Posted by Terry White on January 31, 2007 | No Comments
Post-session fellowship at the Southwest Focus Retreat is a time for snacks, catching up on relationships, checking e-mail, playing board games, and more. Here three youth workers share a moment after the Tuesday evening session.
Pictured, from left, are Timothy Lansing (Norwalk, CA), Bob Hetzler (Whittier, CA), and Mike Saldivar (Modesto, CA).
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Posted by Terry White on January 31, 2007 | No Comments
Larry Orme, of the Penn Valley Grace Brethren Church in Telford, PA, led the Tuesday evening session at the southwest Focus Retreat, meeting at San Juan Capistrano, California.
Approximately 50 pastors and church leaders have gathered for the three-day retreat, which is focusing on Paul’s developmental process for building a church, as revealed in his New Testament writings.
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Posted by Terry White on January 31, 2007 | No Comments
Pastor John McIntosh of the Simi Valley, CA, Grace Brethren Church, used a paper airplane to illustrate some concepts in the New Testament book of Second Timothy as one of the small-group presentations Tuesday evening at the Southwest Focus Retreat. The retreat concludes at noon tomorrow.
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Posted by Terry White on January 30, 2007 | No Comments
Pastor Tim Boal (standing, left), current moderator of the FGBC, is leading sessions today, Tuesday and Wednesday at the Southwest Focus Retreat.
Approximately 50 pastors and lay leaders from Southern California, Alaska, Canada, and other western areas are gathered near San Juan Capistrano for the retreat, which is the third in a series of five being held this year.
The curriculum is focusing on the church and the work of the Holy Spirit, and it is being loosely based on the book Building Authentic Community by Tim Boal, published earlier this year by BMH Books.
The next Focus Retreat will be held at Haines City, Florida, the dates of February 26-28 and the final one will be at Whites Pass, Washington, early in May.
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Posted by Terry White on January 29, 2007 | No Comments
LANCERS EARN FIRST NATIONAL RANKING IN FOUR YEARS
The men’s basketball team from Grace College, Winona Lake, Indiana, was ranked No. 25 in the latest NAIA Division II poll. The Lancers have not been nationally ranked since the last poll of the 2002-03 season when Grace finished 24-11 and made the NCCAA National Championship game.
Grace is 17-5 this season and 5-4 in the Mid- Central Conference. As of January 25 the Lancers have won 10 of their last 11 games including five of the last six MCC contests.
Huntington (Ind.) University is ranked fourth with a 20-3 record and 460 points in the poll. Indiana Wesleyan University is ninth with a mark of 20-2 and 365 points while the University of St. Francis is 21st at 15-8 and 172 points. Grace rounds out the MCC teams in the poll with 88 points.
GRACE ATHLETICS INTRODUCES eSCORES
The Grace College Athletic Department has teamed with Stretch Internet to deliver eScores to the Grace College community.
eScores is a free instant messaging service which allows fans to receive scores, news, and updates from Grace Athletics. Messages can be sent either to an email account or a cellular phone (text message charges may apply).
It is a service provided by Stretch Internet who also supplies Grace College with live broadcasts over the internet. Currently, Grace offers services for baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer, softball and volleyball.
A subscriber can choose to receive scores, news, special messages, schedule updates, and alerts for any of the chosen sports. Proceeds go to the Grace College athletic Web site (www.grace.edu/athletics). You’ll find the eScores icon located near the bottom of the page.
Click on the link and complete the registration form. After completing the registration form, a confirmation code will be sent to your e-mail address. Finally, enter that code to activate your subscription.
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Posted by Terry White on January 28, 2007 | No Comments
Following the three-day Fellowship Council meetings, a number of us stayed in the Los Angeles area this weekend to sightsee a little on Saturday and to speak and minister in a variety of Grace Brethren churches Sunday morning.
Saturday some of the pastors went to Venice Beach, some toured the Queen Mary, and one group of about six attended the 6:30 p.m. service at Saddleback Community Church, pastored by Rick Warren.
Then this Sunday morning, the men fanned out for ministry. Some of the venues included Bellflower (Dan O’Deens), Long Beach Community (Jim Brown), Los Altos (Tom Avey) and San Diego (Larry Humberd), among others.
Keith Shearer and I had the delight of being in the Seal Beach church, where Pastor Don Shoemaker and his congregation gave us a very warm welcome and an excellent worship experience. Keith preached three times from Romans 15, and I taught a Sunday School class, gave a BMH “ministry hilite” three times, and manned a booktable out on the sidewalk which displayed BMH Books and literature.
Some of the pastors will now return home, while others will go on to San Juan Capistrano where the Southwest Focus Retreat begins Monday at about 3:30 p.m. FGBC Moderator Tim Boal will lead the retreat, which is on the theme of the church, and will anchor the sessions in his recently-published BMH book Building Authentic Community.
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Posted by Terry White on January 27, 2007 | 1 Comment
Fellowship Coordinator Tom Avey, currently in Southern California for meetings of the Fellowship Council, got loose from his group last night and went to Hollywood to find his star.
He found it.
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Posted by Terry White on January 27, 2007 | No Comments
Pastor Dan Thornton, who recently concluded his 20-year ministry as pastor of the Peninsula Grace Brethren Church in Soldotna, Alaska, this week posted the following on his blog. You can read more of Dan’s postings at
http://www.xanga.com/longhikes
I’m in a real recording! You can hear it at www.myspace.com/darkroommusic !
Here’s what’s up. David is in an excellent band in Winona Lake, Indiana. The group, called “Darkroom,” has just completed a CD and when I was visiting in the fall I was able to play trombone with David on trumpet for one of the songs. The song is called “six eight four four.” Go to the site and listen and tell me what you think.
In addition to keyboard, background vocals and some solo vocals in various songs, David also plays a nice xylophone part on the song “Windsor Knots.”
We don’t know the future God has planned, but there’s a great chance you will be hearing more from this group in the future!
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Posted by Terry White on January 27, 2007 | No Comments
From today’s St. Petersburg, FLA, Times. Lee Friesen is pastor of the Brooksville church.
Grace Brethren Church, 6259 Faber Drive, Brooksville, will present Dane Bailey, “the Singing Auctioneer,” at 11 a.m. Sunday.
Since entering Grace Theological Seminary in 1975, Bailey has been traveling, ministering and entertaining at churches, conferences and other gatherings, as well as on radio and television. Recently he sang at Pageant of Peace, an annual event at the national Christmas tree on the Ellipse near the White House.
Since 2001, he has been a full-time singer and recording artist, with seven records and a live concert video. The concert is free, but an offering will be taken.
Information also available at www. singingauctioneer.com.
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Posted by Terry White on January 26, 2007 | No Comments
FGBC moderator Tim Boal (center, left, blue shirt) is conducting the current three-day meetings of the FGBC’s Fellowship Council. The meeting is being hosted by the Grace Community Church of Seal Beach, California, and pastor Donald Shoemaker.
Among the agenda items are a proposal for restructuring the leadership team of the FGBC, the recommendation of admitting seven new churches to the FGBC, the adoption of a budget to recommend to the conference business meeting this summer, and more.
Fellowship Council members are elected from geographic regions of the country. Also participating are the four moderators of the FGBC — one present (Tim Boal), one past (Keith Shearer) and two future (Jim Brown and John McIntosh).
Members of the council will preach in various Grace Brethren churches throughout southern California this Sunday. Speaking at the Seal Beach church will be Keith Shearer, and BMH executive director Terry White will conduct a church communications seminsar at Seal Beach on Saturday and will represent BMH in the three morning services this Sunday at the Seal Beach church.
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Posted by Terry White on January 26, 2007 | No Comments
Ken Seyfert, of the Grace Brethren Investment Foundation, spiced up his presentation of GBIF’s year by wearing his Indianapolis Colts eyeshade, giving a subtle hint as to his favorite team in the upcoming SuperBowl.
Friday was “national organization” day at the Focus Retreat, when representatives of Grace Brethren International Missions, CE National, Women of Grace USA, Grace Brethren Investment Foundation, Grace Village, Brethren Missionary Herald Co., and Grace Brethren North American Missions all gave reports on their year’s activities and answered questions from the Fellowship Council members.
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Posted by Terry White on January 26, 2007 | No Comments
Pastor Larry Humberd of the Lehigh Valley Grace Brethren Church in Bethlehem, PA, took advantage of the afternoon break in the Fellowship Council meetings to call home. The three-day meeting concludes Saturday morning.
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Posted by Terry White on January 26, 2007 | No Comments
Grace Seminary professor Matt Harmon has used his blog to ask for guidance on studying and reading up on the Emerging/Emergent Church issue.
He’s getting great participation–check out some of the responses at http://bibtheo.blogspot.com/2007/01/emerging-church-and-emergent-movement.html
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Posted by Terry White on January 25, 2007 | No Comments
From today’s Long Beach (CA) Press-Telegram. Lou Huesmann is pastor of the Grace Brethren Church which meets at 36th and Linden in Long Beach.
LONG BEACH – The first Community Forum and Resource Fair is scheduled for Saturday at Grace Brethren Church in Bixby Knolls.
Mayor Bob Foster and City Councilwoman Rae Gabelich, who proposed the idea, will provide opening remarks.
The four-hour event will feature a youth panel composed of current and former high school students; break-out sessions on conflict resolution, the juvenile justice system, job training opportunities and other youth issues; a resource fair with city agencies and community groups; and live music by local artists.
“This forum is designed to utilize the outpouring of concern and interest that were generated after the Halloween incident in Bixby Knolls,” Gabelich said. “We are hopeful that it will provide avenues for dialogue and unity.”
The event at 3601 Linden Ave. runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
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Posted by Terry White on January 24, 2007 | No Comments
GBNAM church planter Clive Craigen, ministering in urban Chicago, sends along the following notice:
In several weeks, CMA Resources (Neil Cole: author of Organic Church and Cultivating a Life for God and Mike Jentes) will be coming to Chicago for a weekend training on the organic church planting. There is a cost, but if you sign up as a group, you can get a discount rate. Check the www.cmaresources.com for more info under greenhouses. The time and place is as follows.
Greenhouse Weekend Intensive First Story Conference in Chicago, IL. Feb. 16th-18th 2007
Location:
Daystar Christian School
800 South Wells, Suite 180
Chicago, IL 60607
http://www.daystarschool.com
Pay for Parking Accessible by Train (Check out www.transitchicago.com)
Schedule:
Friday Night:6:30pm Registration/Worship
7-10pm Session 1
Saturday:8:30am- noon Session 2
noon-2pm Lunch out
2-5pm Session 3
Sunday:8:30am – Noon Session 4
Local contact:
Clive Craigen (312)329-4422
ccraigen@moody.edu
The registration is as follows http://www.cmaresources.com/greenhouse/registration.asp.
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Posted by Terry White on January 24, 2007 | No Comments
Jim Pearson, author of the BMH book Minefields in the Marketplace, will be the speaker for this month’s “Men Following Christ” meeting in Warsaw, Indiana. BMH senior editor Jesse Deloe will accompany Pearson to assist with his autographing books and with the booktable following the talk. Here is the announcement:
This month’s Men Following Christ meeting will be Saturday, January 27th , from 8 AM to 10 AM, In the 2517 Restaurant, next to the Ramada Inn of Warsaw. Join us for breakfast, fellowship, worship and a message from special guest speaker Jim Pearson, Senior Pastor of Brookside Church in Fort Wayne and Author of “Minefields in the Marketplace”.
This meeting is open to the public! Please join us for a wonderful morning of spiritual growth and challenge! And don’t forget to invite your unsaved friends, co-workers, and/or neighbors to this spiritually uplifting event.
Men Following Christ is a men’s disciple-making ministry devoted to bringing glory to God by making as many men as possible fully devoted disciples of Jesus Christ and to multiply lifetime workers for a worldwide impact.
Men Following Christ meets the last Saturday of every month from 8 AM to 10 AM in various locations. For more information or to receive e-mails of upcoming events, please call Rod at 574-253-1594 or Don at 574-453-1555, or check out our website at http://www.menfollowingchrist.org.
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Posted by Terry White on January 24, 2007 | No Comments
The FGBC is part of a coalition of six Brethren groups which trace their origin to Alexander Mack and Schwarzenau, Germany, in 1708. One project of the coalition is The Brethren Encyclopedia. BMH executive director Terry White serves on the group’s board as a representative of the FGBC, and GBIM’s Ted Rondeau, who will be coordinating the FGBC’s historical tour to Schwarzenau to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the founding of the movement, has also been meeting with the board.
Donald Durnbaugh, long recognized as one of the leading historians of the Brethren movement, died suddenly about a year ago as Volume 4 of the encyclopedia was about to go to press. Church historian Jeffrey Bach, who is emerging as Durnbaugh’s successor, is moving to a new position:
Jeff Bach (pictured), associate professor of Brethren Studies at Bethany Theological Seminary in Richmond, Ind., has accepted an appointment as director of the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, effective this summer.
The Young Center, located on the campus of Elizabethtown (Pa.) College, engages in research and teaching as well as sponsoring conferences related to the study of these groups primarily in their North American context.
Bethany president Eugene F. Roop and academic dean Stephen Breck Reid reluctantly accepted Bach’s resignation recognizing the loss that comes with the departure of an excellent teacher and Bethany’s senior faculty member, according to a release from the seminary.
“Jeff’s passion for excellent teaching has been reflected in the maturity of his own work with students,” Roop commented. “He has enabled students to grow in careful disciplined study, to a degree that sometimes surprises the students themselves. At the same time, Dean Reid and I accept that this is an important opportunity for Jeff.
“He wrote his dissertation on the sources and significance of mysticism in the community at the Ephrata Cloisters, located not far from Elizabethtown. The position will provide him the opportunity to extend and expand his research and writing, as well as to provide the Young Center with administrative leadership.”
Bach graduated from Bethany Seminary in 1983 and served for seven years as pastor of Prairie City (Iowa) Church of the Brethren prior to his graduate study at Duke University.
Along with his teaching position at the seminary, he has provided educational seminars in districts and congregations throughout the denomination. Currently he also serves as chair of the 300th Anniversary Committee of the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference.
Named for Galen S. Young and Jesse M. Young, the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies fosters and promotes the scholarly study of Anabaptist and Pietist groups. Scholarly and interpretive investigations of the life, culture, and beliefs of Anabaptist and Pietist movements, primarily in their North American context, are conducted by visiting scholars as well as graduate and undergraduate students under the center’s auspices.
In addition, the center interprets the cultural and religious heritage of Anabaptist and Pietist communities to the general public and serves as a clearing house for information through a variety of programs.
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Posted by Terry White on January 24, 2007 | No Comments
The following article from today’s Winchester (VA) Star newspaper quotes several of our Grace Brethren pastors regarding the use of church signs:
The message is clear:
Get thee to church
By Teresa Dunham
The Winchester Star
Winchester — Summing up your faith in 48 letters or less isn’t easy.
“It’s a big responsibility,” said Sue Ashley, who changes the sign each week at Congregational Christian Fellowship Church on Middle Road.
She and her husband Don, who are members of the church, constantly find themselves walking a fine line between humor and depth.
“You can get a little too light, and people don’t take your faith seriously,” Don said. “We try not to make a joke out of our faith.”
But — admit it — don’t you remember the funny signs with catchy slogans the most? Here are a few of the memorable ones that have appeared around Winchester over the years:
Don’t wait for the hearse to take you to church …
God’s Favorite Department: Lost and Found …
Eternity: Smoking or Non-smoking???
Be an organ donor. Give your heart to Jesus …
God is the best wireless connection …
Don’t give up. Moses was once a basket case …
Depending on individual tastes, the drive-by sermons could induce a smile, contemplation, an eye-roll, or a full-body cringe.
“You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. If you’re trying to reach the public, you don’t want to repel them with an insulting sign,” Don Ashley said.
Often, he and Sue find their ideas in books such as “Roadside Church Signs Across America” and “Forbidden Fruit II: More Church Signs Across America.”
“We tend to pick out signs that have something to do with the sermon that week,” Don said.
The couple’s combined judgment helps to ensure that the messages are tasteful and thought-provoking.
“Because of the signs, people have come here to worship,” Sue said.
Recently, the Church of Christ at Mountain View, on U.S. 11 at Narrow Lane, touted an especially witty ditty:
Sign Broken. Message Inside.
“We try to do something that’s going to attract people. It’s part of our outreach,” said Dave Wright, church elder of the nondenominational congregation. “That [slogan] actually came from an Internet source.”
These days, Wright said, the church needs to use every possible avenue to reach people. Signs, he believes, are one of the more obvious methods.
Meanwhile, the Rev. Darrel Taylor thinks of the slogans on his church sign as new wrapping paper for an age-old message.
“I’m always in the habit of looking for real-life illustrations,” said Taylor, who preaches at Blue Ridge Grace Brethren Church on Cedar Creek Grade. “I try to give people something to think about.”
The catch-phrases are his way of planting a small seed of truth in people’s minds.
“I used to fill the sign up, but then people couldn’t read it all,” he said.
Pastor Matthew Lohr of Winchester Grace Brethren Church on Greenwood Road said Internet search engines and devotionals can help people find slogans.
“I have a folder of sayings,” Lohr said. “Sometimes it’s just some words of encouragement.”
Most local signs steer clear of political statements, unlike the sign at a nearby West Virginia church that calls abortion “the ultimate child abuse.”
Still, even lighthearted biblical humor can offend people.
“In my 5 1/2 years here, we got one negative letter,” Lohr said. “But at least we got the person to think.”
If the sign creators aren’t sure about the impression that a certain slogan might make, a quick scan of www.crummychurchsigns.com could help.
The site offers a “critical analysis of critically bad church signs” that people may want to avoid using.
A few of the crummy slogans:
Parking for church business only. Violators will be baptized.
Go to church or the devil will get you.
Lord help me be the kind of person my dog thinks I am.
It even includes a few knee-slappers, such as:
What do you call a pastor in Germany? A German shepherd.
Fortunately, it seems that most of the signs featured on www.crummychurchsigns.com are from Tennessee.
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Posted by Terry White on January 22, 2007 | No Comments
YIB (Your Intrepid Blogger) will be reporting later this week and next from the left coast.
First up is the Fellowship Council, which is meeting at Seal Beach, California, enjoying the hospitality of Pastor Donald Shoemaker and his fine church. The Council includes the elected reps from around the country, as well as the four moderators (one present, one past, two future), and Tom Avey, Fellowship Coordinator.
Friday is the designated “National Organization Day” when those of us from cooperating national organizations will bring reports and updates to the Council. Also on the agenda is the consideration of new churches seeking to join the Fellowship–there are about six on the list thus far.
Saturday and Sunday I’ll be at the Seal Beach church doing some seminars in communication for church leadership and presenting the ministry of BMH.
Then Monday through Wednesday is the Southwest Focus Retreat, led by moderator Tim Boal, when we will be considering biblical definitions of “church.” We’ll be meeting at San Juan Capistrano.
According to my calendar, it was one year ago today that Tom Avey had his suprise heart bypass operation in southern California. Aren’t we grateful for God’s mercy and healing power?
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Posted by Terry White on January 20, 2007 | 2 Comments
One of the goals of this blog and of the all-Fellowship periodical FGBC World is to nurture Great Commission teamwork among the people and churches of the FGBC by sharing creative outreach ideas and transferable concepts in evangelism and discipleship. The recent outpouring of comments–favorable and unfavorable–to an idea a church in North Carolina is implementing points out the “risk” element.
Pastor Scott Distler of the Lititz, PA, church, recently addressed this issue of “taking risk for the sake of outreach” in his blog. In our opinion, he presents a thoughtful, insightful look at the thinking behind doing something out of the ordinary to attract people into the hearing of the gospel. We reproduce it here–you can read Scott’s blog regularly at http://www.lgbc.org.
When is it proper to take some risks in ministry? In other words, how do we determine when it is appropriate to try something in order to reach people even though there is no guarantee that it will work?
This is a question that we discuss regularly here at Grace Church. As a result, there have been times we have taken some risks. For example, two years ago we changed the format of our Christmas program from a regular concert style format to a Walk-Thru venue.
This was a risk. Why? First, it cost a lot more money to do it this way and second, it would take a lot more “man power” on our end to pull it off. What if our own people didn’t buy into it? What if no more people showed up to experience it than usually attended the concert style format? To our delight, it worked.
We did the same thing earlier this month when we spent a little extra money and brought in the DeLorean time-car to help us kick-off our new series on the rapture. This was a risk. In fact, we talked long and hard about it before deciding to do it. Here was our thought.
So often we have special events like the Christmas Walk Thru and Christmas Eve services and they are very well attended and that is great. We get a lot of first time visitors which is our goal. But our goal is to go beyond that. We also want to see these same visitors come back again after the event is over.
As a result, this year we tried something that we had never done before. We launched a new and exciting series on the topic of the rapture of the church right after our Christmas events. We also wanted to have something that could be an extra “hook” (for lack of better word) that could quite possibly get the many visitors who came on Christmas to come back. We knew it would be a risk, but we thought it was worth trying. That is why we did a lot of promotion on the new series and the “time-car” at these Christmas events.
Did it work? Well, I can tell you this. Last year, the Sunday after Christmas saw an attendance of 757. This year on that same Sunday, which was the morning we had the “time-car” with us and kicked off the new series on the rapture, the attendance was 1,312 with many, many visitors. This equals out to more than a 73% increase in attendance and this does not count those who came just to see the car but did not stay for the service. These too were first contacts which were positive.
From that perspective, it seemed to accomplish exactly what our goal was. This is not something we will do every week by any means. But when there is a strategy behind it that makes it a credible risk to help us reach as many people as possible, it is by all means worth considering.
But let’s also keep in mind that all risks will not work. I remember organizing and promoting a special Sunday back at the church I pastored in Indiana. Our goal was to see double the attendance than usual on that morning. We spent extra money and I worked hard on promoting the event and motivating the church. In the end, we had less people on that Sunday morning than we typically have.
So was it a failure? From a numbers standpoint, “YES”! But I’m not sure we ever really fail when we are willing to step out on faith and take a risk. After all, remember Peter when he stepped out of the boat?
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