined by Emmanuel Okai, Regional Director of West Africa, and Theo Okai, Ghana National Pastor, Superintendent Kalengule Kaoma cut the ribbon to usher in this important phase of leadership training and empowerment in Africa. “The Accra Ghana MTC was inaugurated during the Sunday service on August 28, 2022, at our Kutunse Convention Auditorium with the clear presence of the Holy Spirit,” Emmanuel Okai said of the event.

I am writing this update because The Ambassador College of Christian Ministry (ACCM) is delighted to partner with this important program. Classes have already begun with the Jesus and the Gospels course, which I am teaching with Kalengule. He reflected on that first day, “We were blessed with John Mclean’s Zoom presence in class, and we had a good time. The MTC meetings went very well. I’m grateful to God, the organisers, and sponsors for making possible this grand step in GCI Ghana.”

The first short steps in the proverbial “journey of a thousand miles” have been taken in both programmes. Or as Emmanuel Okai put it, “Like the Biblical mustard seed, ACCM classes started for leaders in the West Africa region in August 2022.” Our confidence for success is based on our resolve to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit as Christ directs our region to become the best possible expressions of healthy churches and healthy members led by healthy leaders.

We appreciate your prayers for the successful development of the MTC and ACCM’s ongoing contribution. Together, we celebrate the work of the Holy Spirit and the “I” in GCI.

By John McLean,
ACCM Director

The Australasian Conference and Celebration Weekend was held on 18-22 August at the picturesque site of Caloundra, on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland. With the theme of Compelled by Love, we fellowshipped in the presence of a very joyful and loving spirit as we were able to meet together again with our brothers and sisters from all around our region after a long and isolating stretch with COVID.

On Sunday, with an estimated 230 members attending in-person and 70 Zoom connections, more than 300 members participated in the service. We heard an inspiring message from our president, Greg Williams, entitled, “Jesus our True Foundation.” The Communion was given by his wife, Susan Williams. We were delighted and thankful for the presence of Greg and Susan. Members very much appreciated their messages and the opportunity to spend time in fellowship with them. We were also delighted to have the GCI Goodna, Queensland choir present their lively special music.

Pastors and leaders shared experiences and aspects of the Faith, Hope, and Love Avenues that are being implemented in their various areas. RD Dennis Richards presented on the trinitarian foundations of the Team-based, Pastor-led model, and Coach Martin Bailey led a Zoom presentation on the four E’s [Encourage, Engage, Equip, Empower.] All the presentations were informative and encouraging.

Activities included a fun family night with dancing and games and a dinner for Gen XYZ leaders. Twenty-four young people gathered to have lunch on the beach and an exciting game of Archery Zone. After the restrictions of COVID, it was lovely to see young people from all around the country gather once again and have some fun!

Everyone appreciated the global update from Greg. He warmly described the faithfulness of our leaders and members, in their various life circumstances, in the countries he has visited this year. It was a great reiteration of the connectedness we have with our brothers and sisters internationally, and an affirmation of the central role the Home Office plays in strengthening our ties and bringing us together as a global team. The presentations and prayers over the five days were an inspiration to all and a great motivation to keep moving forward with Living and Sharing the Gospel, being Spirit-led with Jesus as our True Foundation.

P.S. Greg and Susan departed our shores to visit the church in Fiji. Stay tuned for this update in a future issue!

By Daphne Sidney
Australasia Superintendent