Category: Stay Connected

This report is from Dustin Lampe, lead pastor at Christ Fellowship Church, GCI’s congregation on the West side of Cincinnati, OH. Dustin tells about his congregation’s program to reach out to the families in the community surrounding their church building, using the popular youth sport of tee-ball.

The tee-ball league that is coming together at Christ Fellowship Church is quite exciting. We’re calling it West Side T Ball. We’ve set up a schedule of four practices and four games, for kids ages 4-7.

Entering into our third practice, we had 67 players being served by our team of four gifted leaders who all are members in our congregation. They administer the league, a concession stand manned with volunteers, over $2000 in community business sponsorships (including help from a hospital and funeral home). We have three announcers and five photographers ready to rotate on Sundays. And we have a good head coach and two assistant coaches for each of the six teams that were given nice uniforms.

Our league has particular perks that make it stand out. It meets inside our church building where my wife Rachel is putting together slides with the kid’s pictures on them. These slides appear on the big screen, along with a short clip of their favorite song. These personal slides are shown and the name announced when each kid is up to bat. By doing things like this, the kids are built up in our league from beginning to end. At the end of the season, we’ll have an awards banquet at which each kid will be honored with a small trophy with a label for something unique that they brought to the team.

I have the privilege of speaking to all these kids, their parents, guardians, brothers and sisters each week (that’s me addressing the group in the picture above). I speak to them about sportsmanship, about being a team, and I also elaborate on an element of the Lord’s Prayer.

I suppose a question many will have is this: How many of these kids attend our congregation? We’ll see over the long haul. I do expect to see many of them plug into the day camp we hold each year. Church members have gathered camp invitations and started to work on sign-ups without me even asking! Two of our newest members are younger men who are our best tee-ball coaches. I can see they are finding it exciting to be part of this ministry!

Here is a final thought: sports as a means of ministry and connection to the community has been on my mind since I began pastoring at Christ Fellowship Church a few years ago. This tee-ball program has opened a door for us. My hope is that my volunteers will be able to do most of the work for the league next year. Right now, I’m walking three of them through all that I’m doing each week. Running the league is separate from promotions, advertising, fundraising and sponsorships. I already have three people who are taking ownership of that end. We are offering the league to the kids for free with the help of community business sponsorships ranging from Bronze ($100), to Platinum ($750). Most go for Silver ($200). The local hospital did a gold sponsorship ($500). The larger the donation, the larger the sign they get with their logo displayed at the games.

This update is from Heber Ticas, National Coordinator for GCI-USA Church Multiplication Ministries and ecclesiastical supervisor for GCI churches in Mexico and Spanish-speaking churches in the United States.

Outside The Walls (OTW) went to Mexico City in March. Church Multiplication Ministries (CMM) provided the OTW training and assisted GCI’s Mexico City church in conducting the OTW event. As with previous OTW events, pastors from sister churches participated with the host congregation, Promesa Cumplida (Fulfilled Promise), which is pastored by Nathanael Cruz.

The OTW training participants shared a year-long series of online conferences conducted by CMM National Coordinator, Heber Ticas. They then gathered in Mexico City for refresher training, and the OTW event, which focused on engaging the community surrounding the host congregation’s place of meeting. Joining in the event were Pastor Jose L. Seba from Tlaxcala, Mexico; Pastor Hector Barrero from Bogota, Colombia; and GCI-USA CAD director Greg Williams from Glendora, California.

The OTW event was a Family Fun Day held on Saturday. Before it began, members of the host congregation along with visiting pastors went into the community around the church to invite participation in the event. Attended by 148 people, the event was filled with fun activities for all ages. The congregation also offered free haircuts along with free medical, chiropractic, and dental check-ups. The reason for providing these services was to show God’s love with no strings attached. The Lord was clearly at work, transforming lives.

Those attending the OTW event from the community were invited to return the next day (Sunday) for a church service dedicated to blessing the family. Pastor Cruz preached an inspiring sermon concerning family, and the families in attendance joined in a circle and were prayed for. There were 73 people at this service, including 10 visitors who had participated in the Saturday Family Fun Day event.

Jesus is clearly on the move in that community, and Promesa Cumplida has joined in and started to “surf the wave” being generated by the Spirit. Let’s join together in praying for this congregation, and for all of our OTW congregations, asking the Lord to continue leading them forward in what they are doing to participate with him in his ongoing mission to their communities.

Click the links below to read about recent GCI ministry activity in the Philippines.

• Missions seminar
• Village wedding and rehab work training

GCI’s congregation in Barranquilla, Colombia, recently met at a hotel in Santa Marta for its Annual Seminar. The group, which included 47 adults and 7 children, was led by Pastor Sonia Orozco, with GCI Mission Developer Hector Barrero serving as featured speaker. The theme of the four-day seminar was “Transforming Lives” with presentations addressing the congregation’s mission, vision, values, ministries, motivations and objectives. Here are pictures:

 

We are celebrating good news from West Africa—34 members from GCI congregations in Kpodzi, Ghana, and nearby Lomé, Togo, were baptized at a recent combined church service. Below is a picture of the group gathered for the service. We rejoice with these GCI brothers and sisters!

Life Club International is a public speaking club sponsored by GCI-Britain. Life Club is similar in focus and format to GCI’s former Spokesman Club, which was modeled after Toastmasters International. Life Clubs are being held within GCI congregations around the world. Here from GCI Life Club International coordinator Geoff Sole are reports on several club meetings held over the last 12 months.

The first Life Club was held recently in the African nation of Malawi. Gardner Kunje (pictured above right) said at the end of the meeting that “the Club helps develop the whole person.” The congregation in Lilongwe, capital of Malawi, is also planning to start a Life Club soon.

Rod Matthews (pictured above left), GCI Mission Developer encourages Life Clubs in the areas in which he works including Bangladesh. John Biswas (standing in the picture above) directs a meeting along with his wife Naomi and Robin and Arline Connelly during a 2016 visit to Bangladesh.

Joe D’Costa (pictured top left) reports from India that a Life Club was held there in October 2016. Those who spoke are shown in the picture. The Bangalore congregation hosts a Life Club about once a month and the Trichy and Chennai congregations host Life Clubs a few times each year. Joe writes: “I personally feel that these clubs not only improve the participants’ speaking ability, but also their personality. Over the years, I have seen our young people grow through these clubs. The communication skills they have acquired have helped them in their jobs and in life.”

Bob Millman (pictured speaking, above center), GCI pastor in Alberta, Canada, directed the Paignton, England Life Club meeting last October. He said “the Club helps develop confidence.” Also pictured above are participants in that meeting.

Essien George (pictured above left) of Nigeria reports that 65 people attended a combined Life Club meeting (pictured above) in Benin City, Nigeria last August during the GCI Nigerian National Convention. Life Clubs from Port Harcourt, Lagos, Kaduna, Ilorin, Mbaise/Owerri and Benin were represented.

The Peterborough, England congregation hosted a Life Club meeting this January. The meeting opened with 1 Timothy 4:12, “Set an example for the believers in speech [and] in life.” Lydia Williams (pictured above right), aged 8, won the best speaker cup with her confident and comprehensive speech about flower arranging.

Kalengule Kaoma (pictured above, top,center), GCI Mission Developer in Africa, held a meeting regarding Life Clubs in Nairobi, Kenya in April 2016. The Naivasha congregation hosted a Life Club (pictured above) the same month. That meeting was directed by Anthony Gachanja (above center), National Director for Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania.

Othieno William Wilberforce (pictured above left) of Uganda, reports that the Tororo congregation hosted another Life Club (pictured above) in October 2016. Life Clubs have also been held at the GCI youth camp in northern Uganda.

For more information about Life Club, including how to start one and for a copy of the Life Club manual, email your request to geoff@geoffsole.co.uk.

To download a copy of GCI’s current Speech Club manual, click here.

GCI Vice President Greg Williams recently visited the Philippines where he was the featured speaker at two ministerial conferences. For a report on the conferences, click here.

GCI-USA recently held an orientation conference for new pastors at the Home Office in Glendora, California. Attendees (pictured below) included 20 new pastoral leaders, their spouses, and the GCI support staff that coordinated the conference and made presentations. These new pastoral leaders recently began (or soon will begin) serving as lead pastors, members of pastoral teams, or pastoral residents (pastors-in-training). During the conference they received instruction concerning biblical interpretation and GCI doctrine, worship planning and preaching, missional ministry strategy, ministry coaching, pastoral counseling, GCI policies, and information technology.

Over the next few months we’ll be publishing in the “Up Close and Personal” feature here in Weekly Update, short videos introducing these new pastors (click here to watch two of them now). We think you’ll be encouraged to see what God is doing to call new pastoral leaders to serve our congregations.

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.