BMH Editor's Blog

Update: Lyndan is Recovering from Surgery

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on March 15, 2012  |  No Comments

Lyndan Edwards, eight-year-old son of Canadian church planters Oliver and Cheryl Edwards, underwent a lengthy surgery yesterday to removed a cavernoma, a blood vessel overgrowth, in his brain. He’s hospitalized at the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary. Cheryl posted a video update this morning, which is posted here with her permission.

Oliver is leading Grasslands Church, a new Grace Brethren congregation in Medicine Hat, Alberta.

Foreros Become U.S. Citizens

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on March 14, 2012  |  No Comments

The Forero Family: Mateo, Pilar, Javier, and Abbie

Jesus Munoz, pastor of Iglesia Comunal La Esperanza and Hispanic church planter, reports that Associate Pastor Javier Forero, his wife, Pilar, and son, Mateo, became U.S. citizens this afternoon during ceremonies in Tampa, Fla. Accompanying them to the ceremony was their daughter, Abbie, who was born in the U.S.

Pilar quoted Philippians 3:20 on her Facebook page this morning before leaving for the ceremony.

“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. (NKJV),” she wrote. “Thanks my Lord for the opportunity you had giving us to live in this wonderful country and now to be citizens after ten years!!! God Bless America!!”

The Foreros came to the United States from Colombia as refugees in 2001. Their story was told in the March-April 2009 issue of FGBC World.

Lyndan Edwards’ Surgery Scheduled

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on March 12, 2012  |  3 Comments

Lyndan Edwards

Several weeks ago, Lyndan Edwards, eight-year-old son of Canadian church planters Oliver and Cheryl Edwards, was diagnosed with a cavernoma, a blood vessel overgrowth. Surgery to remove the cavernoma is scheduled for this week. Here is an update, sent yesterday by GBCanada.

After the initial diagnosis of a tumor in Medicine Hat on February 28, Lyndan was referred to Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary (2 1/2 hours away).  Consultation the next day revealed not a tumor, but a bleed called a cavernoma.  It is putting pressure on nerves at the brainstem; a subsequent bleed could be catastrophic.  It was not deemed “urgent”, but needed to be removed sooner than later.  It is a blessing that it is operable, but will of course entail all the inherent risks of brain surgery and the realities of at least a few weeks of physical therapy afterward since brain tissues don’t like to be disturbed.  There are also no guarantees that his symptoms will be fully resolved by the surgery; that depends on how much damage the bleed did to the nerves.

Surgery will be in Calgary first thing on Wednesday morning, March 14; Lyndan will have a four-day hospital stay at a minimum.  Since his 9th birthday is on March 17, he will be in the hospital for his birthday.  The Hospital has a service here through which you can send an electronic message that will be printed and sent to his room.

Oliver and Cheryl are so grateful for the outpouring of prayer and encouragement; please continue to pray!  They feel very good about the staff they have met at the hospital and the neurosurgeon who will be doing the operation.  But this is a scary thing for all of them, and whatever the outcome, there is still a long road ahead.

Please take some time to pray for Oliver & Cheryl and Grasslands Community Church at this time. Pray for Lyndan and for the doctors. Thanks for praying for them.

Oliver is leading Grasslands Church, a new Grace Brethren congregation in Medicine Hat, Alberta.

Pray for Church Planting in North America

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on March 12, 2012  |  No Comments

Currently there are five Grace Brethren ministries that promote disciple-making and church planting in North America. Last year their leaders entered into a covenant to support and promote each other’s ministries and to work together to raise up a new generation of workers for the North American harvest.

The five groups (and those who lead them) include:  Encompass World Partners (Dave Guiles), Vision Ohio (Tony Webb), Team Canada (Nathan Bryant), GO2 Ministries (Tim Boal) and Church Multiplication Associates (Neil Cole).

Pray for the leaders of these organizations. Also:

1. Pray for an increase in the number of new churches in North America.
2. Pray for an increase in the number of young leaders willing to be mentored by the leaders of these five ministries.
3. Pray for the continued unity of spirit and purpose as these leaders communicate with one another and pray for one another.

Give praise that the spirit of cooperation between these ministries is a “fresh wind,” demonstrating our commitment to model a unity which glorifies Christ.

For more information, see the Coalition of North American Church Planting.

Author Pens Children’s Book

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on March 1, 2012  |  No Comments

Katie Mueller, a member of the Winona Lake, Ind., Grace Brethren Church, has written her first children’s book, Bella’s Birthday Surprise. Based on a true experience with her older daughter, Bella, the book centers around a special gift at Bella’s first birthday party.

The book is illustrated by Cho Long McGowen, a Grace College graduate who worked as a photographer for the college and in the Korean program following graduation. Cho also happens to be Katie’s sister-in-law.

Published by AuthorHouse, the book is available at Amazon.com and other book retailers, including Tree of Life in Winona Lake, Ind. (next to the BMH offices). In addition, there are plans for an application for iPhones and iPads that will include an interactive link for kids to make the book into a puzzle, re-color the illustrations, or be read aloud to them.

Keep that Pioneer Spirit

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on February 29, 2012  |  No Comments

In a flashback to national conference, which was held at Wooster, Ohio, last summer, Jim Brown, pastor of Grace Community Church, a Grace Brethren church in Goshen, Ind., encourages churches to keep their pioneer spirit.

This was featured in last week’s e-zine from Pastor Bob Fetterhoff, the moderator of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches. To receive these video updates to your email inbox, click here to subscribe.

Grace Brethren, Wooster, Ohio, Celebrates 49 Baptisms

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on February 27, 2012  |  No Comments

The Grace Brethren Church in Wooster, Ohio, celebrated 49 baptisms on Sunday. It must have been quite a morning, as reported on Twitter by Daron Butler, pastor of cross cultural ministries (@daronbutler ), Nick Cleveland, pastor of high school ministries (@nickcleveland), and Ivanildo Trindade,  associate pastor of outreach ministries (‏ @Trintwit).

Click here to see a slide show of images taken during the baptismal services.

A video featuring the “cardboard testimonies” of some of those being baptized was feature during the morning. It may be viewed below.

New Churches Result in Changed Lives, Communities

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on February 24, 2012  |  No Comments

VisionOhio, the regional church planting network in Ohio, is committed to reaching people for Christ through the development of new congregations. Recently, church planter Nathan Wells met with the NorthCentral Ohio District ministerium and shared how Christ has been working in several apartment complexes in Ashland and Mansfield, Ohio.

VisionOhio has the opportunity to go into 208 apartment complexes in Ohio to plant churches. It’s a concept VisionOhio calls S.E.E.D. Net. In the video below, VO executive director Tony Webb explains the vision and the opportunity.

FGBC Social Concerns Committee Issues Call for Prayer

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on February 24, 2012  |  No Comments

From the Social Concerns Committee of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches: Pray for Protestant pastor facing execution in Iran — A matter for our urgent prayer and for activist follow-up should this murder occur.

Don Shoemaker
Chair, FGBC Social Concerns Committee

Iranian pastor’s execution is imminent, sources say
A Protestant pastor in Iran faces imminent execution for refusing to renounce his Christian faith.

Orders for the execution of Rev. N have probably been issued, the American Center for Law and Justice reports—although the Iranian judicial system operates in secrecy. The human-rights group said that the Iranian pastor was alive as of February 21, but that he could be put to death at any moment.

Rev. N was sentenced to death in 2010 for apostasy after he embraced Christianity. Although he has testified that he was never a practicing Muslim, Islamic law prescribes the death penalty for anyone who leaves the faith. Rev. N has been ordered repeatedly to accept Islam or face death, and has always clung to his Christian faith.

Fight Club Ignites Fire in Goshen Men

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on February 21, 2012  |  7 Comments

For the last 12 weeks, men at Grace Community Church, a Grace Brethren church in Goshen, Ind., have been participating in Fight Club, a program developed by the staff of the church that is designed to reach men where they are. “It is an incredible discipleship journey,” says Pastor Jim Brown. “It has all the components of discipleship plus all the stuff that makes men come alive.”

It was advertised as a brand new, life-changing ministry for men. If you wanted to be part of it, then come to an informational meeting at midnight on the specified Monday night.

“Yes, we met at midnight,” says Pastor Jim, “and 323 men came to that informational meeting, which had many elements to it.”

Every participant signed a creed that required them to not talk about Fight Club to people outside of the group. They were given weekly assignments that had to be accomplished. If they weren’t, strikes were accumulated.

“We finished with 145 men,” says Jim. There were 225 men who began the journey. “Men did these assignments with hopes that their actions made a difference.”

Between meetings, the men connected through a password-protected closed website.

“It lit a fire in men and turned our church upside down,” says Pastor Jim, who developed the program from scratch, often writing it as they went. “It lined up well with what I have been saying for 16 years at Grace Community, if you get the man, you get the family. You get the family, you the community. You get the community, you get the world.”

The 12 weeks culminated with an awards ceremony when the men received a shirt with the creed on it and a leather bracelet bearing the Fight Club logo. The videos on this page are from that ceremony.

Currently he and his staff is working on developing the program so that it may be used by other churches.

“I have never been more excited about anything in my entire life!” he adds, as he prepares for another 12 week program with a new group of men.

Two Great Canadian Adventures Offered in 2012

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on February 20, 2012  |  No Comments

Two Mission Teams – Two Churches

One Family of Jesus – Your Help Needed!

Bring a friend, bring your family, bring your church.

The team of GBC Canada, the Grace Brethren church-planting effort in Canada, has announced two opportunities for ministry teams to come alongside young congregations this summer. The first is July 8 to 14 in Medicine Hat, Alberta. The second is August 5 to 11 in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The missions trips this summer are all about supporting the two recent church plants in Canada. Grasslands could use help in keeping the momentum going from their launch last fall.  Community of Hope needs assistance to refresh and reinstate the presence of Jesus in their community.

Grasslands Church

DATE: July 8- 14, 2012

TIME: Sunday night – Friday Night

LOCATION: Medicine Hat, Alberta

GO TO: www.canadianadventure.org

Contact: herb8_44805@yahoo.com

Community of Hope

DATE: August 5- 11, 2012

TIME: Sunday night – Friday Night

LOCATION: Vancouver, British Columbia

GO TO:www.canadianadventure.org

Contact: herb8_44805@yahoo.com

Asia’s Hope Provides Essential, Lifesaving Help

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on February 20, 2012  |  No Comments

The McCollum Family

One of the cooperating organizations in the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches is Asia’s Hope, an organization that provides family-based residential care for children at high risk of sexual and economic exploitation in Cambodia, Thailand, and India. From its beginnings in 2001, it now operates 23 homes, providing comprehensive care for about 600 kids and work with about 150 indigenous staff – moms and dads, teachers, nurses, cooks and administrators. A number of the homes are sponsored by Grace Brethren congregations.

Recently, Marla Taviano, a blogger from Columbus, Ohio, interviewed Asia’s Hope executive director John McCollum (and co-founder of the organization) about the ministry and how it came to be. She’s also leading a discussion about orphan care — the pros and the cons. It’s a multi-day post, so feel free to follow along. We’ve only included a portion of the interview here.

meet the mccollum family

Native Church Announces Revival Service

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on February 17, 2012  |  No Comments

Arnold Betoney, pastor of Native New Life Church, a Grace Brethren congregation in Albuquerque, N.M., has announced the schedule for its 2012 New Year’s Revival. Services will be held at 7 p.m nightly, February 20 to 25 at the church, located at 8624 Zuni SE (corner of Zuni and Virginia).

Speakers include:
Monday — Pastor Arnold Betoney
Tuesday — Ray Perry, All Nation’s Indian Baptist Church
Wednesday — Ben Yazzie, iEquip
Thursday –  Jeremy Seaton
Friday — Pastor Julian Gunn, Nazarene Indian Church
Saturday — Three Fold Communion Service

Prayer, testimonies, singing, and enjoy the fellowship, you’re all invited.

More info call Pastor Arnold (505) 220-1188.

Live This Week Like It’s Valentine’s Day

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on February 15, 2012  |  No Comments

When we shared yesterday’s story about how Grace Fellowship, a Grace Brethren congregation in Pickerington, Ohio, spread a little sweet love in their community, we were drawn to a video on the church’s web site. It’s from Sunday’s services at the central Ohio church and worthy of a second glance. Pastor Keith Minier and his wife, Kelly, remind viewers of the importance of spending time together. He then encourages the congregation to protect their marriages and prays not only for married couples in the audience, but for the single individuals, that they might live lives of purity.

Showering a Community with Sweet Love

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on February 14, 2012  |  No Comments

Bags containing a dozen cookies each await distribution to teachers, police officers, and fire officials in Pickerington, Ohio.

Grace Fellowship of Pickerington, Ohio, a Grace Brethren congregation pastored by Keith Minier, showered their community with love this Valentine’s Week. They distributed close to 400 dozen cookies to schools and fire and police stations in their area.

“This was a really exciting event that our church really stepped up and owned,” reports Nicole Waggoner, leader of the Impact Team. “We had originally planned on getting 300 dozen cookies but we got closer to 400 dozen.  In each bag was one dozen cookies.  We sent them to four different local schools and we had enough to take to the fire and police station.”

The team selected schools where the teaching staff includes individuals who are part of the congregation, to provide them with a platform to talk to people and invite them to the church.

Members of Grace Fellowship Church in Pickerington, Ohio, baked nearly 400 dozen cookies to give to teachers, fire officials, and police officers.

“The point of this event was to let teachers know that we appreciate them and all of their hard work,” stressed Nicole. ” Our hope is that if they are ’seeking’ that they would come visit us and we know they will be exposed to the truth of Jesus in our services.”

“People brought the cookies to church this weekend and we packaged them up and delivered them yesterday (February 13),” says Nicole. “We’ve already heard some great reports about how appreciative people were.”

Nicole goes on to explain that the Impact Team creates events for the church to have a large scale presence in the community, which is located on the eastern edge of metropolitan Columbus. “Our hope is to provide a platform of credibility in the community as a church that loves them,” she says. “We hope that if a person finds them self wondering about God, that they will remember the church that gave them the cookies, the free wrapping paper, and provided them with an awesome Easter Egg event with a helicopter and that they will come to a service and hear about Jesus.”

Momentum Promo Video Unveiled

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on February 8, 2012  |  No Comments

Momentum 2012 Video
The promotional video for Momentum 2012, the annual youth conference hosted by CE National, was released this morning on YouTube. The conference will be July 17-22 at Eastern Kentucky University. Momentum is an annual, national youth conference that teaches, equips, and inspires youth to return to their churches and communities as a light for Christ. Momentum excites youth to lead a lifestyle of intentionally walking with Christ and showing their peers at home what that means.

CPR-3 Featured on Catalyst Blog

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on February 6, 2012  |  No Comments

CPR-3, a cooperating ministry of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches which was founded by Dan O’Deens, is featured on the Catalyst blog today. Catalyst is a conference for young leaders of churches and ministries. A portion of the post, written by Dan, appears below. Click here to read the complete post.

CPR-3 Director Dan O'Deens

I was simply a ‘next generation leader’ looking to make a mark on my world. I was ready to step into the mysterious journey of pursuing Jesus by embracing; courage, danger, adventure, mission and calculated risk. The Lord would use Catalyst to change my world or more accurately His World, forever. Someone other than Jesus believed in me. That was all I needed.

I was pastoring Gateway Church, a church I had the opportunity to plant from scratch. I was sitting in my office when 9-11 rocked our world. That evening I was in New York City and I would serve there for the next 3 weeks as a first responder with the Salvation Army.

Another crisis would awaken my soul as it flooded our media. Katrina! I was now trained by the American Red Cross as a First Responder. I was deployed. Catalyst had etched a ‘key’ word into my brain. LEADERSHIP. I was in Baton Rouge and overheard the need for leadership. I stepped in. I had no idea what was about to happen to my life. I ended up leading 10 counties in Louisiana with 8 large mass shelters under my leadership. It would become the classroom of my greatest leadership experience.

A well-intentioned friend spoke some hard words into my life, unknowingly. He said, “That’s great that you get to go to all the ‘BIG” crisis’, but do you take the Church with you?” That was the birth of CPR-3. I believe in the Church. I wanted to be a catalyst for ‘the RED cross’ the cross that cared for both the physical (the American Red Cross) and the spiritual (the blood stained cross of Jesus) needs of people.

An earthquake in Haiti would be the final ‘catalyst’ to move me into the full time arena of crisis, catastrophe and extreme poverty. CPR-3 is a faith-based organization with a driving passion to ‘Breathe Life and Hope into our World.’ CPR-3 supports relief, rehabilitation and development initiatives.

Click here to read the rest of the post.

Kalahari Winter Retreat Draws 1,500 Students

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on February 6, 2012  |  No Comments

Mark Artrip, director of student ministries at Grace Church, Powell, Ohio, was one of two hosts at the annual Kalahari Winter Retreat this past weekend.

More than 1,500 students (6th-12th grade) and leaders from 25 churches converged on the Kalahari Resort in Sandusky, Ohio, this past weekend for the annual winter retreat sponsored by student ministries from all over Ohio and Indiana. This was seventh year for this event, which includes three days at North America’s largest indoor waterpark, four main sessions, dynamic worship, powerful messages from God’s Word relevant for student life, time together as a youth group, and fellowship with like-minded churches.

The retreat featured guest speaker Clayton King, worship leaders Exodus, and Soar Dunk, the trampoline dunk team from Liberty University.

Clayton challenged students from John 6 about how to believe in Jesus and then challenged students to holiness and purity. The response to his message saw 86 first-time decisions for Christ, 275 re-commitments to Christ, more than 300 commitments to a year of not dating to focus on identity and character, and 63 other decisions that direct students lives toward Jesus Christ!

“Praise God! I will never forget watching over 400 students stand up and proclaim a decision for Christ!,” said Jana Muntin, a middle school small group leader from Wooster Grace. “I get tears in my eyes right now picturing it. God showed up in a big way at Kalahari 2012!” In total, more than 700 commitments to Christ were made during the weekend.

Alexis Smith performs during the Kalahari Winter Retreat.

Another adult leader expressed, “What a great weekend bringing everyone together – lives changed – great teaching!”

Andrew Gartner, a student from Grace Church of Powell, wrapped up the weekend like so many students who walk away saying, “Kalahari was the best weekend of my life!”

Other guests for the weekend included Grace College, Encompass Partners, and CE National (Ed Lewis).

“We thank God for His work in the lives of many this weekend and invite you to pray with us that it was an awakening that will see students awake and alive leveraging their entire lives to make Jesus famous!” said Nick Cleveland, pastor of high school students at Wooster Grace. (Nick also serves as director of the event.)

The next Kalahari Retreat will be January 4-6, 2013, and again will feature Exodus and Clayton King. For more information email rsnyder@woostergrace.org.

Mark Artrip, one of two hosts for the weekend, reflected on the experience on his blog.

Growing Spiritual Conversations in the Inner City

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on February 6, 2012  |  No Comments

Dan Green, pastor of Global Ministries at the Grace Brethren Church, Columbus, Ohio, helped initiate container gardens at an inner city clinic in Columbus. The result was not only yummy vegetables, but opportunities to talk with people about Jesus.

New Central Ohio Church Plant Announced

Posted by Liz Cutler Gates on February 3, 2012  |  No Comments

Mark and Kristin Artrip, right, are introduced by Pastor Sean Spoelstra as the couple who will lead the first church plant out of Encounter Church.

Sean Spoelstra, pastor of Encounter Church, a Grace Brethren congregation in Dublin, Ohio, has announced that the church is launching their first church plant.

“For more than three years I’ve said, ‘I don’t know who or where or when, but we are committed to planting a church and are putting five percent of our offerings aside to prepare for it.’  It gives me great joy to tell you that this past Sunday, January 29, Mark and Kristin Artrip were introduced as the couple who will be the first to lead a church plant out of Encounter Church. This will make us a mother church and Grace Church in Powell a grandmother church.”

The announcement came as Encounter celebrated their third anniversary of holding Sunday morning services and Spoelstra was teaching on the church’s core value “Multiply,” which has church planting as a major component.

The couple will move to Hilliard, Ohio, on the northwest side of metropolitan Columbus, to begin a new Grace Brethren work. He is currently the youth pastor at Grace Church in Powell, Ohio.

“Mark is committed to finishing well at Grace Church and plans to come over to Encounter at the end of this summer,” said Spoelstra. “He then will be a leadership resident with us for approximately six months, teaching, training, praying, dreaming, and preparing his ministry team to launch Movement Church in the Spring of 2013.”

Mark Artrip explains more in an open letter to the Powell congregation on his blog. You may also follow Movement Church on Twitter, @movecolumbus.