Category: Stay Connected

In the midst of the coronavirus crisis in Madagascar, GCI Tana has organized donations to help struggling families to survive. With more than 100 positive cases of Covid-19, the country is on partial lockdown, putting at risk the survival of already poor communities who rely on daily income.

GCI Tana has managed to get two organizations from France to sponsor the food donations to the poor. One of the organizations has previously helped GCI give complimentary meals for the children during the church’s children outreach every two weeks.

GCI has organized the donations for 70 families affiliated with GCI. Some of them have their kids attending the church’s children ministries, and some of them are from a village called Ankararana where weekly preaching was held by Pastor Rigobert over the years as part of the GCI Tana outreach program. Some of them are GCI members struggling to survive this present crisis.

Families were given food parcels organized by GCI Tana. The food parcels for each family consist of 10kg of rice, 1kg of sugar, 1kg of salt, 1.5kg of pasta, 1L of cooking oil, 5 small packets of porridge, and 5 soap bars, and protective masks. The families with children are also getting a portion of cheese. Getting these products was quite challenging due to the lockdown but by God’s grace and mercy they could be sourced.

Extra precautions were taken during the donation process. People were given different times to come to collect their packages to avoid a mass gathering. Another outreach donation is planned for the children and the elderly.

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What are you doing to impact the mission field God where has placed your congregation? Let us know at info@gci.org so we can share and encourage one another.

Tommie Grant, pastor and GCI Board member, sent a prayer request on behalf of his brother Robert Grant. On Monday, April 6 Robert became very weak and was taken to the hospital by ambulance. He was tested for COVID-19, but results came back negative. Wednesday morning they found that he has an infection in his blood but not sure of the reason ( similar situation happened to him last year). However, late in the afternoon, we received a call that the infection caused his kidneys to shut down. He was rushed to the ICU, where they put him on dialysis immediately before the infection damaged more organs. No one is able to see him at the hospital because of COVID-19 restrictions, including his wife, Barbara. This is taking a toll on the family at the moment after just losing our oldest brother a month ago. Robert is the 2nd oldest.

Update as of April 28th – Tommie’s brother Robert remains in the ICU in a critical but stable condition. Still not responsive as of last Wednesday. Tommie said his condition hasn’t gotten any worse which they consider a good sign. Tommie and the entire Grant family appreciate your ongoing prayers during this difficult time.

Cards for Tommie Grant may be sent here:

Tommie and Robin Grant, Jr.
115 Heritage Lane
Summerville, SC 29483-3110

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Ellis Necessary, GCI pastor in Morristown, TN, fell on Thursday night, April 9th, and fractured a hip and shoulder. He had surgery on Friday.

Update as of Monday, April 28 – After two weeks in the hospital, Ellis was able to return home last week and is working through his recovery from the fractured hip and shoulder. Surgery on his hip went well and his shoulder thankfully didn’t require surgery. As some of you know, Ellis runs his own small business, and being unable to work has caused additional stress. He’s grateful for your prayerful support.

Cards for Ellis Necessary may be sent here:

Ellis and Dorothy Necessary
498 Cambridge Cir
Russellville, TN 37860-9329

Dear friends,

James had his follow up with a second doctor this week, and he would like to do surgery rather than simple surveillance. It is currently scheduled for Friday, May 8. Please keep him in your prayers for the surgery, his recovery and peace of mind.

Much love,

The Newby family

Charlotte, North Carolina – Pastor Tracy Winborne

Our first responders, John, Claudia and Ashley are providing meals and snacks to over 200 homeless people on College St. One would think they are imagining a scene from a horror story right in our backyard. Hundreds of people are living in tents and without much-needed resources. Our mission is God’s mission: to witness the gospel and with limited words act by showing love. These members of Grace Communion Charlotte are taking precautions and experiencing a joy inexpressible. This is an ongoing activity for Grace Communion Charlotte. We provided funds to support our homeless and will do so every Wednesday as long as it takes or until funds are unavailable. And even then, we can hold their hands. Ashley, 19 years old, is passing out scriptures to the homeless and sharing the gospel message. We are proud of their missional DNA and know good things will come from the love poured into the community.

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Houston, Texas – Pastor Mark Mounts

We in Houston pray that all are coping with this incredible reality that we and the world are facing. All of Houston and the surrounding counties are under directives to “stay at home.” The exceptions are the usual service providers and medical staff that keep us all going. We have gone to a virtual worship format and we have also been communicating through Facebook. We are very spread out and most of our members are older and would be considered in the “high risk” category. I called one of our members who has limited mobility and he reported that his neighbors are buying him food and making sure he’s got all that he needs. He became a widower a little over a year ago. This is our prayer: Most loving God, thank you for moving the hearts and minds of those to let your light shine; even in the most troubled of times.

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Waltham, Massachusetts – Pastor Dishon Mills

The COVID-19 crisis is not good. We pray for those families around the world who have lost loved ones to this terrible disease, as well as those who are currently sick. At the same time, we serve a God who can make good things come out of bad situations. Moving our Sunday meeting and small groups to ZOOM has dramatically increased our reach. We have attracted at least one new person each week for the past three weeks. Our attendance is up 25% and our web traffic is up over 200% since the crisis began. COVID-19 has forced us to focus on relationships, which is what the church should be doing anyway. Perhaps we are in the midst of a virtual revival?

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Big Sandy, Texas – Pastor Jerome Ellard

One way we are remaining together is by phone: my wife Helen and I, and two other elder couples have divided up the congregation so that we can contact every member at least once during the week, encouraging them and asking if they need any help. We are still the body, even when we can’t physically be together. I’ve also started a “virtual prayer meeting.” Several of us used to meet at church on Tuesday evenings for a time of intercessory prayer. I’m now sending out a prayer list to all our members that have email, asking them to pray in their homes on Tuesday evening or at any other time during the week, adding other things they know about to their prayers. I send my Sunday message summaries to the local paper. I’m looking at other ways that we can continue to share the hope we have in Jesus through his word. We are asking everyone to keep up with each other and we look forward to being able to be together again soon!

Join me in celebrating David Borum and Elizabeth Mullins, who completed their GCI USA Pastoral Residencies this year.

David completed his residency on January 24. He served as a Pastoral Resident with Pastors Linda and Tim Sitterley with Grace Communion Eugene and Grace Communion Salem in Oregon. David brings wit as well as a depth of reflection and inclusive spirit to his pastoral ministry. Ministering alongside David, I’ve experienced laughing over a sarcastic joke one minute and a soul-deep conversation the next.

Elizabeth completed her residency on April 3. Elizabeth served as a Pastoral Resident with Pastor Anthony Mullins with Grace Communion Hickory in North Carolina. Elizabeth brings great compassion for those of God’s children hurting and oppressed and a heart on fire for God’s healing and restorative justice to her pastoral ministry. Ministering alongside Elizabeth I’ve experienced being challenged into uncomfortable depths with Jesus that lead to growth and a little bit of holy mischief.

Below, we asked them to speak about their ministry and review their experiences and takeaways from their time spent in the GCI Pastoral Resident Program.

 

Cara Garrity
Development Coordinator

 

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Elizabeth

I’m very passionate about how God conforms us to Christ’s image in the context of God’s Body. My faith is not merely a private, individual transaction between God and me. God’s story has always been one of renewing, redeeming, and restoring a people! We grow in love and desire for God and experience God in the relational community of the Church. And the Church is the beautiful Bride of Christ!

I have been shaped by the Pastoral Resident program by sharing community with and learning from my cohort of other pastoral interns and residents. The intentional leadership development I received was also an important piece. Pastoral leaders must possess a love and desire for God and an understanding of theology, of course. I learned that leading and discipling others in a healthy church goes beyond this. Healthy leadership is a skillset that can be refined. Personally, healthy leaders are growing in emotional intelligence, self-awareness, boundary-setting, time management, and the development of nourishing habits and rhythms. Interpersonally, healthy leaders are growing in the skills of team-building, communication, empowering and calling up others, and change management.

I served in Grace Communion Hickory in North Carolina. Since our congregation was a relaunch into a new neighborhood, we decided my role would include serving as the Community Developer. My role evolved to include the Champion of the Love Venue, also.

In addition to falling deeper in love with Jesus’ Church, my time in the Residency program demonstrated how important it is to be a local, community church. It’s very difficult to discern how to participate with Jesus’ renewal in my neighborhood without proximity and daily presence. Having a laser focus on one square mile surrounding our church building has had a huge impact on how we love our neighbors.

David

Since the age of 16, I have been involved in some form of ministry. Over the years I have participated in everything from street evangelism, youth ministry, worship leading, jail ministry, leading home groups and preaching. The most memorable time in my life was when I spent two years in full-time ministry in The Philippines with Youth With A Mission. My hope is that by the end of the year I will be a lead pastor somewhere within GCI.

The Pastoral Resident program afforded me the opportunity to take a good hard look at pastoral ministry within GCI. Through the program I was able to assess what my strengths and weaknesses were and to learn how to work together with others in ministry. Through the Pastoral Resident program I was made fully aware of my need to be dependent on the Holy Spirit for guidance and wisdom. The program positioned me to develop a heart for God’s people.

I served two congregations: my home church in Eugene, Oregon, as well as the Salem, Oregon, congregation an hour away. Serving two congregations helped make me aware of how different a culture can be from congregation to congregation. I found that I needed to tailor my sermons and approach to people in these congregations based on their specific needs.

I will always have fond memories of our annual resident/intern retreats that were held in Ohio and Tennessee. Having the Regional Director also serving as my lead pastor gave me the privilege of meeting many other pastors/leaders in the denomination. It gave me a good sense of the vision and mission of GCI. I am grateful to Tim Sitterley for his trust in where God was leading me and affording me the opportunity and the autonomy to pursue what God had been placing on my heart in how to serve the church.

The GCI congregations in Ghana have, over the last few years, seen an increased desire to pray, worship and draw nearer to God. This is particularly evident in members in their 40s and younger. They find opportunities to be more intentional in their walk with God. New media is used innovatively.

Four interesting examples include:

1. 21 Days of Fasting and Prayers – This is linked to Ghana’s annual 7 Days of Fasting and Prayers, which take place in early January each year. This fasting and prayer period is extended to 21 days for those willing & interested.
2. Weekly Prayer and Worship on Zoom – This is a 1-hour meeting that takes place on Tuesday evenings each week and is led by volunteers. Zoom is an online meeting room, and most join using their mobile phones. Members briefly discuss Bible passages, worship and pray.
3. Quarterly All-Night Thanksgiving, Worship and Prayers. This takes place four times a year at the church campsite from 10 pm to 3 am.
4. Daily 1-hour Prayer and Worship on Zoom During 21 Days of Fasting. This takes place at 7 pm each evening during the 21 Days of Fasting in January.

 

Blessings,
Glowen Kyei Mensah
Member, GCI Ghana

 

You Are Loved!

As I was sitting watching virus updates the other day with my wife, I heard a lot of horns blowing outside our front door. It was a bit disturbing, so my wife and I looked out the window with concern, thinking something was wrong. To our delight, we witnessed a very touching sight. There were seven cars that were driving through the neighborhood. Each car was decorated with signage and other decorations. The signs had messages such as we love you, we miss you and we can’t wait to be with you again. These were teachers and faculty from the local school district who took a moment of their lives during this dark time we are facing to share a message of love to their students and their parents.

It put joy in my heart to see that moment of goodness in humanity in the face of the ugly side of recent happenings in our world. These teachers and faculty members showed many people in the neighborhood a great example of what giving someone a moment of light in the darkness looks like. I truly believe that moment will impact the little girl who was outside with her mom learning to ride a bike and watched this caravan go by. What I learned from this is that we never know how what we do will impact the life of another, but we must be mindful of what we do when the opportunity presents itself. Do we ignore the moment, or do we engage with the Holy Spirit in that moment he shows us the opportunity to love others as we love ourselves?

The dark times that humanity faces have a tendency to keep us in realms of fear and doubt. However, when our Incarnate Lord Jesus came to us, he did the same thing these teachers did, albeit in a more impactful way for all humanity. Watching these teachers declare their love and dedication to these students in the midst of something where these young people probably don’t fully grasp the magnitude of the danger at hand reminded me to look to Jesus as he declares his love and dedication to us. Isaiah 63 captures this story of love and restoration from dark times very well. How beautiful it will be when these students and teachers are reunited in the fullness of the relationship they share, just as we anxiously await the reunion with Jesus realized in the fullness of the relationship he desires with us into eternity. Thank you, teachers of the world, for your love and dedication, and thank you, Lord Jesus, for your love and dedication to all humanity.

Stay safe, blessed and loved!

Terry McDonald
Lead Pastor
Living Grace Fellowship (GCI)
Kansas City, MO

Having a church family means we don’t have to be isolated even at this unprecedented time. We refuse to buy into fear and anxiety. How? By staying connected to Jesus and each other.

Grace Communion Richardson (Texas) has been using this time of “social distancing” to move ahead on several communication projects to help with this. We phoned each member to check in, and at the same time we updated their contact information and communication preferences in our Planning Center (http://planningcenter.com) system. In the coming weeks we’ll be using Text In Church (http://textinchurch.com), which syncs with Planning Center, to encourage our members. Previously we’d used it only to connect with visitors. We’ll also produce an updated member directory to help members keep in touch with each other more easily.

Checking in with members revealed several needs. A couple of people didn’t have internet access; another member helped them hear the live-streamed service through the telephone. A few others had run out of toilet paper and paper towels and couldn’t find any in stores; other members delivered the items the next day. We’re using our member’s Facebook page to share needs like this as we discover them.

Christine Ojih and Nadine Santibanez are making face masks and encouraging others to do so to provide to neighborhood hospitals. A nurse friend in one of our hospitals shared how the shortages are even beginning to impact availability for the kiddos in the children’s cancer ward.

Like many churches, we immediately moved our services online using Facebook Live. After the first Sunday, we started using OBS (http://obsproject.com) software to produce a more professional broadcast. Member Barry Ford, who runs the company Future Broadcast, (http://www.futurebroadcast.biz) used his professional skills to take live performances from several praise team members recorded in their homes to produce combined worship videos, which we added to the livestream.

The livestreams have been well received and had hundreds of views from members and those outside the church. One watch party drew viewers from all over the world. This is one way we can share the hope we have in Christ in this time of uncertainty. We believe we are attracting attention from people who do not regularly attend church or yet have a relationship with Jesus.

Like many GCI congregations, we have a high number of seniors who fall in the most vulnerable category of the virus. Please pray for continued protection and peace for all seniors around the globe.

Please pray that this crisis will point many people to Jesus, our constant source of hope, especially in times of trouble.

In his peace and hope,
Pastor Gabriel and Christine Ojih

 

This month the GCI Media Team opened the GCI Creative Community group on Facebook. This group is a connecting point and resourcing space for GCI Creatives. This includes multimedia team members, Hope Venue Champions, worship team members, pastors, and anyone else who serves in their GCI congregation. We serve one another by creating a safe space to share ideas, give feedback, and discuss best practices, all while having fun and expressing our God-given creativity!

This group was born out of a desire to support, connect with, and learn from fellow GCI creatives. We want to support you, our community, with the tools you need for successful creative ministry and alignment across our fellowship. If you are a GCI creative and would like to join the group, please click here. There are 4 steps to complete before pressing “submit.” To best serve you and create a safe space, please answer all three questions, and read and agree to the guidelines, before clicking “submit.” Thank you!

 

On Sunday, February 9, we had the privilege of ordaining Dr. Kerry Magruder during our worship service at GC Surrey Hills, Oklahoma.

Dr. Magruder serves as Chair of the History of Science Collections, Associate Professor of Bibliography and as Associate Professor of the History of Science at Oklahoma University (OU) in Norman, Oklahoma. Kerry joined the faculty at Grace Communion Seminary this semester and is currently teaching our class on Trinitarian Perspectives on Faith and Science.

Kerry and his wife Candace have been a part of our congregation in Oklahoma City the past three years. We are excited to have them as part of our church and seminary families and look forward to gleaning from Kerry’s education and experience.

He deeply loves God and is especially gifted at explaining the beauty and depths of Incarnational Trinitarian theology.

Michael D. Rasmussen
Superintendent, North America & Caribbean
Regional Director, Central US