Category: Stay Connected

Please email update@gci.org with news, updates, and prayer requests from your local congregation or community to include in the GCI Update. The more we work together, the healthier a church we’ll be.

These two first met at the age of 5, while attending church festivals in their home nation, the Philippines. After becoming friends, they kept in touch remotely and were able to see each other at GCI camps and functions over the years where they remained close friends. In the last 3 years, they both moved to the USA separately and were able to reconnect, sparking a relationship earlier this year. Reuel works for GCI at the Home Office, and Lucellie is completing her Master of Music Therapy Equivalency program in Texas. They were engaged Thursday, June 18th in Charlotte, NC. They plan to announce a wedding date in the near future.

Save the Dates!

Click the image above for more information.

Please continue to pray for Barbara Rogers. She remains in very serious condition. She is in tremendous pain and has difficulty breathing.

She is allowed no visitors. Please also pray for Dan and his three children.

Greg & Susan Williams are delighted to share the good news, that their son Glenn and his wife, Crystal, welcomed their newborn son, Everett Dean Williams into the world on June 3, 2020. Emory Grace now has a baby brother!

We are saddened to announce the death of our long-time, faithful Pastor of our GCI Haiti congregations, Pastor Joseph Blaise Franklin. Pastor Franklin died in hospital in Haiti on Sunday, May 17, 2020, after a battle with cancer. He had just turned 83 years old.

Joseph Blaise Franklin was born May 12, 1937 and ordained on January 13, 1989. He served as the church pastor of St. Mark, Haiti from 2009 through 2016 when it closed, and then in Port-au-Prince, Haiti from 2002 until 2019.

I had the opportunity to speak with Pastor Franklin about two weeks before his death, and he was in good spirits and his faith was firmly resting in Jesus Christ. Pastor Franklin is survived by his wife Georgette, their children: Georgette, Joel, Nathanaël and Billy, and their grandchildren. Funeral services were held Tuesday, May 26 in Haiti.

Words of encouragement to the family may be sent via email to Daniel Naval at danielnaval2702@gmail.com.

Regards,
Robert W.T. McKinney

Dear church family,

We’re praising our Dad and thanking you for speaking with him about me and my family.

I received a call from the urology surgeon’s office saying he is extremely pleased and hopeful with the biopsy results after my successful prostatectomy on May 8.

In his view, I can be declared cancer-free. The lab evidence indicates that the removal of the prostate and the capsule completely removed the cancer. The testing of surrounding tissues and lymph yielded no evidence of spread.

I will return for a follow up on June 10 for additional blood work and examination.

Rejoicing that Jesus (Jehovah Rapha) has been in this with us and has never left my side.

In the midst of so much turmoil, chaos and evil, we praise Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is on his throne, and he is good, all the time.

James & family

Fran Baron, mother of Debbie Wood, both members of GCI Tyler, Texas, suffered a small frontal lobe stroke on May 23. Fran was admitted to the hospital for observation. She has had ongoing issues with atrial fibrillation for several years.

Debbie Wood was a teacher at Ambassador, and both she and her mother Fran are well known and loved by many who attended and were part of the church community in the surrounding area.

Fran was put on a low dose medication and able to be released to go home as she began to show signs of improvement within 24-36 hours. She will be having follow-up appointments with doctors in the coming weeks.

Please keep her and family in your prayers in the coming weeks as they determine the additional needs she has.

If you would like to send her a card please address it to:

Fran Baron
602 Golden Road, Apt 306
Tyler TX 75701

With a heavy heart, we must announce Pastor Valentin “Len” Joson has gone home to be with the Lord fully. He died of a heart attack while going through some medical procedures in the hospital on Wednesday, June 3. Pastor Len was ordained a local elder on April 2, 1988, and has served in different capacities, first as a ministerial trainee in Pampanga, and then pastored churches in the Northern Luzon area. He was also asked to serve as pastor for several churches in Mindanao, after which he served as an area superintendent for many years.

Len assisted significantly in helping leaders understand Incarnational Trinitarian theology through his teaching and by cofounding the Trinitarian Forum. When he retired in 2010, he continued his media ministry until the day before he died.

Pastor Len is a big blessing to many of us, and his death is a huge loss to Grace Communion International in the Philippines. Those days he pastored churches, and times we spent together, visiting churches and training leaders are remembered with fondness, due to his humble and willing servant spirit, and his passion to teach. His legacy remains as an inspiration and a call to live a meaningful life in Jesus. He is a dear brother in Christ, and will certainly be missed by all of us. Thank you, church family, for your love and prayers even while he was in the hospital and more so now, as the family mourns.

Grieving with you all,

Eugene Guzon

Cards may be sent to Len’s widow, Jojie, at:

Ms. Jojie F Joson
119 Bel Air Drive, Laguna Bel Air 1,
Brgy. Don Jose, Sta Rosa, Laguna 4026
Philippines