100th Birthday, Wesleyan Holiness, and Baptisms!

What an amazing day at Indianapolis Trinity Wesleyan Church as Rev. Michael Colaw and his congregation celebrated 100 years since they were planted from tent meeting revival in 1925! They hosted an open house on Saturday at their Allisonville Road campus and then gathered together for worship on Sunday at their Olio Road campus.
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Former pastors returned to celebrate including Rev. Mark James, Rev. Mark Butcher, and Dr. Thomas Armiger. One of the core values at Trinity is raising up and sending next generation leaders. Today demonstrated that value as Rev. Jorden Green was commissioned from his season of residency to become the new pastor at Mt. Etna Community Life Church. Trinity has an amazing legacy but I couldn’t be more excited about the compelling vision that Pastor Mike is casting. He is calling Trinity to raise up and send out next generation leaders to plant 10 community-based, family-style congregations around Indianapolis in the next decade. As in Heaven, may it be in Indianapolis.
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Sherry and I have known Rev. Scott and Rev. Elizabeth Rhyno for 15 years. Monday evening we joined their family for the wedding rehearsal and then on Tuesday for the beautiful marriage ceremony as their daughter Grace married Evan Pratt. It was an honor to lead the bridal party in communion as part of the ceremony. Evan and Grace will continue to be actively involved in the ministry of Waterline Church.
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I flew to Los Angeles on Wednesday and had the privilege of attending the Wesleyan Holiness Connection national gathering on Thursday. Denominational leaders, scholars, and pastors from more than a dozen denominations (Nazarene, Free Methodist, Church of God in Christ, Church of God – Anderson and Wesleyans among others) met at Life Pacific University for a day of networking and collaboration. The day included a 6:00 am prayer service, keynote presentations and panel discussions. Dr. Tim Fox (South Coastal) and Dr. Karl Eastlack (Northeast) were the other Wesleyan district superintendents in attendance.
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Saturday, I was able to join The River Church in Marion for their Saturday morning prayer meeting and then closed out the day at United Family Church in Cicero as Pastor Allen Gross and his team led an evening of worship. They’ve been doing these worship nights over the past year and this one was well-attended with guess from as far away as Lafayette.
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Nothing is more exciting than the stories of lives being transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You may recall last week’s report from Mt. Zion Wesleyan Church in New Castle. Our team update was released before we were able to pass along this photo of one of the 18 baptisms. We’re rejoicing with Pastor Steve Arnett and the Mt. Zion team on this historic celebration!
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Pastor Shane Wilson and the team at New Hope Wesleyan Church in Columbia City just completed a sermon series on Holiness. This Sunday they launched a new sermon series “Share Your Story, Shine Your Light.” Eleven new believers shared their conversion stores and publicly professed their faith in Christ through baptism. Praise the Lord for lives being #MadeNew!
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God has been blessing The River Church (Marion) with new converts requesting baptism that they’ve now designated the first Sunday of each month as “Baptism Sunday.” This weekend, 8 more new believers publicly professed their faith in Christ through baptism!
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​​I’m looking forward to seeing many of our churches represented at the regional Wesleyan Youth event in Grand Rapids on Friday and Saturday, October 24-25. Our own Andy Riemersma is one of the featured artists. For more information, here’s the link:
​https://wesleyan.org/empoweredtour2025
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Rev. C.K. Chitty and the team at our Crossroads District Senior Adult Ministry (SAM) are inviting you to join them for their Christmas fellowship at Beef & Boards for the lunch presentation on December 5. If you’re retirement age, they’d love to have you come along. This will be my first time to join them and I can’t wait to see Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” performed live. Here’s the link for more information and registration:
​https://crossroadsdistrict.churchcenter.com/registrations/events/2957874
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​​Just a reminder that we’ll be hosting “Lunch and Learn” with lead pastors in Marion on Wednesday and in Fort Wayne on Thursday. If you’ve not yet signed up there is still time to join us for a free lunch, a free book, and great fellowship!

Keep on making a difference in the cause that counts for eternity!

Your servant in Christ,

Mark Gorveatte