BMH Editor's Blog

Yakima Valley Churches Quilt for the Homeless

Posted by Terry White on April 30, 2010  |  No Comments

A current story in the Yakima (WA) newspaper salutes ladies who make quilts to give to the homeless and those in transitional housing. Here is an excerpt–to read the entire article click here. Peter Touhey is pastor of the Harrah Grace Brethren Church.

Dora Gunnoe of Wapato has found that same appreciation when she delivers a quilt to a nursing home.

Because her church, the Harrah Grace Brethren, doesn’t have a formal quilting group, she decided to venture out on a quilting project on her own.

“I wanted to do something for the community, and nursing homes are the one place that people think of last,” said Gunnoe, 43.

She makes small quilts, ones that cover a person’s lap and legs.

“The idea is not to have them so heavy, but just enough to keep a patient’s legs warm,” Gunnoe said.

Using any kind of material she has, she sews squares together, binds a sheet on one side and tucks an old blanket in the middle.

So far Gunnoe has made 166 lap quilts for five different nursing homes in Yakima, Union Gap, Wapato and Toppenish.

Harrah Grace Brethren members have donated material to her, but she says she can always use more. Anyone who would like to give Gunnoe material can leave it at the Wapato Fire Station, at U.S. Highway 97 and West Wapato Road, where she serves as a volunteer firefighter.

Vision Ohio Invites You to a Conversation With Hugh Halter

Posted by Terry White on April 30, 2010  |  No Comments

Vision Ohio has announced a free “Tangible Kingdom Conversation with Hugh Halter” on Monday, May 17, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (lunch provided) at the Grace Brethren Church of Delaware, Ohio, located at 375 Hills-Miller Road.

The event is free to all Grace Brethren and will feature discussions with the Denver-based Halter, who works with the Adullam Communities and is one of  the authors of the recent book Tangible Kingdom.

 Topics to be discussed include “The Consumerless Church,” “Missional Apprenticeship vs. Cognitive Discipleship,” and “Missionary engagement with culture and how church can ‘just happen naturally.’”

For more information about Hugh Halter and/or his ministry, go to www.tangiblekingdom.com. To sign up for the May 17 event, click here. The deadline to register is May 10.

Rialto Church Announces Merger With MegaChurch

Posted by Terry White on April 30, 2010  |  No Comments

Mitch Cariaga, left, is lead pastor of the Rialto church which is merging with the church pastored by Jay Pankratz (right).

Harvest Christian Church of Rialto, California, a Grace Brethren church whose pastor is Mitch Cariaga, has announced that they will be merging with Sunrise Church of Rialto as a campus ministry.  Their new name will be Sunrise Mission.  Sunrise Mission will remain a part of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches. 

Pastor Jay Pankratz, a Grace Theological Seminary graduate, is Senior Pastor of Sunrise Rialto Church in Rialto California. Sunrise Church averages more than 5,000 in attendance during their weekend services and is a non-denominational multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-generational and multi-site church that reaches people for Christ.

 Pastor Mitch Cariaga, also a graduate of Grace Theological Seminary, is Lead Pastor of Harvest Christian Church in Rialto, and also serves as the President of Title Trading, Qingdao, China.

Ten At-Risk Children Graduate From GiA Discovery Club

Posted by Terry White on April 29, 2010  |  1 Comment

Ten at-risk children, all second and third graders from Jefferson Elementary School in Winona Lake, Indiana, had a graduation ceremony this afternoon upon completion of the year-long Discovery Club program sponsored by Grace in Action (GiA).

The graduation exercises, held in the Fireside Room of the Winona Lake (IN) Grace Brethren Church, featured the children being awarded certificates of completion, presentation of prizes earned throughout the year in a variety of performance areas, and words of encouragement from the mentors and adults who have worked with the children this year.

The coordinator of the program, Lindsey Eilbacher, is a junior counseling major from Ohio at Grace College, Winona Lake, IN, and she conducted today’s meeting, which was followed by a picnic and games at the Winona Lake town park.

The children met twice a week during the first semester of the school year and once a week during the second semester. In addition to working through the curriculum which focused on life skills such as making choices, personal care, how to use money, and more, they also had some special occasion activities throughout the year such as attending a Grace College soccer game, having a pumpkin-carving contest, and staging a dinner party for their sponsors at which they practiced their table manners and telephone manners.

Graduates of the Jefferson School Discovery Club program posed with their mentors and leaders following today's graduation ceremonies at the Winona Lake (IN) Grace Brethren Church. Discovery Club coordinator Lindsey Eilbacher (blue shirt, at right) is a Grace College junior from Ohio.

Each child is sponsored by adults who contribute $250 for each child’s materials and supplies during the year. Several of the sponsors attended today’s graduation ceremonies.

The LifeTime Learning curriculum is an integral part of GiA’s mission: to educate (life skills) and enable (job skills) employment and/or economic development. The curriculum includes six learning units: Making Choices, Developing Character, Learning to Love, Personal Care, Money Matters, and Personality and Potential. The lessons are offered in three sections: Discoverers, ages 5-8; Achievers, ages 9-12; and Leaders, ages 13-16.

For more information about Grace in Action USA or the LifeTime Learning curriculum, contact Gladys Deloe, who founded the program and wrote the curriculum, at 574-372-6317 or gdeloe@comcast.net or visit the website www.graceinactionusa.org. Grace in Action is a cooperating agency with the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches.

May-June FGBC World Features Ministries Across the Country

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on April 29, 2010  |  No Comments

The May-June 2010 issue of FGBC World, the magazine for the people and churches in the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches, is being delivered this week. In it, you’ll find articles about a variety of ministries across the network of congregations that make up the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches, including a bicyling outreach in Martinsburg, Pa., a bi-vocational pastor in California with a ministry in China, and a free medical clinic in Delaware, Ohio.

To read FGBC World online, see fgbcworld.com. If you’d like a free subscription to the magazine, send an email to amyers@bmhbooks.com or call 574-268-1122.

And a shout-out to our advertisers in this issue… Momentum 2010, GBIM’s We Share, Celebration 2010 (national conference, Grace Brethren Investment Foundation, and Grace Village. As you support these organizations, thank them for supporting the ministry and mission of FGBC World.

Lititz Sunday Service Webcast Reaching Out

Posted by Terry White on April 29, 2010  |  No Comments

Becky Dick Ministry in CAR Featured

Posted by Terry White on April 28, 2010  |  No Comments

Becky Dick with Central African friend.

Becky Dick, from the Winona Lake (IN) Grace Brethren Church (Bruce Barlow, lead pastor) is featured in the current issue of “Senior Life” newspaper from Milford, Indiana. The interview focuses on Becky’s recent ministry trip to the Central African Republic where she used her many years of elementary school teaching in the US as a context for teaching the teachers of the Hand-in-Hand schools in the CAR how to use alternate teaching methods besides lecture. To read the article, click here.

Free Webcast Wednesday With Neil Cole

Posted by Terry White on April 27, 2010  |  No Comments

Grace Brethren pastor and church planter Neil Cole will participate in a live webcast about  his new book, Church3.0, on Wednesday, April 28, from 2-2:45 p.m. CST at http://bit.ly/aY7k5M

Neil Cole’s best-selling book Organic Church described the fastest growing segment of contemporary Christianity-the so-called organic church. Now in this next-step book, he answers questions about how to deal with theological and organizational issues that come up. He talks about issues such has what to do with finances, children, heresy, leader training, and rituals and ordinances. Without the top-down structure of a denomination, even people who are proponents of this small, house-church model worry that they are not doing it right.

 -Offers an important resource for anyone involved with or thinking of starting an organic or house church

-Addresses practical issues of theology, rituals, doctrinal heresy, how to handle children, finances, and other important questions

-Written by an acknowledged expert who is now and has been for over twenty years an organic church planter and practitioner

-Church 3.0 offers solid information about organic churches based on Cole’s extensive experience in starting, nurturing, and mentoring in the organic church movement

Dadje Memorial Fund Established at GBIM

Posted by Terry White on April 27, 2010  |  No Comments

Dadje Samuel and his wife, Christine

The following information is being distributed by Grace Brethren International Missions regarding a memorial fund established on behalf of Chadian church planter and evangelism trainer Dadje Samuel, who died Sunday.

Dadje Samuel died on Sunday, April 25, 2010. Dadje was married to Christine and had 8 daughters, 2 sons and several grandchildren. He was 47.

Dadje was a businessman, an evangelist, and a trainer of church planters. He cared deeply that people who were lost would have an opportunity to hear the Gospel. This passion moved him to invest his life in personal evangelism and in starting a movement of African church planters.

Dadje Samuel grew up in the Bassao area of southern Chad where he came to Christ as a young boy. His father rejected his faith and him. Forced to leave home, he climbed a nearby hill and there dedicated his life to God and asked God to be his Father.

At 16 he went to Nigeria to work as a mason. By 18, he was a foreman. Later he moved to Cameroon where he gained more training as a mason and then began his own business. Dadje was asked by the Chadian fellowship of churches to return to Chad to assist in the many church building projects. He moved to Moundou where he started a successful construction company. He took classes at the Bassao Bible Institute and invested much time in evangelism and church planting.

In 1998, at the Chateau in France, Dadje encountered the ACT Strategy of church planting. He came back to Chad and built his own “chateau” at Kou Bethanie and began the Summer School of Evangelism. Over the last 12 years hundreds of men were trained to minister either as evangelists/church-planters or as leaders in the new church plants.

Due to his apostolic vision there are Chadian missionaries working in 4 countries and with unreached people groups with over 400 new churches and Points of Light started. It was on an exploratory trip to develop church planting in a new country that Dadje became ill. He was hospitalized, but died a few days later.

A memorial fund has been established by GBIM to help with the immediate needs of the family and the funeral. Funds will also go to continue Dadje’s vision of evangelism and church planting. For more information log onto www.gbim.org.

Neil Cole Interviewed at Exponential Conference

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on April 26, 2010  |  No Comments

Neil Cole, Grace Brethren pastor and founder/director of Church Multiplication Associates (CMA), was interviewed at the recent Exponential Church Planting Conference. “Being Present with the City,” with Alan Hirsch, Shane Claiborne, & Neil Cole, is from The Idea Camp in Orlando, which was embedded in the Exponential Conference, the largest church planting conference in the US. Charles Lee facilitates this panel discussion.

The Ideacamp at Exponential 2010 with Shane Claireborne, Neil Cole and Alan Hirsch from The Idea Camp on Vimeo.

Further Details on the Death of Dadje Samuel

Posted by Terry White on April 26, 2010  |  No Comments

Samuel Dadje

The following material appears on the website of Grace Brethren International Missions (www.gbim.org) and explains a bit further the circumstances surrounding the death of the outstanding evangelist, church-planter, and apostle Dadje Samuel from Chad, Africa, on Sunday.

Karina Corrales, GBIM staff Chad, sends further details concerning the death of Dadje Samuel which occurred Sunday at 9 AM in NDjamena, Chad. He had been on an evangelistic trip to the country which lies north of Chad. The vehicle broke down and they were not able to cross the border. They did not have sufficient water and supplies. This is perhaps the hottest month of the year in Chad. Dadje’s health failed and he was transported by MAF service to NDjamena.

The results of various tests done between Friday and Saturday had not yet been received, but Dadje’s condition deteriorated and he was placed in intensive care. Dadje is survived by his wife Cristine, (who was at his side during those last two days) and 10 children, the youngest being about 8 years of age, and several grandchildren.

Dadjé received the Lord as a child though the ministry of his Sunday school teachers. He dedicated his life to Christ’s mission to reach the lost, and he was a man of great missionary vision. His life and ministry inspired many evangelists, whom he trained and took with him on the field, and who continue serving God in very difficult areas in Chad and in the neighboring countries of Cameroon, Nigeria, Sudan, and the Central Africa Republic.

As a soldier of the Lord, he finished his days in battle, attempting to explore another country “closed” to the gospel. Only eternity will reveal totally the extent and eternal fruit of his labor

Please pray for Cristine and the children and grandchildren as they mourn their loss. Dadje was a young man, not yet 50 years of age.

Pray for the whole church in Moundou which is in mourning. Pray for the many evangelists trained by him; they will miss their mentor and godly example.

Pray for Kirk and Kay Carver, GBIM staff, as they travel to NDjamena with some Chadian believers to transport the body back to Moundou. Still in their first term in Chad, they have had many faith-stretching experiences the past year and a half with trials that are very difficult.

Pray that God will receive great glory and that His name will be lifted up, and that the work begun by the Holy Spirit through Dadje will be carried on with zeal.

Grace Brethren Boys Event Registration Deadline Approaching

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on April 26, 2010  |  No Comments

The deadline for Grace Brethren Boys groups to register for the 2010 National Rendezvous is April 30.

The 2010 GBB National Rendezvous will be June 19-26, a week-long base camp event at Chapman State Park located near Buchers Mills, Pa. Chapman State Park is located about eight miles southwest of Clarendon, Pa., and about 90 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

During the National Rendezvous, Grace Brethren Boys units tent camp and have various training classes and fun events that are informing and challenging. Each day will include a unit team devotional in the morning and a large camp devotional (Council Fire) in the evening.  The other activities include swimming, canoeing, craft projects, gun safety, hiking, campfire cooking, fishing and several other activities that are in the planning stages.

See more information at gbbnational.com/rendezvous.htm.

Chadian Evangelist Samuel Dadje With the Lord

Posted by Terry White on April 25, 2010  |  1 Comment

Dadje Samuel

Word has just been received in Winona Lake, Ind., of the death of the outstanding evangelist and church planter from Chad, Africa, Samuel Dadje. The Grace Brethren International Missions board is meetings currently, and details will be released as they are known. Prayer is requested for Dadje’s wife, for the approximately 300 evangelists he has trained, and for the ongoing of the church planting work in the central African countries where he was working.

Larry Chamberlain Presents at CLA

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on April 23, 2010  |  No Comments

Larry Chamberlain (in photo), president/CEO of the Grace Brethren Investment Foundation, was a presenter at the  Christian Leadership Alliance (CLA) annual conference this week in San Diego, Calif. In a session on “Increasing Your Board’s Understanding of Finances,” he discussed how to present financial information in creative and meaningful ways, how to interpret financial information to enhance effectiveness, and how to equip a board through continuing education.

The Christian Leadership Alliance is the nation’s leading resource for enhancing the organizational effectiveness of churches and para-church ministries. It serves more than 9,000 members working in more than 4,500 organizations worldwide.

The recent conference was held April 19-21 in San Diego, Calif. It featured a variety of workshops and networking sessions, along with general sessions that featured speakers such as Ken Blanchard, John C. Ortberg, Jr., Capt. Gerald Coffee (U.S. Navy Retired), William Graham Tullian Tchividjian, Miles McPherson, and Dan Chun, along with the music of Dick and Mel Tunney, Ginny Owens, and Leon Williams.

The 2011 conference will be held April 26-28 in Dallas, Tex.

Lancaster (PA) Church Celebrates 50 Years

Posted by Terry White on April 23, 2010  |  No Comments

Pastor Galen Wiley

From Lancaster (PA) Online.com:

At 50, Lancaster Grace Brethren Church has much to celebrate

By JOAN KERN, Correspondent

Lancaster Grace Brethren Church is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

And it has a lot to celebrate.

Just six years ago, the church, at 911 Rohrerstown Road, was ailing.

“It was an aging congregation that was losing hope for its ability to connect and communicate with younger generations,” said Galen Wiley, church pastor.

“It was questioning its ability to continue its existence.”

On Sunday, April 25, the congregation will mark “50 years of ministering God’s grace to Lancaster County” in a 9:30 a.m. service and a 2 p.m. homecoming celebration.

Bill Tweeddale, the first full-time pastor who served the church from 1960 to 1969, and Bill Davis, who served from 1983 to 1991, will speak.

Refreshments and fellowship will follow the afternoon celebration. For more information, call 397-9991 or e-mail lancastergrace@fgbc.org. 

It would be a sad irony if Lancaster Grace had closed because between 1962 and 1980, it depleted its congregation, which at its peak had about 350 worshippers, by sending families to plant seven new Grace Brethren churches in the Lancaster area that continue today.

The church that began with 17 people meeting at the Lancaster Poultry Center in 1960 grew to more than 2,500 worshippers attending eight churches in 2009.

One of the plants, Grace Church of Willow Valley, offered to help Lancaster Grace in its time of need.

When Wiley became pastor in 2004, he knew the Lancaster Grace was “desperate” for help. So he made a partnership between the two churches a condition of his call to serve.

Willow Valley “made the great sacrifice,” he said, of sending three families, with 10 children and youth, to infuse Lancaster Grace with young blood.

“They are the core of our youth ministry today,” Wiley said of the children and youth.

Two of the men in the families are among Lancaster Grace’s six elders.

Tom Julien to Present Material on Leadership

Posted by Terry White on April 20, 2010  |  No Comments

Tom Julien

Dr. Tom Julien, executive director emeritus of Grace Brethren International Missions and current discipling pastor at the Winona Lake (Ind.) Grace Brethren Church, will present a Fireside Dialogue Tuesday, May 4, at 7 pm at CE National’s Russell Center in Winona Lake, Ind., on the topic of effective biblical leadership.

A release from CE National on the event said, “Everyone cries out for more and better leaders, especially in evangelical churches. Leadership training is critically important. Yet the number of credible people to show us how always seems too few. Few people have the life experience, ministry effectiveness, and biblical insight to show the way. But few is not none, and God has graciously given the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches some choice leaders. One of those men is Tom Julien.

“Tom has almost three decades in cross-cultural mission leadership (France/Europe), another 14 years leading a mission organization (Grace Brethren International Missions), a decade specifically focused on training leaders (Strategic Alliance of Leadership Trainers), and in-depth involvement in local church leadership. When Tom speaks, people listen…and rightly so.”

No leadership position or experience required to attend – just a longing for the multiplication of godly leaders. Contact CE National at cenational@cenational.org or Grace Brethren International Missions at jarmstrong@gbim.org for details about this unique opportunity!

Fireside Dialogues are CE National recordings, made available to the public, of experts in the areas of doctrine and important issues that affect believers.

Grace Prof. Named Ind. Mental Health Counselor of the Year

Posted by Terry White on April 20, 2010  |  1 Comment

Dr. Tammy Schultz

Tammy Schultz, Ph.D., LMHC, of Grace College, Winona Lake, Ind., was honored April 9 with the Indiana Mental Health Counselor of the Year Award at the Indiana Counseling Association Conference in Indianapolis.

Schultz is chair of the Graduate Department of Counseling and Interpersonal Relations at Grace College and has played a critical role with SB 356, a counseling licensure bill in the state Senate that establishes a Mental Health Counselor Associate License. The bill has been passed and will go into effect July 2010.
Also working with Schultz has been Monica Boyer, administrative assistant in the Graduate Department of Counseling and Interpersonal Relations at Grace. For many months, the two have been contributing to the wording of SB 356, connecting with key legislative members, speaking in Indianapolis on behalf of the bill, getting the word out to others in Indiana who have a vested interest in the passing of the bill, and watching and reporting to those interested as the bill moved through the Indiana Senate and the Indiana House of Representatives.
Schultz has taught at Grace College for fourteen years.  She is co-author with Dr. Roger Peugh of “Transformed in His Presence: The Need for Prayer in Counseling” published by BMH Books of Winona Lake. Prior to joining the Grace faculty, she counseled full-time at the Winnipeg Christian Counseling Group in Winnipeg, Canada, and taught part-time at Providence Seminary.

Seminary Accreditation Team Gives Positive Report

Posted by Terry White on April 20, 2010  |  No Comments

Grace Theological Seminary, Winona Lake, Ind., was visited by the Evaluation Committee for the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) April 12-15. In the committee’s exit report, they stated that they will be recommending to the Board of Com­missioners of ATS that Grace Theological Semi­nary receive accreditation for a period of five years (spring 2015). This is the maximum number of years given for initial accreditation by ATS.

The ATS team further commented that they found Grace’s “issues needing further work” to be relatively few when compared to other schools being reviewed for accreditation. The recommendation will be official­ly voted on by the Board of Commissioners in early June, 2010. 

The seminary degrees being recom­mended for accreditation are: Master of Divinity, Master of Arts in Intercultural Studies, Master of Arts (Theological Studies), Doctor of Ministry, and Doctor of Missiology (Korean).

Dr. Jeff Gill, dean of the seminary, said, “We are grateful for the excellent work of the seminary administration, faculty and staff and Dr. Carrie Yocum who wrote the self-study. This is a landmark day in the life of Grace Theological Seminary. Let’s praise the Lord for this good news!”

Heartland Women of Grace Encounter God

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on April 19, 2010  |  No Comments

Wanda Cullison was the keynote speaker for the Heartland Women of Grace's Day Away on Saturday.

The Women of Grace in the Heartland District of Grace Brethren Churches held their Day Away Saturday, April17, at the Winona Lake (Ind.) Grace Brethren Church. Women came from across Indiana and Michigan to experience an “Expectant Encounter” with God.

Keynote speaker, Wanda Cullison, spoke on various aspects of prayer. A panel discussion on prayer or spiritual journaling was led by BMH executive director Liz Cutler Gates and included tips on journaling from Beverly Melton, of the Winona Lake Grace Brethren Church, and Anasatasia Corbin, of Grace Community Church, a Grace Brethren Church in Goshen, Ind. Jerimiah and Marcy Olson, also from the Goshen church, led worship time.

Nancy Weirich Chosen Kidney Patient Champion

Posted by Terry White on April 17, 2010  |  No Comments

Kevin G. Gilbert | Staff Photographer Nancy Weirich has been on kidney dialysis for nearly 10 years, but that hasn’t stopped her from visiting her grandchildren a few hours away and taking annual family vacations to Tennessee and Alabama. Weirich, 63, who strives to live life to the fullest while managing a chronic illness, was chosen as a Patient Champion, one of 31 dialysis patients to be honored during National Kidney Month in March.

The following article appeared this week in the Hagerstown (MD) Herald-Mail newspaper. Nancy Weirich, the former Nancy Nye, is a native of Hagerstown and is a 1968 graduate of Grace College with a B.S. in elementary education. The entire article may be seen by clicking here.

Woman chosen as Patient Champion for National Kidney month

By JANET HEIM
HAGERSTOWN — Nancy Weirich has been on kidney dialysis for nearly 10 years, but that hasn’t stopped her from visiting her grandchildren a few hours away and taking annual family vacations to Tennessee and Alabama.

Weirich, 63, who strives to live life to the fullest while managing a chronic illness, was chosen as a Patient Champion, one of 31 dialysis patients to be honored during National Kidney Month in March.

The nationwide search was conducted by Fresenius Medical Care North America, a provider of products and services for dialysis patients. Weirich was selected from more than 130,000 patients at more than 1,700 facilities.

Weirich began in-center hemodialysis at Fresenius Medical Care Robinwood about 10 years ago after being diagnosed with high blood pressure, then scleroderma. The combination caused damage to her kidneys, making dialysis necessary.

When Weirich travels, she arranges to have dialysis at another facility. She now receives dialysis three times a week.

According to a press release from Fresenius, dialysis is a life-sustaining process that cleans waste products from the blood, removes extra fluids and controls the body’s chemistry when a person’s kidneys fail. Ongoing treatment is usually required unless the patient receives a kidney transplant.

Weirich encourages other patients not to let their dialysis needs interfere with their desire to travel. She is described as a patient advocate to fellow patients, one who supports and encourages, while easing concerns.

Her dedication to her dialysis treatment programs, positive attitude and inspiration were recognized by the staff at the Robinwood facility, who provide Weirich with her dialysis treatments, when they nominated her for the Patient Champion recognition.

“I nominated Nancy . . . because she is an exceptional person. She is courageous and an inspiration to everyone who knows her. Despite her own challenges, Nancy continues to reach out to others showing her compassion and support. She has a positive attitude in the face of multiple chronic illnesses and is a wonderful person,” said Jodi Becker, Clinical Manager, Fresenius Medical Care Robinwood.

Even after a recent hospitalization, Weirich joined family members in watching her grandson play in a varsity tennis match at Boonsboro High School.

As health and time permits, Weirich is involved with her church, Paramount Baptist. She sings in the church choir and helps deliver cold weather supplies to shelters and homes and said her strong faith is a constant in her life.

A retired elementary school teacher, Weirich and her husband, Ned, have been married 43 years. Her last 16 years of teaching were as a third-grade teacher at Bester Elementary School.

The Weirichs live in Hagerstown and have two grown sons, one who lives locally and one who lives in Virginia Beach, Va. They have three granddaughters and a grandson.