Sunday morning, May 25, Pastor Jerome Anderson and the team at SoBro (South Broadripple) Community Church welcomed me for their morning worship service. Pastor Jerome and Monique faithfully serve this church in a rapidly changing neighborhood. Pastor Anderson works a full-time job, serves the church, and continues his ministerial studies at Indiana Wesleyan University.
​

SoBro Church begins their worship services at 11:30, so I had time to drop in on Pastor Mike and Kim Hewitt for the 9 a.m service at Rising Hope Church in Muncie. Rising Hope celebrated a new record of 317 in worship attendance for Easter.
​

Sunday afternoon, I drove to Caledonia, Michigan for the farewell service for Pastor Jon Allen at Journey Church. Pastor Jon has served Journey Church since 2007 and our family had the joy of being part of the launch team for that new church plant with some of the first meetings in our living room. Our three sons were in the worship band in those early years and Joel, our youngest son, has served on staff with Pastor Allen since 2016. General Superintendent Dr. Wayne Schmidt and District Superintendent Dr. Chris Conrad were among the key note speakers who honored the Allens for their pioneering and fruitful ministry.
​

This past week was blocked out for a DS Roundtable hosted by Wesleyan Investment Foundation at 12Stone Church. Before heading to Atlanta, I dropped in on Pastor Trexler’s leadership cohort meeting at The River. For the past year, there were two separate groups. This conference year, they’ve reorganized and will be meeting as one group. When the leaders get better, everyone is blessed!
​

We love to share stories of life change and we had reports of baptisms from two churches this week. Dr. David Drury leads a home-based church in Fishers called “One Multi-Church Network” and Sunday was a special day for their team. They welcomed 30 people for the gathering and celebrated three baptisms. Praise God for lives being #MadeNew!
​

Rev. Mark Atkinson is off to a strong start leading at Elwood Central Wesleyan Church. The church participated with a float in the Elwood Memorial Day parade but the highlight of the weekend for them was one more baptism! God is on the move!
​

Our prayers and sympathies are extended to Rev. Michele Henry and her family on the passing of her father on Saturday, May 24. Funeral arrangements will be shared with the district team as soon as possible.
​

​SAVE THE DATES:

• June 27 – Crossroads District Ordination
• June 28 – Crossroads District Conference

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

Your servant in Christ,

Mark Gorveatte

​Crossroads District Superintendent

Sunday, May 18, Rev. Mark Wooten and the team at New Castle Memorial Wesleyan Church welcomed me to their morning worship service. Before the service, Pastor Mark took me on a tour of the recent updates in their gymnasium and children’s ministry spaces. They have a growing preschool program and are connecting with new families through this outreach.
​

Following the service, the LBA members joined me for a standup meeting and then I had the privilege of hosting Pastor Mark and Pam Wooten for lunch. I was inspired by the stories of God’s faithfulness as they’ve stepped out in faith. Some of you may have known Pam’s father, Rev. Everett Freels.
​

Sunday evening, I joined Dr. Chris Williams and the congregation at Lakeview Wesleyan Church for their annual Local Church Conference. It was encouraging to hear the reports of progress with increases in worship attendance (up 14% to 286) and professions of faith (108 this year, up from 52). The LCC closed with a compelling challenge from Dr. Williams for the congregation to consider a bold move. You can hear more about this proposal at Lakeview’s website: https://www.lakeviewwesleyan.org/pcupdate2025
​

​Crossroads District SAM (Senior Adults Ministry) led by Rev. C.K. Chitty and Deborah Levite, enjoyed a fabulous trip to Branson, Missouri. Dr. Charlie Harris once again served the team well with his exceptional bus driving. This group of 57 vibrant seniors enjoyed great fellowship, delicious food, and exceptional entertainment. If you’d like more information about their next big adventure, please join their Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1489666665258717

Dr. Aaron Perry and the team at Wesleyan Education and Clergy Development hosted their second TheoCon (Theological Conversations). Pastor Mike Colaw and the Trinity Church staff hosted the event at their Olio Road campus.
​

Wesleyan theologians, pastors, and denominational leaders gathered on Tuesday and Wednesday for conversations around the person of Christ and our proclamation of this truth. Dr. David Smith and other Crossroads District leaders appreciated this opportunity for conversations and reflection. Special thanks to Dr. Perry for his vision for this initiative.

I was on the road Thursday for coaching conversations in Fowler with Harold Holdeman, our lay supply pastor, and then with Rev. Don Bayne at New Carlisle Wesleyan Church. The day took on special significance with the announcement of another new arrival in the Gorveatte family. Rev. Joel and Christie Gorveatte welcomed their son, Samuel, early that day. On Friday morning, I had the privilege of holding our seventh grandchild and praying a blessing over this precious gift from God.
​

Friday afternoon, I joined Rev. John Hannan and the team at CrossRoads Church in Union City. Pastor John and Beth, his wife, continue to find creative ways to express God’s love for the needy families in their community. Every other Friday night, John’s team feeds 70-90 people and provides fun games for the children and adults.
​

Pastor John shared the encouraging story of this young father who just returned from two months in a rehab program that John arranged. Now clean and sober, he is married, parenting four girls, and following Jesus. Praise God for lives #MadeNew!
​

My next stop on Friday night was at Waterline Church in Pendleton. You may be hearing the reports of God at work in young adults across America. I had a glimpse of that movement at Waterline as a room full of young adults gathered for an evening of prayer and worship. Special thanks to Pastor Scott Rhyno for hosting this inter-denominational worship event.
​

Our Crossroads District Chaplains’ Fellowship is growing stronger. We enjoyed an amazing luncheon at North Anderson Wesleyan Church with the special treat of James Stamper’s famous smoked brisket. We welcomed another new Wesleyan hospital chaplain and the team continues planning a continuing education event for this fall. If you know a Wesleyan chaplain who should be part of this fellowship, please forward contact information to our district office.
​

Pastor Andy Jellison and the team at Lifeway Church in Fort Wayne are rejoicing with two more baptisms this past Sunday. Praise God for lives being #MadeNew!
​

We received word that Dr. Joe Sawyer (100 years old) entered his eternal reward on Friday morning. Dr. Joe and his wife, Lois, faithfully served the Lord through a wide range of ministry in The Wesleyan Church, including church planting, serving as a district superintendent, and holding leadership roles at headquarters. Please remember Lois and the Sawyer family in your prayers. We will share funeral arrangements as soon as they are available.

This is a friendly reminder that Annual Service Reports and Local Church Statistical Reports are due tomorrow, May 20. All credentialed ministers are required to submit their reports annually. If you need help accessing your report, contact Michael Wood at the district office.

Fairmount Camp has opened registration for this year’s exciting summer youth camps. This year, Fairmount Camp will offer separate camps for middle school students (June 9-13) and high school students (June 16-20). For more information or to register, check out their website:
​https://www.fairmountcamp.org/teen-camp.html
​

​Pastors and Delegates, save the Dates and join us at Lakeview Wesleyan Church in Marion:

• June 27 – Crossroads District Ordination
• June 28 – Crossroads District Conference

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

Your servant in Christ,

Mark Gorveatte

​Crossroads District Superintendent

Dr. Steve DeNeff, pastor at College Wesleyan Church, graciously allowed me to miss my scheduled visit on April 27 so that Sherry and I could welcome our newest granddaughter in Michigan that weekend. Yesterday, I was able to worship with the congregation at College Wesleyan and was able to worship alongside Dr. David Smith, one of our district circuit riders.
​

Rev. Jordan Rife led the congregation in heart-felt worship. Rev. Ethan Linder brought a challenging message from Acts 2:42-47 that emphasized the role that welcoming people to our table has in discipleship. This service concluded with communion, as they do each week between Easter and Pentecost. I’m grateful for Dr. DeNeff and his team who invest deeply in the Marion community and globally, including the Senda de Vida partnership in Mexico City.
​

Dr. Sherry and her parents were worshiping together at The River where she serves as treasurer. I arrived in time for the prayer of blessing that Pastor Matthew Trexler offered over the mothers who were honored yesterday. Following the service, Sherry and I had lunch with her mother and father. We have been blessed to have them living near us for the past seven years, especially on special occasions like Mother’s Day.
​

Dr. G is an amazing person, exceptional accountant, and now an esteemed university professor, but she’s most proud of her four incredible children. It was fun to hear their calls and video chats this weekend as her children took time to honor her. Happy Mother’s Day, Sherry!

Last week’s calendar included a congregational meeting with the remaining members at Silver Lake Wesleyan Church on Monday. Rev. Duane Seitz has faithfully served this struggling congregation for the past 8 years. In fact, he has the longest tenure of any pastor in the 100 year history of the church. Pastor Seitz announced his resignation earlier this spring and the DBA agreed to close this chapter of our ministry in Silver Lake.
​

Pastor Duncan Prior leads the nearby Wesleyan church in Laketon and he thoughtfully came to the congregational meeting to assure the nine members present that he is available for pastoral care. The Laketon Wesleyan leadership team will have the opportunity to explore expanded ministry in Silver Lake in the coming year.

Pastor Seitz and I met for lunch on Tuesday for next steps as Silver Lake moves toward their final service in June. It was a special treat to have Faith Strand, Assistant Pastor at Muncie Rising Hope, stop by our table. She’s one of our youngest pastors and Rev. Seitz is one of our elder statesman. Pastor Faith led us in prayer for God’s grace in this season of transition for Pastor Duane. It was an anointed moment to hear these two generations connect with their shared passion of ministry.
​

Coaching conversations last week included Rev. Michael Hewitt (Muncie Rising Hope), Rev. Matthew Trexler (Marion The River), Rev. Alan Downing (Frankfort Connecting Point), Rev. Calimerio Rodriguez (Frankfort Temple de Poder), and Rev. Scott Ferguson (McCordsville Harvest). Once again, I was blessed to hear powerful stories of God at work in so many ways.

Dr. Chris Williams, Assistant DS and pastor at Lakeview Wesleyan Church, led a monthly leadership cohort on Thursdays in Marion. I was glad to join them for this last session of the conference year as Dr. Williams shared a helpful lesson on best practices for board leadership.
​

The cohort members each shared praise reports, including Easter highlights, and then shared prayer concerns. (Dr. Griffin and Dr. Thurmon were unable to attend due to out of town commitments.) All of them expressed appreciation for the value of this experience and they plan to begin meeting again in August.

Rev. Noah Farmer passed along word that they had another special Mother’s Day at Gas City Eastview Wesleyan Church. One especially meaningful moment came with a gentleman who had lost his wife last year. Tom hadn’t been part of a church for more than 30 years but came to Eastview on Easter Sunday and committed his life to follow Christ. Pastor Noah had the privilege of baptizing him yesterday. Praise the Lord for changed lives!
​

Many of you will know of the Lilly Endowment’s grant-making that primarily supports Indiana-based organizations. You may also know that they direct significant funding toward religious groups. Since 2020, the Lilly Endowment has contributed over $1 billion to a diverse array of Christian initiatives across the nation, including Christian colleges, seminaries, and pastoral care programs.
​

In March, the Crossroads District was invited by the Lilly Endowment to submit our application for a research grant to assess how we could more effectively serve our Wesleyan congregations here in Indiana. We were delighted to receive word on Friday that the grant application has been approved and we will receive $50,000 to fund this research project.

​Speaking of research projects, many of you will be interested in this link to the Pew Research’s Religious Landscape Study. Here’s the direct link to the results from the state of Indiana including the finding that 47% of Hoosiers seldom or never attend public worship:
​
https://www.pewresearch.org/religious-landscape-study/state/indiana/

​Upon successful completion of our research phase, we have the opportunity to apply for an initial implementation grant of up to $400,000. There’s also a matching fund possibility for up to another $400,000. Our delegates will be hearing more about this project at district conference.

​Fairmount Camp has opened registration for this year’s exciting summer youth camps. This year, Fairmount Camp will offer separate camps for middle school students (June 9-13) and high school students (June 16-20). For more information or to register, check out their website:
​https://www.fairmountcamp.org/teen-camp.html

​Save the Dates and join us at Lakeview Wesleyan Church in Marion:

• June 27 – Crossroads District Ordination
• June 28 – Crossroads District Conference

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

Your servant in Christ,

Mark Gorveatte

​Crossroads District Superintendent

Sunday morning, May 4, Rev. Martin Furrow and the team at The Cross Wesleyan Church in Rochester welcomed me to bring greetings and the sermon in both of the worship services (9 and 10:30). Pastor Martin became lead pastor at The Cross in 2021 after serving the church as assistant pastor with Rev. Michael Cloud. This has been a good season of growth with 285 on Easter and more than 250 worshiping at The Cross last Sunday.
​

In addition to a strong children’s and prayer ministry, the church is best known in the community for Matthew’s Market, their food bank that serves an average of 500 families each month. Celebrate Recovery is another significant ministry to the community. They just completed their sixth year of serving people in addiction recovery.
​

Rev. Richard and Haley (his wife) Ladouceur and their children returned home to Indiana last year with Richard joining the staff at The Cross as Assistant Pastor. Please join me in praying for the continued impact of The Cross in Rochester

Sunday afternoon, I met with Johnie Dove, our lay supply pastor at Monon Wesleyan Church. Johnie’s willingness to serve at Monon was an answer to prayer for the congregation and a big step back to the ministry calling that Johnie had as a teenager in the Free Methodist Church in Winona Lake. He is serving the church bivocationally with full-time employment in Plymouth.
​

We arrived back from Dallas on Thursday afternoon in time to prepare for the DBMD interviews on Friday. Rev. Carla Working and the committee members of the District Board of Ministerial Development gathered for training on Friday morning at Brookhaven Wesleyan Church in Marion. Our ministerial students ranged from teenagers to people in their 60s. Our DBMD members include college professors, pastors, and dedicated lay leaders.
​

The coursework and interview questions are important to the development of these valued individuals who are answering God’s call to the ministry of Word and sacrament. What I’ve come to value the most are the heart-level conversations that emerge as trust grows. The best gift that our DBMD offers these ministry students is ongoing encouragement and prayer.
​

The 2025 conference year concluded on April 30 so we’re off and running in our new 2026 conference cycle. Annual Service Reports (ASR) are coming in and the Local Church Statistical Reports (LCSR) can now be submitted online. Let us know if you need assistance.

We’re praising God for the stories of changed lives coming in from our Crossroads churches. Pastor Scott McDermid and the team at Six Points Church in Sheridan continue to celebrate the way that God is working with another redemption story and baptism on Sunday!
​

Pastor Scott Ferguson and the team at Harvest Church in McCordsville are rejoicing with two more baptisms this past Sunday. Praise God for lives being #MadeNew!
​

Rev. Mark Atkinson has accepted the appointment of the District Board of Administration to serve as supply pastor at Elwood Central Wesleyan Church. He will lead the church through the process of moving from developing church to established church status in this new conference year. God is already blessing Pastor Mark’s ministry at Central. Their team is rejoicing with two baptisms yesterday and 73 in attendance.
​

The River Church started the new conference year on a high note with more than 40 baptisms. Pastor Trexler was still in Texas so Executive Pastor Amy Biegel brought the message from God’s Word. The pastoral staff used two baptismal tanks to serve those who came prepared to publicly declare their faith in Jesus Christ. Praise God for His faithfulness in changing hearts!
​

We’d love to share the stories of how God is at work in your church. Please forward baptism photos and stories to Michael Wood on Sunday afternoon for inclusion in Monday’s update. If we can’t include it in this week’s update, we’ll include your report the next week.
​

Fairmount Camp has opened registration for this year’s exciting summer youth camps. This year, Fairmount Camp will offer separate camps for middle school students (June 9-13) and high school students (June 16-20). For more information or to register, check out their website:
​https://www.fairmountcamp.org/teen-camp.html

​Save the Dates and join us at Lakeview Wesleyan Church in Marion:

• June 27 – Crossroads District Ordination
• June 28 – Crossroads District Conference

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

Your servant in Christ,

Mark Gorveatte

​Crossroads District Superintendent