Charles Norris, an elder who serves in GCI’s congregation in Winnipeg, Canada, was recently awarded the annual “Harry Lehotsky Award for Community Activism” sponsored by the government of the Canadian province of Manitoba. The award recognizes an individual’s efforts to strengthen the community through efforts that directly or indirectly contribute to public safety. Included with the award was a grant for $2,000, which Charles plans to use to help fund GCI’s Hands of Hope ministry that provides free furniture to the poor and needy in Winnipeg. Charles and his wife Sandra (pictured below) have operated Hands of Hope for over 15 years.
Joanne McCulley, wife of GCI Pastor Mark McCulley (Denver, Colorado), recently was sworn in as a court-appointed Special Advocate. She will be working with the CASA organization in two Denver-area counties. CASA is a nation-wide organization serving the county juvenile court system.
Joanne has worked with young people for many years, including teen ministry in several GCI congregations and camps. Her passion has always been to care for those hurt by family weakness and dysfunction. As a CASA volunteer, Joanne will be assigned a single case, a child or several siblings from a family in crisis with the goal of helping stabilize and reunite the family. Her work will include meeting with the assigned children regularly with authorization to interview people in the child’s life such as social workers, attorneys, and teachers. She will also attend court hearings with the child and report her findings to the judge.
Photo of the group assembled for the CASA swearing in ceremony. Joanna is in the middle, back row.
A group of young adults (pictured below) gathered recently for GC Next 2017. Here is a report from event coordinator Andy Rooney (and click on the picture below for video highlights).
Thanks to the Holy Spirit working through the prayers, support, guidance and encouragement of so many in GCI, GC Next was a tremendous success! 61 young adults (ages 18-30) from 16 different states (in the US and Canada), and 43 different churches came together at a retreat center near Durham, North Carolina, on MLK weekend (January 13-16) to worship, fellowship, sharpen ministry tools, and encourage one another towards fullness of life, love and community in Jesus Christ.
GC Next was unique in the sense that there was little delineation between leaders and participants. This was possible because the leadership team intentionally sought to proactively empower and facilitate. We offered 24 different workshops and had 23 different workshop leaders. Put another way, 43% of the participants at GC Next led a workshop! In addition, 31 different people (58% of participants) had some sort of leadership role in the planning and/or executing of the weekend. GC Next was a weekend of passion, sharing and collaborative learning. It was a picture of the Body of Christ utilizing its diverse gifting to function in unity with one another.
Our workshops were small group (12-15 people) discussions with interaction focused on themes of putting our theology into practice. We discovered indestructible peace, shared our testimonies, discussed sexual wholeness, served people at a nearby homeless shelter, practiced spiritual formation, developed tools to love others well, brainstormed ideas for sustainable ministries and much more. In addition, we had a night for games and fellowship, a night for dancing and celebration, and a night for prayer and worship (shout out to Revolution Cry for an incredible job leading us in worship!). It was a wonderfully enriching weekend where strangers left as family and young adults left inspired. God is certainly working in this next generation of GCI leaders!
Here are quotes from GC Next participants:
“GC Next changed my life. I feel uplifted and encouraged to live life better.”
“This past weekend was AMAZING. It was one of the best weekends ever. Bringing all those people together was absolutely magical. It made so many people so happy.”
“I felt loved, accepted, and deeply challenged by people I just met.”
“Very informative, eye-opening, and practical discussion.”
“GC Next gives me hope. We can do a lot of good with this group.”
As noted in the report below from GCI mission developer Rod Matthews, last year GCI more than doubled its number of churches and members in the Southeast Asia nation of Myanmar (formerly Burma). This was the result of a group of congregations led by Pastor Chan Thleng seeking and being granted membership in our fellowship.
Chan Thleng
Chan Thleng had previously met with Wong Mein Kong, Southeast Asia Senior Pastor, on his several visits to Myanmar in response to this request to become part of GCI. Chan Thleng was the leading pastor in a group of congregations mostly based in the Chin Hills area in northwest Myanmar around the town of Matupi. He had also established a home congregation in Hmawbi, near the capital of Yangon in the south of the country. Chan Thleng had seen our website, read our literature and was delighted with the refreshing and genuinely good news revealed by and in Jesus Christ.
During past meetings, they had discussed our theology and pastoral approach, and as he came to know us better, his enthusiasm about bringing this group into our fellowship grew. However, he had to have some lengthy discussions with the pastors of his northern congregations to ensure that they all understood and agreed with the theology and the proposal to become GCI congregations. Last year Chan Thleng made a trip to Matupi and at the end of a conference of the elders there, they unanimously endorsed the proposal to become GCI congregations.
Last December, Ruth and I travelled with Wong Mein Kong and his wife, Chew Yeng, to Yangon, Myanmar to meet with Pastor Chan Thleng and visit his Hmawbi congregation. We first met at our lodging (see picture at right) where we discussed a wide range of topics related to our future together. We also planned the upcoming services in Hmawbi. What a great day it was!
After a 40-minute car trip out of Yangon, on roads getting progressively narrower (see pictures below, top row), we were welcomed to the Hmawbi church compound by nearly 70 men, women and children (see pictures below, bottom row). As per their custom, we were presented with leis of flowers and escorted into the church building.
We joined the enthusiastic worship accompanied by a single guitar, and savored the warm welcome and community spirit. Most of the people are of Chin descent and speak only a Chin dialect or Burmese, and little English. Both Mein Kong and I gave messages translated for the audience. Next I rehearsed a little of the process that had led to this celebration and then, in front of the congregation and elders, prayed over Chan Thleng confirming his leadership as an elder in GCI and acknowledging him as our designated coordinating pastor for this group of congregations now part of our fellowship (see picture at right). The ladies’ group sang in celebration and the children presented two songs to everyone’s delight.
After the service, a community meal was served to the entire congregation, having been prepared over open fires on the property (see picture below). Chan Thleng lives in a small one-room house next to the church building; and not far away is a piece of land that the church has leased to grow lotus flowers to sell as a means of supplementing local income to support the church.
In addition to the Hmawbi congregation, there are another six in the Chin Hills, and one in Rakhine state, each with its own pastoral elder or leader, and with a combined attendance of over 300. Before we departed the Hmawbi church, Chan Thleng mentioned that it was his earnest desire to conduct a conference of elders in Matupi in March so all the elders in the group of congregations in the north could meet and hear from Wong Mein Kong and myself. Chan Thleng later, after a trip to Matupi, confirmed that the conference will be held there on March 24-25.
Getting to Matupi will be quite a trip for us needing a flight to Yangon, another flight or bus trip to Mandalay, and then a more difficult bus trip on rural roads into the high country in the west of Myanmar where Matupi is located. We are looking forward to meeting all these people who have been led to become part of GCI.
In a recent message, Chan Thleng reported on his trip to Matupi:
By God’s grace, and with one elder, I started our trip on Feb 10 and arrived safely on the 11th. We stayed two days in Matupi, visited church members’ homes and prayed for them and had worship services on two nights. We then visited six villages in the area [see pictures of the area below], holding worship services at night in which we told about GCI’s motto, vision, doctrines, ministries and Trinitarian theology. These people are interested in GCI and were blessed through our sharing. They love the meaning of grace, which some of them had never heard about before. God blessed this sharing of the gospel. One family joined GCI.
Concerning the planned conference in Matupi, Chan Thleng wrote this:
The topic for the conference will be GCI’s motto: Living and Sharing the Gospel. We plan to discuss about our planning for 2017—how to improve the work of the Lord spiritually and physically from now into the future. We will share our views and experiences, learning more about one another and the difficulties, failures, and successes we encounter.
We were surprised during our visit when Chan Thleng announced his plans to marry a young woman named Lydia, daughter of our elder in the town of Paletwa. We’ll have much to celebrate in March!
Pictures from a GCI congregation near Matupi
Myanmar has great potential for the expansion of GCI’s gospel work in Southeast Asia. We’ve been contacted by many small ministries and several Christian leaders running Bible Schools in Myanmar, including one in Mandalay where Mein Kong and I were invited to teach on this last trip. We’ve developed close friendships with several pastors who look forward to Mein Kong’s upcoming visits to that nation.
We have a particularly close relationship with a young man who lives in the China Hills area named Van Thawm Lian (pictured at right with his wife Priscilla and daughter Junia). With financial support from GCI, he has already translated and had printed a number of our publications in both the Burmese and Falam Chin dialects. Thousands of copies have been distributed to pastors and interested people throughout the Chin Hills area.
Just recently, Van Thawm Lian let me know that with the small donation of AU$250 that we sent him, he has been able to reprint another 2000 copies of our booklet “What is Salvation?” in Burmese, and now is distributing those booklets this his own evangelistic outreach. As other churches become aware of this booklet, they are asking Van Thawm Lian for quantities to distribute. He has established a small Bible School called the Freedom Bible Institute with about six students this year and is seeking more. One of his challenges is that no one from the rural areas of Myanmar can support themselves financially in a seminary and he has to provide food and lodging for them as well as classes. It’s both inspiring and humbling to see the sacrifices being made by and instructor and his students—people who sense a calling to learn and then to take the good news to their own people.
GCI Mexico held its annual youth camp in December with 45 campers and 8 counselors. The camp was held at Club Primavera in the state of Morelos, just outside Cuernavacas, Mexico. Pastor Natanael Garcia was camp coordinator, assisted by a committee of emerging young leaders.
The camp began with an inspiring worship service at the Mexico City church were the youth gathered from different parts of the nation to depart to the campsite. The camp theme Activate rang out throughout the week as Pastor Cruz and others developed it on a daily basis: activate God’s love, activate your faith, activate my passion and service and activate God’s calling. Jorge Hernandez Arroyo, a young pastor in the Mexico City area was guest speaker and Alfredo Mercado (Mexico’s National Leader) also participated. Here is a video of the camp (on YouTube at http://youtu.be/J6mt7RvhYIE):
Participating in the camp provided the youth with an opportunity to bond as a GCI family while being challenged in their faith and spiritual growth. The Mexican youth are grateful to the Jon Whitney foundation and to GCI’s Southern California Spanish-speaking congregations for their financial support in making the camp a reality.
GCI-USA congregations in the Upper Midwest recently held Snowblast 2017—their annual family-style event that has been going on for about 20 years in various locations in Minnesota. This year it was held at Inspiration Point on Spitzer Lake near Alexandria, MN. There were 64 people in attendance representing all age groups (see picture below—click it to enlarge).
Activities included ice fishing, tubing, show-shoeing, crocheting, ice skating and game room fun. Though temperatures ranged from -12 F the first night to about +24 by the end of the weekend, folks in these Northern climes know how to dress for cold weather.
The event included times of worship with wonderful music provided by the worship team and messages focused on the theme of “living in community with family, in church and in our neighborhoods.” Messages were given by Becky Deuel (Appleton, WI), Tom Kennebeck (Orr, MN), Troy Meisner (Rochester, MN) and Doug Johannsen (Minneapolis/St Paul, MN).
We reported two weeks ago on what GCI in the Philippines is doing to help people recover from the devastation caused by typhoon Nock-ten (called Niña locally). Here is an update from GCI-Philippines National Director Eugene Guzon.
In the last 65 years, 6 typhoons struck the Philippines on Christmas Day. This was the seventh. Its sustained winds were as strong as 100 mph with gusts exceeding 160 mph. While this was not as strong as the super-typhoon Haiyan which hit the Philippines in November 2013, it sent about 180,000 people to various shelters.
When I landed at Legazpi Airport on December 28, 2016, there was little impact on the vegetation and homes in Legazpi City, though there was no electrical power. Thankfully our members there were spared physical harm. We had no casualty reported as of this time. The brunt of the damage was in the form of totally or partially damaged houses in at least five Church areas (Tabaco, Cotmon, Sta Teresita, Minalabac, Naga). We are still waiting for reports in other outlying areas, but as of now, these are the areas with urgent needs for relief.
In addition to our assessment visits and relief missions, we hosted a potluck in Cotmon on January 1. Though the church was barely usable, the members invited their neighbors for a thanksgiving New Year’s day service. About 120 attended. A medical mission also was conducted on January 2 for 42 families in Cotmon. A follow-up assessment and relief mission was conducted on January 8-10 for about 50 families, with the help of our members in Metro Manila. Other members conducted relief missions, distributing about 300 relief packs (food, blankets, clothes, etc.) in several villages in Polangui Albay. We also brought two generators to provide standby power in remote areas. Local officials estimate that it will take about a month or two before electricity will be restored in the whole province.
Initial support was given for relief and partial purchase of needed materials for the members to have shelter and replacement of damaged household items. What is aggravating the situation is the continuous rains they are experiencing, which also affects Metro Manila.
We are grateful for the financial assistance that we have received from GCI’s Disaster Relief Fund that is administered from the United States.
If you would like to contribute to the Disaster Relief Fund to assist in disasters like this one, click here.
In the U.S., February is Black History Month—a time to highlight and celebrate the substantial contributions of African-Americans to the development of our nation. To add to your celebrations as a congregation, we recommend use of the video below. It celebrates the history of GCI’s South Side Chicago church, which has a long and storied history of African-American leaders and members who contributed, often at great personal cost, to the development of both their congregation and the whole denomination. We celebrate and honor these brothers and sisters in Christ.
As noted in the Church Administration Manual, GCI-USA Church Administration and Development (CAD) is a team of administrators and developers working together to “serve and develop pastors who serve and develop churches, who live and share the beautiful, inclusive gospel of Jesus.” In keeping with that mission, and in accordance with available resources, Greg Williams (GCI Vice President, CAD Director, and Supt. of U.S. Ministers) recently implemented changes to CAD’s structure and staffing.
Two team members have left GCI employment for new chapters in their lives, Charles Albrecht, who worked 29 years for GCI, is now a financial analyst at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. NancyAkers, who worked 33 years for GCI, retired on January 20 (click here for a report on her retirement party). On behalf of GCI, Greg expressed his thanks: “A big, heartfelt thank you to Charles and Nancy for their sterling service to our pastors and churches over the course of the past three decades. Their faithful service and spirit of love have made a significant, positive difference!”
The CAD Office team now includes:
Pam Morgan, previously with GCI’s Accounting Office, now serves as CAD’s Operations Coordinator and Archives and Records Center Manager.
Michelle Fleming, previously a teacher in Florida, now serves as CAD’s Communications and Training Coordinator.
Ted Johnston, previously a U.S. Regional Pastor, now serves as Special Assistant to the CAD Director and Publications Editor. (Ted works from his home in Alabama.)
The CAD Church Administrationteam now includes five U.S. Regional Pastors: Tim Sitterley (West), Rick Shallenberger (North-Central), Mike Rasmussen (South-Central), Randy Bloom (Northeast) and Paul David Kurts (Southeast). Former Regional Pastor Lorenzo Arroyo now serves as Consultant to Tim Sitterley and Heber Ticas.
The CAD Church Developmentteam now includes three National Coordinators:
Jeff McSwain serves as Church Development National Coordinator (coordinating the work of the Church Development team) and Intern Program National Coordinator.
Heber Ticas serves as Church Multiplication Ministries (CMM) National Coordinator, Liaison to Spanish-Speaking U.S. Churches, and Ecclesiastical Supervisor for GCI-Mexico.
Need CAD assistance? Feel free to contact any of the team members listed above, or contact the CAD Office by phoning 626-650-2330, or by emailing church.administration@gci.org.
