2010 GLC CONFERENCE

   The dates have been set for Great Lakes Conference, 2010.  The Conference has been planned for Thursday, June 10 and Friday June 11.  This will be a change in scheduling from previous years.  Instead of a pre-conference day, training will be included as part of the Conference.  There will be nothing scheduled for Saturday.

   Conference will begin on Thursday Morning at 9:00 AM.  Business sessions have been interspersed during the two days but have been streamlined to absorb less of the two days.  Ann and Jared Roth, church planting consultants from Oregon, will be present throughout the time to challenge the Conference with creating a church planting movement and understanding how the church can venture “Into the World”  which has been chosen to be the theme for the two days. 

Worship will be led by the Urban Light Church from Muncie, IN and Andrew Draper will be the keynote speaker for the 1:00 PM General Session on Thursday.

   Harvey Carey, Pastor of the Citadel of Faith Church in Detroit will be the keynote speaker for the 7:00 PM Thursday evening General Session and Pastor Steve Ayres of Hillvue Heights Church, Bowling Green, KY will be the key note for the Friday Closing General Session at 3:30 PM.  See page 2 for more information on our speakers.

   Break-outs will be provided on Friday morning and afternoon to assist churches with ministry.  “Vibrancy for the Rural Church,”  “The Missional Church,” “Technology on a Limited Budget,”  “Mentoring,” “Church Planting,” “Small Groups,” and “First Impressions/Hospitality” are areas that are being considered. 

   The Pastor/Spouse banquet is scheduled for Friday evening at 5:30 following the close of Conference sessions.  Ann and Jared Roth will be sharing encouragement with the pastors and their spouses during this time together.

    About our conference speakers:

Senior Pastor Harvey Carey is the Founder and Senior Pastor of the Citadel of Faith Covenant Church in Detroit, Michigan. He is a dynamic speaker whose global ministry continues to change lives with the transforming truth of God’s word. Carey developed a nationally emulated youth ministry model that has reached thousands of teens in inner-cities across the nation.

Carey is also Chairman of the Central Detroit Christian Community Development Corporation, a non-profit providing housing, social services and ministry to youth and children. His inspiring leadership and vision for urban renewal unites people across boundaries of race, age, class and culture.

Pastor Steve Ayres is lead pastor at Hillvue Heights Church in Bowling Green, Kentucky.   In 1991 he started with 30 members and has learned that faith, hope and love (with the greatest of these being love) will bring thousands to experience Jesus. He has found that churches grow when Jesus is the central focus and church renewal comes from staying focused on being a Jesus-centered community. Pastor Ayers believes God has a place for everyone, and the function of ministry is to guide people to that place.  Steve grew up in Bowling Green, Kentucky. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Speech and Communication from Western Kentucky University, a Master of Divinity from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Doctor of Ministry from Drew University. He is also an adjunct professor at Campbellsville University. He has also been learning what it means to pastor through his experience in everyday life. He speaks in a variety of settings from small, rural churches to conferences, delivering one message: "When the Spirit of God is loosed among people, something God-sized is bound to happen." Steve has published several articles on church growth and leadership. Steve was a contributing author for the book "Seeing Beyond Church Walls" with Steve Sjogren in 2002 and released the book "Igniting Passion in Your Church" in 2003

                                                    Don’t miss the conference!!

Our Sympathy to…

…..John Dodds Family.  John’s father, Robert, passed away on the 3rd of December in Rochester, PA.

…..the James Wallace Family.  Pastor Wallace passed away December 29th in MO.  The family has requested that memorials be made to the Jerusalem Church in Borel, Haiti. Please designate CC 2803 Haiti Church Ministries and earmark "Wallace Memorial/Borel."  Continue to ask the Lord to strengthen the family as they remember with gratitude a life well lived!

Please Pray for…

…..Terry Keiser.  She was admitted to the VanWert hospital on December 4th.

…..Bobby Layne who has had open heart surgeries in December and is currently at Specialty Select Hospital in Columbus.

….. Aleta Mason had cancer surgery in December.

…..Bill Moorman recovering from shoulder surgery.

…..Joanne Summy recovering from surgery

…..Doctor Vic Binkley has pancreatic cancer.   

…..Churches without pastors:  Tekonsha and Union Chapel.

Congratulations to …

…..Bill and Teresa Moorman on the birth of a baby girl,  Amelia Hope, born October 29th.  Amelia weighed 6 lbs. 3 oz and was 18.5 inches long.

…..Nate and Alison Buck on the birth of a baby boy, Zachary Jarron, born October 17th, weighing 7 lbs, 7 oz.

Opportunities!

Mission Banquets:

The Cross-Cultural Commission will have as their Mission Banquet project the following:  $6,000

to complete finished classrooms at Lagonave Church in Haiti and $4,000 to provide 28 batteries for the

inverters that provide night lighting for the Pierre Payen Hospital in Haiti.  If they don’t have

enough batteries for the invertors there is no light at times in the hospital for the surgeries, patients

and families.  Dr. Vic Binkley said this is indeed a need. 

Because of the above, the need to raise $10,000 at the Mission Banquets and in other donations is necessary.  Please remember these needs in prayer and come prepared to give.

The banquets will be: 

            March 19th, 6:30 p.m. at Ridgeway Church of God, 1380 Park Avenue East, Mansfield, OH

            March 20th, 6:30 p.m. at  the Christian Ministry Center, 700 E Melrose Avenue, Findlay

            March 21st, 5:30 p.m. at New Haven Church of God, 8102 W Washington Road, Sumner, MI

Persons attending the banquets will be asked to make a $10 donation to cover the cost of the meals.  This will allow us to use all the money given for the projects.  Please pray about what your part should be in these very much needed projects.

CGGC Women’s Ministries Retreat:  “Espresso for the Soul”

The General Conference Churches of God Women’s Ministries invite you to join them March 12-14 on the campuses of Winebrenner Theological Seminary and the University of Findlay featuring Kay DeKalb Smith from Nashville, TN.  Registration forms and information are available online at http://cgwm.cggc.org.  Registration by March 1st is $80, after March 1st $90 and one day registration is $70.

GLC Women Spring Rally

The date is May 18th, and the location is the Christian Ministry Center at 700 E. Melrose Avenue, Findlay. The time is 9:30 am to 2:30 pm.  Registration material will be sent to each church in April for the Great Lakes Conference Women’s Spring Rally.

The speaker is Raelene Phillips, a pastor's wife from Lima. A quote from her brochure: "By her own admission, Raelene is much too ornery to be a pastor's wife--but that is the role that God (with his amazing sense of humor) has chosen for her.” Dan has been in full time ministry for over 25 years.   Raelene is the author of eight books and is highly sought after as a speaker." She is recognized  by CLASServices, Inc. as a "CLASS communicator." Her humorous way of comparing people to birds in her talk "Are You a Birdbrain?" helps us think about our characters. She will also help us see ways we can cultivate faith in God with her talk entitled "Puppy in the Pulpit".  She will have her books available for purchase.  If you want to learn more about Raelene check out her website at www.ministrywomen.net.

The Special Offering will again go toward the purchase of a folding machine for the GLC office, and our portion of the Thank Offering distribution will be decided at the meeting.

Since my three year term as Director will be finished, we need candidates for Director, and Tina's 3 yr term as Secretary will also end, so we need candidates for Secretary. We would still like to have candidates for Asst. Dir., a position which has been vacant for some time. We would like to have an election at the meeting, but will ratify office holders if necessary.                                                                                                  Phyllis Dennison, President

Missions Opportunity

It was discussed at the meeting of the Cross Cultural Commission to ask members of the Conference if they would be interested in taking an eyewitness/work trip.  Our suggestion for this time would be for a trip to Haiti to work on the church that we are raising money to repair.

The tentative date would be April 8-16.  Cost will be somewhere around $800.  This would be the sole responsibility of those who would be going.  We are limited to 8-10 total people.  We would need to know this immediately. 

If you are interested would you please e-mail Elsie Laffin at laffinbsdrvr@aol.com.  Thanks for your consideration to help these people.

Church News

CrossPoint has announced they have invited Jim Klausing to be their pastor.

Mt Tabor enjoyed a Progressive Dinner with 63 participants.  Next year they hope to use their new facility to host the main course so everyone can eat together.  Check out the pictures on page 3.

Ney has called Kevin King as their pastor.  The family will begin their ministry there in mid-January.

Pathway celebrated 85 years of ministry in Toledo on November 7th and the following week celebrated with the baptism of four (check out the picture on page 3).  In October the church family opened trunks to treat the children in the Close Park Neighborhood.

Ridgeway had Amos and Cookie Mazzant minister to the church family with their music and testimony.  They were blessed to have them share JESUS.  Through the generous giving from the local neighborhood, eight families needing assistance were provided with food for Christmas.

See page 3 for pictures.

                                                    .~  ~  ~  ~  ~ 

So, I got to play Santa in Afghanistan!!

It was surprisingly difficult to get started, figuring out how to mix and match so many items.  It felt really good to give the presents to the guys and it was really neat to see some joy, happiness and excitement.  Morale has been a bit low, but it was wonderful to see how Christmas can make a difference for soldiers who see hard, traumatic things regularly.  THANK YOU, pastors and wives, for the part you played in bringing that joy, happiness and excitement to the soldiers.        Nate Shoemaker

From your Church Planting Director:

Sometimes you come across something that someone else says or writes that is far better than you can communicate.  This is one of those times.  Below is an article that a person with the right heart and ability did that very thing!  Well worth your time to read it and pass it along.

     I’ve had my day.

     I love the church.  It has always been the hub of my life; the place where I have learned about God and grown in my faith, where potlucks and youth outings united us as a family, where Easter cantatas and Christmas pageants gave us opportunity to stretch our abilities.  Church is exactly the way I like it!

     It wasn’t until my adult days that I stumbled on the reality that church doesn’t engender these warm, nurturing memories for everyone.  When unchurched friends would visit my church, it surprised me that it didn’t necessarily feel like home to them.  When they were honest, none of the things that I loved about the church made much sense to them at all.  They just didn’t get it!

     Over time, it occurred to me that maybe it wasn’t God my unchurched friends were opposed to, but the way we did church.  And with that revelation, the possibility that they might be able to hear God more clearly, if we presented him in ways that were familiar to them.  I slowly began to release my right to “church my way.”  After all, I’ve had my day, my day when the music, routines and phrases of church were warm and familiar to me.  Gradually, I concluded that today must be their day, the day for unchurched people in our communities to have the opportunity to experience God’s love like I have.

     My transition wasn’t immediate or easy, but increasingly, I learned to consider how the church could provide a safe atmosphere for our unchurched friends, that was familiar to them.

     As part of a church-planting team, I am not committed to church planting because of  my disillusionment with the church.  On the contrary, I am committed to church planting because I love the church.  I’ve had my day and want unconvinced people to have the same opportunity.  In 2009-2010 it will take all of our collective insight and creativity to effectively communicate God’s love for us in ways that unchurched people will be drawn to love Him and His church. 

     The Apostle Paul declared, “Though I am free and belong to no man...I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.” (1 Corinthians 9:19,22)                               (Name withheld on request)

Bill

Education and Discipleship Commission

Cross Training

Youth Leadership Training Event

“Reveal”

.

^The Foundation News

Good News is coming!  The Foundation has been working on a great Web Site for the ministry and service to the Churches, Agencies and all that are part of the Great Lakes Conference.  This new Foundation Web Site will be launched some time in January 2010.

It will serve those that want to know what The Foundation has accomplished and is doing through out the year.  You will get to meet the Directors and Staff, hear about what is going on throughout the Great Lakes Conference, especially those that have received grants and how they improved their ministry at home and around the world.

As soon as it goes on line we will let you know how access the Web Site. You will be able to get more information.  Look for us! We are coming alive on internet and can come to your computer.