Category: Stay Connected

Greetings,

I wanted to give you a brief update on my prostate cancer situation.

Thank you, one and all, and the family and church members you represent. Our Dad hears your prayers and I can attest that I (and my family) have been carried along by his answers to your requests and praises on my/our behalf.

From the night of the surgery, May 8, I was able to walk without assistance three laps around the hospital ward. Saturday evening I came home (in time for Karen to wait on me on Mother’s Day) and have been walking at least a ¼ mile a day except for one night when I walked an additional 1 mile.

With today’s procedure out of the way and with a continued good diet and appropriate exercise, I hope to make good steady progress to a new level of healthy. June 10 is the next time we have contact with the surgeon at which time we hope to hear the good news of negative cancer findings in the resected lymph glands.

We are overwhelmed by the love and support, and most of all the grace of our merciful King, Savior and friend, Jesus.

The fervent, effectual prayer of the righteous avails much.

 

Together with Jesus,
James and family

Mark McCulley, our pastor in Denver North, and his wife Joanne are sad to announce the death of Joanne’s father, Stuart Powell, at the age of 86 after several heart attacks. Stuart had a long and varied career, including serving in the Royal Air Force in Africa, graduating from Ambassador College Bricket Wood, serving as an elder and pastor in England and Scandinavia, and owning several businesses before and after his ministerial service. His wife Joyce passed away in 2011, and he had been cared for by Joanne, who flew from America several times a year.

Stuart was a bibliophile and lifelong learner, often studying deeply into topics of interest, giving talks on angels and the RAF for various charities, as well as hundreds of sermons. He was well known for his love for his Savior and his personal warmth and sense of humor. He had been attending and serving in Skipton Baptist Church (SBC) the last ten years as his health made it impossible to attend the nearest GCI congregation in England, and he was much loved there, but his love for the people he had known and served for so long never died. SBC is honoring Stuart by assisting us with arrangements for an online funeral for Stuart on Saturday, May 23.

 

During this time confined to our homes, we have found different ways to celebrate Christ. In my own case, I have been growing in intimacy with Jesus. I have been praying more and spending more time in his word. I have found new ways to do ministry as I’ve become more aware of the needs of others. My priorities have changed. I have been much more careful in the way I relate to my family. Under the unusual stress of us all being home, we have found ways to focus on the centrality of Christ in our lives.

At the beginning of this pandemic, it was said that countries like mine, Colombia, were going to suffer many deaths because, among other things, we did not have the social discipline, nor it was possible to keep the social distance to avoid getting infected. So authorities implemented drastic and strong measures to control the situation. Men were allowed to go out for shopping and other basic things only on even days and odd days women had their turn. So far, we have under 500 deaths reported by the coronavirus. Nevertheless, the economy has suffered a great loss. Many are experiencing difficult situations of unemployment. How to help in the name and the power of Jesus? All of us church members are in touch with each other through WhatsApp, Zoom, and Skype, and we are aware of the needs of each other. We send food or money to those who are in need. We pray together, study the Scriptures in many small groups, and motivate each other to good deeds toward our families and those close to us who are in need. And we do that in the name of Jesus. We understand that he is with us also in this stressful time. We understand that the present crisis is for our good. And we worship Jesus and rest on him.

This pandemic has shaken the church for the better. Members are more given to pray and participate in small groups to study the Bible and are more into giving, helping, and sharing with others in need. That is good! Members are allowing more of Jesus in their lives. Members are more grateful for their blessings. It is as if Jesus were making us more aware of the blessings we have. Even though we are experiencing this pandemic, much of the prayers I hear from church members are of thanksgiving for the blessings they have. That is remarkable because I know some of the members are going through difficult situations. That is possible because their hope is centered on Jesus.

I think the church has been edified and nurtured in this time of crisis because we got closer to the head of the church, Jesus.

Blessings,

Hector Barrero
Pastor
Bogota, Colombia

Marty & Yvonne Davey are excited to announce the birth of their grandchild, Zade Davey Thomas, born to their daughter Michelle Thomas and her husband Ric Thomas, of Gainesville, FL on April 25, 2020. All are healthy and doing well. Marty & Yvonne pastor the Jacksonville, FL and the Woodbine, GA GCI churches, and Michelle is a Teen Ministry Leader for the Jacksonville congregation.

 

At GC Surrey Hills, we were planning a huge community egg hunt when COVID-19 struck our nation. Like everything else, we had to cancel this event to respect social-distancing laws.

The closer Easter came, the more our neighborhood was longing for something to do to get the family outside. We, as a church leadership team, were longing to find a way our church could serve our community and “be the Church” in the midst of tragedy.

This pandemic forced us to rethink everything and what a blessing it has been. The idea we came up with was a bit “outside the box” for our love venue, but we love it “outside the box.” So, we created a digital egg hunt for our neighborhood. We teamed up with neighborhood business and within a few hours one evening, we collected $1000 in prize sponsorships and donations to award 10 gift baskets to the first 10 families to successfully finish the hunt.

We know our target community well. There are so many young families with children and they are also a competitive bunch (we are in good company, ha!). So, we came up with something we thought all ages would enjoy.

We hid large eggs all around the neighborhood in hard to see places and released a list of clues via our facebook event page. The goal was for families to figure out where the clues were leading them, find the eggs, and take a picture of each of them without any need to get out of their cars. Once a family found all the eggs, we had them upload all the pictures on to the event page on Facebook.

We had over 500 people out and about participating in the competition and it was a total blast. If you’d like to see all the pictures and see all the details and fun, the Facebook event page is “Surrey Hills Digital Egg Hunt.” Be sure to click on the “discussion” tab. Neighbors were so into it. They came out in war paint, team colors, and plenty of friendly, neighborhood smack talk. Everyone had so much fun (even when storms and hail came down in the middle of the hunt) and so many neighbors asked if we could do this every year.

It was so great that most of our leadership participated in the hunt in some way! Pastor Joe went live on our church Facebook page as he and his family competed. It was so wonderful because many of our church members who were at home were able to participate through his video. If anyone wants to see that video, our church Facebook page is Crosswalk Community Church.

I just wanted to share this in case anyone can take this idea and possibly morph it into a community digital scavenger hunt instead of an egg hunt (since Easter has now passed). There are so many ways for the love venue to flourish in the midst of tragedy. We just have to think outside the box.

Ceeja Malmkar
GC Surrey Hills, Leadership Team

 

Our condolences go out to Mitch Vasseur this week. His mother, Mrs. Margaret Ryan, passed away on Friday, May 1, 2020, and was buried on Tuesday, May 5. She had been in declining health for some time in Texas and thankfully Mitch and his sister, Julie Koch, were able to travel quite often to see her. But because of the virus, they could not travel to Texas for the burial, and needless to say they were heartbroken over that. But their prayers on her behalf are answered and she now rests in peace.

Please lift the family in prayer for comfort during their time of grief. Cards may be sent to:

Mitchell Vasseur & Family
4042 Liberty Ave, Unit 3
La Crescenta, CA 91214-3752

Mrs. Julie Koch & Family
1523 Briarglen Ave
Westlake Village, CA 91361

Blessings to all during this trying time,
Celestine Olive

Following on from an Easter 2019 two-day face-to-face get-together of young leaders from the Australasian region, there were hopes of repeating such events.

And then, social-distancing measures due to the coronavirus upset plans!

An idea emerged during a National Ministry Team (NMT) Zoom meeting of the possibility of using a platform such as Zoom to host a GCIgnite event during Easter 2020.

Planning evolved quickly. Within a two-week period, young leaders from the Mooroolbark GCI congregation held Zoom planning meetings, and brought together two hour-long Zoom meetings for young leaders in the Australasian region, which were held on Easter Saturday. Unfortunately, due to the effects of Cyclone Harold, our young leaders from Fiji were unable to be involved.

Live music tracks were put together making use of local young musicians. The process: one musician records the master track and shares with other musicians via Dropbox. Each records their part guided by the master track. All parts were then mixed using Audacity and synchronised with PowerPoint display of lyrics for screen sharing during Zoom sessions.

There was an overall theme of “How do we creatively and with generosity live out our faith during these unusual times?”

The two hour-long sessions included prayer, scripture readings, discussion using breakout groups with young leaders facilitating each room, songs at start and end of sessions, Easter devotional led by Pastor Bharat Naker, Bible Project video on Generosity and a Q and A session with a panel of pastors.

Between the two sessions, participants were able to either take a break or chat, eat and even play Pictionary together, before reassembling – wearing funny hats of choice – for the second hour.

It was a very successful first time venture of this kind for GCIgnite, enjoyed by 30 attendees across several time zones from Western Australia, South Australia and the eastern states, along with Carl from Canada.

 

Pastor Randall Bourchier
GCI Mooroolbark

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