Category: Stay Connected

I recently asked for prayers concerning the community event being held at the GCI congregation in Atlanta where Charles Young serves as Lead Pastor. Pastor Young shared the following summary report for the free community COVID-19 testing held on their church’s property. They served around 300 neighbors! Now that’s making a difference in the one-square-mile around the church.

Thank you Pastor Young for your leadership!

Anthony Mullins

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The COVID-19 testing on our church campus went very well. We thank our great God for blessing Living Hope Fellowship with an amazing opportunity to serve our community! I don’t have the final count yet, but somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 people came to our site to be tested for COVID-19.

I heard many “thank yous” for allowing our church to be used for this event. The weather forecast called for an 80% chance of rain. Three times during the event it looked as if the heavens would open up and we would get drenched. Praise God, it never rained. Councilman Reeves reached out to me to ask if the church could be used for this event. This event may lead to another exciting opportunity for Living Hope to serve our community.

Blessings,
Charles Young

Join us for Virtual GCIgnite—An event to connect young adults (18-30) in our denomination through a time of welcome and worship, and develop leadership through content and breakout sessions focused on spiritual formation and practice.

For more information and to register, click the images below for pdfs of the flyer and brochure. Be sure to share this with the young adults of your congregation!

Well, friends, Covid-19 has been rough. As people who are created to be in relationship, social-distancing has taken its toll on us all. As the shutdown happened, we were all thrown into figuring out a new way of doing church. When we realized that this would mean we could not move forward with our neighborhood camp, Camp Surrey, we were devasted. Then we realized that just like we figured out different ways of “doing church” through Facebook or Zoom, we needed to figure out different ways of “being the church” to our neighborhood as well. We saw the challenges in front of us, but we could not stand the thought of leaving all those neighborhood kiddos hanging. We had an incredible response from our neighborhood with our digital egg hunt, and we wanted to do the same thing for Camp Surrey. We knew the Holy Spirit was in control, but what we experienced this summer was far beyond our wildest expectations.

Our leadership team came together (we all live in the same neighborhood) and decided we would provide a new camp experience for our neighbors. We put our heads and hearts together and after lots of prayers, we came up with a “digital camp” that would allow us to serve all kinds of families in our neighborhood. We stuck with the theme we already had planned “Mission I’mpossible” and we got creative!

Each day, we had videos from different leaders from our church as well as “missions” (challenges) for our neighborhood to participate in. All five families from our leadership team set up “rendezvous points” in their front yards throughout our neighborhood loaded with bags with all the supplies campers would need for that day’s challenge. We continued to set up each day of the week with new supplies. We were able to see lots of familiar faces and meet many new neighbors who were eager to join in on the fun!

Camp Surrey currently caps our camp at 50 campers. This year, because of the digital layout, we were able to serve over 200 families in our neighborhood. My friends, this is the BEAUTY of neighborhood churches and camps! There is nothing more rewarding than serving kiddos and neighbors that you will continue to see and have relationships with throughout the year! We were able to sit in our front yards and see many of the campers from previous years, as well as connect with many new families that we didn’t know before!

We also decided that this year, this was something we wanted to do free of charge for our neighbors and community. People are tired, stressed, and lonely, and we wanted to do something to serve them with no strings attached. We started off the week with a “Random acts of kindness scavenger hunt” followed by “kite making,” “origami,” “making family flags,” and ended the week with a neighborhood Camp Surrey parade! The joy we saw on the faces of our friends and neighbors was incredible. The Holy Spirit moved in a powerful way.

Each evening throughout “camp,” our leadership team was able to come together in my backyard to debrief each day’s events. We shared meals, we shared our hearts, and it became an intimate gathering where we were able to go so much deeper in relationship with one another as a leadership team. It wasn’t the same as our traditional camp, but it was beautiful. We were still able to experience the late nights and early mornings that we all missed so much about camp!

The experience was a gift from God. It filled us with hope and was a wonderful reminder that he is sovereign. He can use all things for his good and we are blessed to be able to participate with him. We pray that God continues to open the eyes of our hearts to show us all the ways we can join him in ministry, even in the middle of a pandemic. He’s got this! Bring on the fun!

 

Ceeja Malmkar
Love Venue Coordinator, GC Surrey Hills

 

 

Nsama Mwila (nee) Kaoma came in my life thirty-three years ago. Of these, 28 years have been spent together as husband and wife. We met in Grace Communion International (then WCG) in April 1987. Nsama served the Lord until she died on July 12, 2020.

God gifted, equipped and prepared Nsama for many roles she did in her life. Her warm and friendly smiles made it possible to attract people and make friends. Coupled with pioneering traits and administrative abilities Nsama contributed to my pastoral office as Office Administrator. Although she was not ordained as an elder, Nsama functioned as a minister in wonderful ways. The impact of these endowments resulted in visionary, servant, gracious and loving leadership.

Nsama’s giftedness and passion in ministry moved her to serve in several areas: as a Children’s Ministry Teacher, Youth Camp Ministry Coordinator, Camp Office Administrator, Women’s Ministry Coordinator, Church Board Member (GCI-Zambia), Pastors’ Wives Coordinator, Maid Servants Coordinator, Couples Fellowship Facilitator, Marriage Counselor, Region Office Administrator (Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe), GCI-Zambia Office Administrator, Africa Missions Office Administrator, Ambassador College of Christian Ministry (ACCM) Facilitator and Teacher, and Africa Superintendent Office Administrator. She ably filled the role of a great assistant.

In the communities where she lived, she served as a founding member of Mothers with Infants Support Talks (MIST), Village Banking Secretary, Silverest Community Development Team Secretary, Young Women Empowerment Group, and Women’s Financial, Self-Development, and Empowerment Teams. Nsama passionately believed in making a difference in people’s lives and that she could work within her identified circles of influence. She invested in people’s lives through education by paying school fees and generous donations to needy and vulnerable people.

To empower people with skills, Nsama established a school to teach various life skills to help graduates to stand on their own. She would say, “No one can take away your skill. You are the only person who can waste your skill.”

All in all, Nsama lived a fun-filled, responsible and engaging life to the glory of God. A few days before she passed on, she and I talked to our children about death. Nsama spoke to each child and blessed them. As a family, we prayed together and I anointed her before we slept.

My family and I look forward to seeing Nsama in the Kingdom of God.

Kalengule Kaoma, Superintendent, GCI Africa

 

Over the last two months, my wife and I have been keeping in contact with our members in Latin America to provide support to various countries there. The stay-at-home orders in many Latin American countries are affecting the population harshly. As you can imagine, folks generally struggle for the everyday necessities, and amid Covid-19, the struggles have multiplied. My home congregation in Sun Valley, CA, along with our Santa Fe Springs congregation, has been supporting and encouraging members in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Peru, including providing basic necessities for hundreds of families.

We have partnered with our local congregations in El Salvador, Honduras, and Piura, Peru. They have engaged the Love Avenue with tangible acts of love and have joined Jesus in bringing hope to many. Our Piura congregation that is pastored by Ruth Nieves has fully embraced the Love Avenue and is engaging their community missionally. She understands the opportunity that has been presented to her church and they are stepping out in faith.

The letter below is a report that she sent me from their engagement in their community.

Heber Ticas
Superintendent of Latin America &
National Coordinator for Church Multiplication

 

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Greetings and thanks from our GCI Piura congregation, Peru.

I am writing to inform you that we have finished the mission that was entrusted to us and that it has been a beautiful privilege to serve the Lord Jesus. We are very grateful to be able to participate with him in his work, bringing hope to many families who are in great need.

We give glory to our God who through you and the encouragement and support from our sister churches in Southern California allowed us to provide 30 food baskets to various families in our community. We have been able to see closely what God is doing. He has made our congregation walk down the love avenue listening to the different testimonies of people who were surprised because they did not have anything to eat and suddenly help appeared.

The Lord Jesus showed us the sad conditions that many people are living through in this pandemic. He also allowed us to prepare 25 dinners for people who spend the whole day outside the hospital near our community and who sleep on the street waiting for results of their relatives who are battling Covid-19.

I would like to share with you all the details of this precious journey, which has been for the glory and honor of our God, but I know there is no time, and I end by telling you that all this is just the beginning of great things. Through your support, more hearts locally have been moved to want to support and join in the work of God. We have wept with those who weep, and we will not remain with our arms crossed, as we have witnessed so much need and thirst for God.

Everything is in the hands of God and we thank him because he answered our prayers. Initially, we did not know how to help with the poverty and need that has been intensified by the pandemic. We are now able to supply this need for a roof and protection against the cold. We even have members who, due to the pandemic, have taken refuge in our tents and become chefs to those in need in the community.

Best regards,
Ruth Nieves

 

Robert McKinney is saddened to announce the death of his father, Joseph McKinney, who died on Saturday, June 20. He was 78 years old and had the blessing of being baptized by his son, Robert in 1997.

Mr. McKinney is survived by his wife Mildred, eight children, fifteen grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, July 11 in Freeport, Bahamas.

Expressions of sympathy may be forwarded to Robert McKinney at robert.mckinney@gci.org or sent to Robert McKinney, P.O. Box N-3934, Nassau, Bahamas.

Join us for Virtual GCIgnite—An event to connect young adults (18-30) in our denomination through a time of welcome and worship, and develop leadership through content and breakout sessions focused on spiritual formation and practice.

For more information and to register, click the images below for pdfs of the flyer and brochure.

Please pray for the Rakestraw family. Jonathan’s mom Reta Rakestraw died unexpectedly on Wednesday, June 24. Jonathan pastors Grace Family Fellowship, the GCI congregation in Tallahassee, Florida, of which his mother was a founding member until her death, having come into the church in 1971. She was well-loved by all who knew her and treated everyone like her family.

Your prayers for Jonathan’s father John, as well as Jonathan, Carolyn and their three adult children Matthew, Charlotte, and Andrew, and his sisters Debra and Amy and their families are much appreciated.

Cards may be sent to:

Jonathan & Carolyn Rakestraw
3946 Elysian Ct
Tallahassee, FL 32311-0705

Our congregation is now participating in a drive-in service each Sunday. What a joy to be physically present with one another in God’s presence. Join us in praying for gospel fruit and good weather as we find ways to safely worship together.

I am transmitting the message over an FM station. Each attendee can either tune their car radio into the station, listen over the loudspeaker or both.

Worship music is played and the lyrics are printed on the handouts along with announcements and offering choices (including an offering box as you exit).

We have done this for five Sundays now. It is extremely popular for our members and we are getting a few curious attendees as they see us do this week after week.

Grant Forsyth
In His Grace Community Church
Kenockee, MI

 

It is with great sadness that I announce the death of my loving wife of 54 years, Barbara Ruth Hogberg, which occurred on April 21, 2020, in Sachse, Texas. She was 79 years of age, and had been living in a nearby memory care facility, having suffered many months from Alzheimer’s disease.

Because of coronavirus restrictions, only immediate family members were present at her funeral at Sachse Cemetery, at which longtime family friend and GCI minister, Thomas Pickett, officiated. Barbara and I had attended Mr. Pickett’s New Hope Christian fellowship congregation for a number of years.

Barbara was born in Fort Worth, Texas, but grew up in Houston. After graduating from Bellaire High school, she attended what is now Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, graduating in 1962 with a Bachelor of Science degree in home economics, with a minor in art. Barbara had exceptional sewing and homemaking skills and had an excellent eye for paintings and fine decorations that later beautified all our homes.

In 1964 she moved to Pasadena, California, in order to attend classes at Ambassador College, the educational arm of the Worldwide Church of God (she, her mother, maternal grandparents and several other family members had become members of the church). There we got to know each other. I was the director of the News Bureau in the church’s editorial department and Barbara became the office secretary in the fall of 1965. Our relationship blossomed and we were married on January 23, 1966. Two sons, Neal and Derek, rather quickly entered our lives in December 1966 and July 1968.

After the children grew up sufficiently, Barbara worked for a while as a much-in-demand substitute teacher in the Pasadena area. Then the two of us began to undertake numerous, often international, trips together, usually in conjunction with my editorial, and later, ministerial responsibilities. Barbara loved international travel, visiting over fifty countries and territories. She also enjoyed fellowshipping with the ministry and members in far-off lands. Our travels continued even after we settled down in Texas in 2007 to be with family.

Barbara was known and loved by many friends and members in Southern California, Texas, and around the world, who have testified in cards and emails to her warmth, effervescent personality, generosity and ability to light up a room whenever she entered.

In addition to our two sons, Barbara is survived by Neal’s wife Denise, and our three grandchildren – Chloe, age 17, Brett, 15, and Grant, 9, and her favorite aunt who also lives in Sachse, Maisie Wheat, age 92, the last living member of the original Dallas congregation. Barbara is greatly missed by all of us.

Gene Hogberg, Retired Elder

 

Cards may be sent to:

Gene Hogberg
7619 Forest Ridge Trail
Sachse, TX 75048