BMH Editor's Blog

Posted by Terry White on July 27, 2008  |  No Comments

Three Grace Brethren military chaplains who are retiring this year were honored by the Eagle Commission and by the conference Sunday evening. Those honored were (from left) Dayne Nix, U.S. Navy; Jack Galle, U.S. Navy; and Ken Townsend, U.S. Air Force Reserves. At right is Grace Brethren chaplain’s endorsing agent Dr. John Schumacher.

Posted by Terry White on July 27, 2008  |  No Comments

In the Sunday evening celebration service, more than 100 individuals nailed to a large central wooden cross the names of friends, relatives, and acquaintances who are unsaved. The cross will be in a high-traffic area for the remainder of conference, as a prayer reminder.

Posted by Terry White on July 27, 2008  |  No Comments

Evangelist Mark Cahill was the speaker for the Sunday evening general celebration, giving a strong message on the urgency of sharing Christ with the lost.

For those who would like to read the daily conference newsletters, click on the following links:

http://www.fgbc.org/igo08/Newsheet08-Saturday.pdf

http://www.fgbc.org/igo08/Newsheet08-Sunday.pdf

Prof. Don Ogden Married at Winona Lake Church

Posted by Terry White on July 26, 2008  |  1 Comment

Prof. Donald Ogden, longtime chair of the music department of Grace College, Winona Lake, Indiana, and minister of music at the Winona Lake Grace Brethren church, was married this afternoon to a longtime friend, Ethelee Jones, in the Fireside Room of the Winona Lake church, followed by an open reception.

Ogden’s first wife, Wanita, died in 2006 and Ethelee’s husband recently passed away, as well. The bride many years ago worked at Rodeheaver Hall-Mack Music Publishing Company, which was headquartered in the Westminster Hotel in Winona Lake. Her previous husband was a traveling evangelist and pastor.

Participating in the ceremony were Ogden’s three children, Dianne, Kathy, and Ron, along with several of the grandchildren. Ogden’s brother, Russ, performed the ceremony. The couple will live in Ogden’s home at Lamppost Manor in Winona Lake.

Posted by Terry White on July 26, 2008  |  No Comments

Russ Ogden, Ph.D., brother of the groom and retired Grace Brethren pastor now living near Indianapolis, Indiana, performed the ceremony in the Fireside Room of the Winona Lake (IN) Grace Brethren Church.

Posted by Terry White on July 26, 2008  |  No Comments

The newlyweds had the traditional cake-cutting followed by a large open reception in the courtyard of the Winona Lake Grace Brethren Church.

Grace Brethren Gather in Tampa for Annual Conference

Posted by Terry White on July 26, 2008  |  No Comments

Grace Brethren people from all around the U.S. and some other parts of the world are gathering in Tampa, Florida, at the Innisbrook Resort this week for ig08, the annual national conference of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches.

Registrations were brisk before the opening session of conference this morning. Helping at the registration desk were Judi Rose, Sandy Barrett, and Carol Allebach. The FGBC Coordinator’s office, under the direction of coordinator Tom Avey, has planned and is implementing the conference, which will conclude with a delegate’s brunch and conference business session on Thursday, July 31.

Conference activity for this evening, Saturday, July 26, includes an International Food Fest and fellowship time sponsored by Grace Brethren International Missions. Tomorrow is a full day with the Brethren Missionary Herald Co. corporation breakfast at 8 a.m., a morning celebration service with Mark Cahill speaking at 10 a.m., Grace College and Seminary luncheon and corporation meeting at 12:30, seminars in the afternoon, and the military chaplains appreciation dinner and Grace Brethren Investment Foundation corporation meeting at 5 p.m., followed by another general session with Mark Cahill speaking.

Posted by Terry White on July 26, 2008  |  No Comments

Jeremiah Olson, who leads music and worship at the Grace Brethren church in Goshen, Indiana, is leading worship for the conference this year, along with musicians from his church. In all, about 40 individuals from the Goshen church are attending this year.

Posted by Terry White on July 26, 2008  |  No Comments

Pastor Jim Brown of the Grace Brethren church in Goshen, Indiana, is this year’s moderator and he began the first session of igo08 conference showing video footage of on-the-street interviews with individuals on the street in the Tampa area, clearly revealing that many have a need for Christ in their lives. Visits to “other nations” including trips to Buddhist and Hindu temples are part of the conference programming this year.

Posted by Terry White on July 26, 2008  |  No Comments

Pastor Dan Gregory was the speaker for the first official session of conference Saturday morning, using Luke 5 as a base and giving motivation and instruction on how to be fishers of men. Gregory, who has just finished 14 years as pastor in Columbia City, Indiana, will be joining the staff of the south campus of Grace Church in Akron (Norton) Ohio.

Today at Momentum — Students Become the Hands and Feet of Christ

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on July 26, 2008  |  No Comments

Student and staff participants at Momentum, the annual youth conference of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches, fanned out across the Miami Valley today (Saturday, July 26) to become the hands and feet of Jesus.

They distributed groceries to the needy, ministered at nursing homes, assisted with outreach carnivals at local churches, and helped in a variety of other ways.

Some stayed on campus to pack meals for the hungry (see photo at right). When they are through, they will have packed 100,000 meals that will be shipped to a third world country.

The students, in an assembly-line process, mixed a scientifically formulated mixture of rice, textured soy protein, dehydrated vegetables, and a chicken flavored but vegetarian powder that has 20 vitamins and minerals into a bag, which was then sealed. Each bag serves six people, according to Aileen Morrissey, site supervisory for the Chicago office of Feed My Starving Children.

Those bags were packed into boxes, 36 to a box, then put on a truck, 33 to a pallet, according to Morrissey. “The next people to open those boxes will be the kids on the other side,” she said.

Each meal costs 17 cents to produce, according to Morrissey. Each bag feeds six people for a total of $1.02.

Student Volunteers are Answer to Prayer

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on July 26, 2008  |  No Comments

Pray for Conference

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on July 26, 2008  |  No Comments

The annual conference of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches begins today in Tampa, Fla. Tom Avey, conference coordinator, has sent the following requests. So take a few moments to remember these important meetings!

• Pray that we help each other see the lost. Mission is not just for the missionaries but we have to see people!
• Pray for all those un-planned super important encounters that happen at a conference. In some ways the program is just an excuse for the real work of hallway and poolside encounters.
• Pray for tired pastors and their families. I see lots of young families here and this is a great family location. I want them to be refreshed in body and spirit.
• Pray for the resort staff. They are watching. We will be Jesus to them.
• Pray for Jim Brown, our leader and a person passionate about showing Jesus to people.
• Pray for Sandy, Tom, Steve, Sandi, Carol, the Howards, the Walters, the Cosgroves and all the conference staff that we will sleep well and stay sweet.

Many people are traveling today to attend the conference. Also pray for safety on the road and in the air.

Canadian Church Prepares to Move to New Facility

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on July 26, 2008  |  No Comments

On Thursday, July 17, Grace Community Church in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, hosted an open house at the warehouse facility that will soon be their next ministry home. More than 100 people from the Grace family turned out to walk through the building and to hear the plans for construction and use of the space. Pastor Bartley Sawatsky shared the details of how the leaders at Grace felt great evidence that God had led the church to acquire this particular property. And he shared the build-out and move-in timeline with those in attendance. Pastor Bartley also invited the Grace family members to join in a four-month finance campaign in effort to raise $150,000 for the purpose of building modification.

For several months, the staff and elders at Grace have been in negotiations to lease the 22,000-square-foot warehouse building located at 6670 Campobello Road. This past week, the finishing touches were made to the lease and the keys were acquired. The hope, for now, is that Grace will begin hosting its Sunday services in the facility by mid-November.

The new facility will also be the office site for Grace Brethren Canada and Manantial (a new Hispanic church launching in September). Additionally, the church will license an independent Christian school called St. Jude’s Academy to operate it’s school program in the facility beginning January 2009.

Kent, Wash. GBC to Host the Continentals

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on July 26, 2008  |  No Comments

From today’s (July 26) PNW LocalNews.com, news of a program at the Grace Brethren Church in Kent, Wash. (Shelton Sugg, pastor).

Well-traveled Christian music group to perform this weekend

The Continentals, who have performed their Christian music in Europe and Thailand, will perform in two shows this weekend in the south King County area.

Grace Brethren Church, located at 11135 SE. 232rd St. in the Kent area, is the site of today’s performance at 5 p.m. A show tomorrow at Kent Nazarene Church, 930 E. James St. in Kent, is scheduled for 10:30 a.m.

The group is part of an international, California-based musical ministry organization.

Pray for South Texas following Hurricane Dolly

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on July 25, 2008  |  No Comments

The recent category two storm, Hurricane Dolly, which hit southwest Texas near the Mexico border Wednesday impacted many people in McAllen, Tex., where the Grace Brethren Church is located. Here’s a report from Pastor Robert Soto as he prepares to leave for the national conference of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches in Tampa, Fla.

It was 20 years ago that Iris and I drove the Ryder truck pulling our van from Winona Lake, Ind. What made this time so memorable is that a month after we arrived, we were hit by Hurricane Gilbert. So I thought it was very thoughtful of God to help us celebrate our 20th anniversary with a hurricane.

Hurricane Dolly hit the lower part of Texas on July 23. It quickly went from a tropical depression to a category two hurricane in a few days. I was on a ministry trip in Missouri so I drove 1,290 all through the night Sunday and Monday to make sure I had at least a day to prepare in case the hurricane hit. By the time I got home, people were evacuating the area and heading to higher ground. Since many people in McAllen have never been through a hurricane, you could see the panic in most of the peoples’ eyes. I helped my daughter get some sandbags for her apartment. But as I did, I noticed the hopelessness in a lot of people’s eyes so I decided to stick around and help shovel sand for as many as I could, sharing what little hope I could in a time like this. Wednesday we woke up with 40-mile an hour winds which gradually increased to 85-100 by late afternoon. I must confess, continuous winds scare a person. We lost our electricity by 10 p.m. which meant we had no air conditioner, no stove to cook, no phone service — both home and cell — and no lights. We had gathered a few flashlights and candles so the rest of the night we just lingered around our darkened home listening to the battery powered radio.

The hurricane finally left us around 3 a.m. Thursday and left a city without lights. The morning revealed uprooted trees, telephone poles snapped in two, homes in the poor communities destroyed and a lot of flooding. The water plant was without electricity so they were asking all of us to conserve water lest we run out. Thursday morning and throughout the day we spent cleaning up the mess the hurricane left behind. The only casualty was my laptop computer which did not survive a power surge when the lights went out. Pray I can find a quick replacement before we leave for conference. I praise the Lord that none of our church families suffered any kind of loss. The city is pretty much back to normal today. Everyone survived the hurricane and we will live to see another come and tell the stories of how we survived hurricane Dolly.

Keep us in prayer as we celebrate our 20th year in McAllen at McAllen Grace Brethren Church. I never imagined being here this long. But God is faithful, who has brought us through a lot and continues to use us to reach out into our community and the world for Jesus Christ.

For more hurricane coverage, click here.

Youth Conference Changes, Message Still the Same

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on July 25, 2008  |  1 Comment

It was 1971. Apollo 15 was headed for the fourth manned landing on the moon. The 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution had just been certified, reducing the voting age to 18. President Nixon announced a 90-day freeze on wages, prices, and rents.

That year, Dale Knepper, of York, Pa., attended Brethren National Youth Conference for the first time. The annual event now known as Momentum was held on the campus of Grace College in Winona Lake, Ind. It was a highlight of the summer and an opportunity to make friends from around the country.

At age 14, Dale had just finished his first year of high school. He remembers staying at McKee Courts, an old motel that once was located in the center of the island near the Grace campus. “It was a pit,” he remembers.

A year later, his brother, Dave, then a 13-year-old, joined him. He also stayed at McKee Courts. “I slept on a desk,” he recalls.

Since then, Dale has not missed a youth conference and Dave has missed only one. (The brothers are pictured above with their wives, from left to right, Dale, Ginny, Sue, and Dave.)

Both quietly transitioned from student to staff member, taking on varying roles of responsibility. Today, Dale coordinates sound needs during the week, while Dave currently serves, with his wife, Sue, as a dean, taking responsibility for the care and safety of the students who attend the event.

It was a natural progression. Their parents, Dale and Annette, were long-time volunteers at the conference and set the example. (Dale Sr. died in 1994.)

Dale Jr. admits it was easy to follow their pattern. “I never thought about it,” he says, noting that he also watched his parent’s involvement with the district Northern Atlantic camp. “This is what adults do.”

The brothers have seen numerous changes in the conference, including an increase in enrollment from 500 in the early ‘70s to a high of 2,600 in 2005. The tools have also changed. “We were showing 16mm films then,” remembers Dale, who started working at the sound board while he was a student.

But the message has always been the same.

Dave remembers morning Bible challenges in McClain Hall that were led by Grace Brethren missionaries and pastors like Don Hocking and Charles Lawson Sr. Evening sessions were held jointly with the adult conference, that was meeting over the hill at Rodeheaver Auditorium during the same week. (The two conferences are now held on two different, but consecutive weeks.)

“There was always a challenge – what are you doing with your life? It’s the same kind of challenge we are hearing today.”

The conference has been a centerpiece in their lives. Dale readily admits that much of the practical experience he has gained through the years at youth conference has been on-the-job training that translated to his professional life. He holds a degree in engineering and is the facilities coordinator for a school system in York.

Both men met their respective spouses at the conference. In 1981, Dale met Ginny Torian, although he says he’d talked with her on the phone previously. Dave met Sue Hays in 1982. Today, Dale and Ginny have a daughter who recently finished the 8th grade. She has accompanied her folks to youth conference nearly every year. “She couldn’t wait until she was old enough to be a ‘kid’ here,” says Dale.

Dave and Sue’s four children have also been involved. This week, their 20-year-old son is at home working, while their older daughter also is on the Momentum staff, having just finished a summer as an Operation Barnabas leader. Their younger daughters, a senior and a freshman in high school, are participating in the week’s programs.

They also value the significance of the conference.

“It’s the largest gathering in our fellowship (of churches),” stresses Dale. “If our students catch the vision of what it means to be part of a greater fellowship … as a result of being here at youth conference, (then) that means the future of our fellowship.”

“We need to continue to … help each other and work together,” he adds. “Then we can accomplish much more.”

Dave, now a structural engineer at a nuclear power plant, remembers coming from a small youth group. That same group continues to meet without a paid youth pastor at their home church, the Grace Brethren Church of York, Pa. (Dan White, pastor) and Momentum offers programs that might not otherwise be possible in a smaller church.

“This provides a venue where I can be exposed to things that our church could never pull off,” observes Dave, who is the current church moderator at York. He lists programs such as Operation Barnabas and the TIME program, a short term ministry opportunity. “Those are opportunities I would have never gotten if I’d stayed in my local church.”

For more of a walk down the memory lane of Brethren National Youth Conference/Momentum, click here.

Aaron Shust Praises Grace Brethren Kids

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on July 24, 2008  |  No Comments

Earlier in the week, singer-songwriter Aaron Shust led worship at Momentum, the annual youth conference sponsored by CE National. He was filling in for Steve Fee, the scheduled worship leader, who needed to stay home for a few days during his infant son’s surgery. (Fee joined his band on Wednesday morning.)

Today, Shust blogged about the experience…

I had a great time filling in for Steve Fee and getting to play with the rest of the band earlier this week. A great bunch of High School students, those Grace Brethren.

To read the complete post, click here.

Momentum East continues through Saturday at Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio.

Momentum Conference Raises More than $70,000 to Feed Poor, Build an Orphanage

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on July 23, 2008  |  2 Comments

Momentum Participants Challenged to Find a Need and Fill It

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on July 23, 2008  |  No Comments

The first full day of Momentun, the annual Grace Brethren youth conference, ended Tuesday evening with a main session challenge from David Nasser (pictured at right) to live the mandate of Micah 6:8 as manifested through Jesus. The verse sets the “I Care” theme for the conference, “… what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

“Jesus found a need and filled it,” he said, drawing examples from the feeding of the 5,000.

Earlier in the day, Francis Chan had challenged students to take time to talk with God. “Ask how you can act justly,” he said. For complete coverage of Monday and Tuesday at Momentum, click here.

Nasser returns to the Momentum platform this morning for a second time. The day also includes Sponge Sessions (practical workshops for students), NAC/Quizzing opportunities, and the evening session with Jim Brown, pastor of Grace Community Church, a Grace Brethren church in Goshen, Ind. and current moderator of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches.