Sunday, November 25, I had the privilege of installing Rev. Andrew Cole as the new pastor at Lapel Daybreak Community Church. Daybreak was planted more than 20 years ago by Rev. Richard and Debbie Cole, Andy’s parents, so he’s no stranger to the congregation. After a successful pastorate with the Church of the Nazarene in Muncie, Andy and Elicia most recently served as lead pastor at Brookview Wesleyan Church in Birmingham, Alabama. While a member of the South Coastal District team, Rev. Cole helped lead the district church planter training and where he was also an Assistant District Superintendent. It is exciting to see the Daybreak congregation’s positive response to Andy’s leadership. Attendance has more than doubled and there’s a wonderful sense of anticipation for this new chapter in the life of the church. We’re also looking forward to Andy’s leadership as part of our Crossroads District Team. Welcome home Andy & Elicia! Sunday evening, I joined Pastor Terry and Lennaire Vaughn and their team at the Bridge Urban Church in South Bend. It was great to catch up with the progress of this disciples-making ministry. They have a growing core of 20-30 young adults meeting in their home on Wednesdays. We also had the opportunity to walk through a vacant church building that may be an option as their ministry takes the step toward weekend worship services. Pray that God will grant this team His wisdom and provision as they reach out to make disciples in the challenges and opportunities of the urban mission field. The most exciting news I heard this week was from Pastor Dan Fisher in Delphi where two people prayed to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior yesterday morning! Praise the Lord! Last week's ministry schedule was abbreviated with the wonderful and much appreciated Thanksgiving break. On Monday, I was able to connect with Assistant DS Matthew Trexler’s Region 1 leadership cohort as they work through “DiscipleShift.” This was a big week for the Trexler family with Adrianna, their oldest child, signing her official letter accepting an athletic scholarship with the basketball program at Indiana Wesleyan University. Pastor Matthew and Adrianna may be the first father-daughter combination to have both played intercollegiate basketball at IWU. Tuesday morning was our district team meeting and then Assistant DS Chris Williams joined me to interview a prospective church planter over lunch. The final meeting of the day was with Pastor Tim McClellan to debrief the StratOp planning retreat at Lakeview Wesleyan and to map next steps for the two teams that are tackling the key initiatives. Our children all made it home for Thanksgiving by Wednesday and we enjoyed having a full house to celebrate together through Saturday noon. We are blessed to have a family that loves God and loves each other. Like you, we have so much for which to be thankful! Pastor Logan Patriquin announced this past week that The Branch (formerly Schuyler Avenue Wesleyan Church) in Lafayette successfully concluded their search for a worship and students pastor. Ms. Amber Bass will be joining their team on December 2. This is another big step of faith for the team at The Branch as they reach out to their community. We’re excited to welcome Amber to the Crossroads District team and to celebrate this answer to prayer! The week after a break always seems to be exciting and this one will be no exception. The Region 2 pastors are meeting in Indianapolis on Tuesday with Assistant DS Mike Colaw. On Thursday, the Heartland Region hosts our second ELEVATE leadership development with Pastor Ken Murphy, this time in Greenwood at IWU’s campus. Then, the Region 2 Christmas party is scheduled for Friday evening at Trinity Wesleyan Church. In between those events, I’m looking forward to coaching conversations with our pastors and at least two interviews with prospective church planters. Please continue to pray that the Lord of Harvest will send workers into His fields! Your servant in Christ, Mark Gorveatte Crossroads District Superintendent Sunday, November 18, I had the unique privilege of visiting one of our newest and one of our longest-established churches on the same day. Pastor Steve Bray and the team will be celebrating Fountain City Wesleyan Church’s 175th anniversary this coming Sunday. I was able to drop in and bring congratulations on this amazing milestone of ministry. From their earliest days as one of the stops on the Underground Railroad to the global impact of the present day ministry, Fountain City Wesleyan Church has been a flagship ministry. There was a wonderful spirit of worship in the service and Rev. Ian Swyers brought the missions message for their Faith Promise Sunday. Sunday afternoon, I had the joy of bringing the message for one of our newest congregations, Shalom Christian Church, on the south side of Indianapolis. The congregation of Shalom is comprised of wonderful believers from the Chin tribe who came to the USA as refugees from Myanmar (Burma). Attendance now averages in the 60s and 70s with children and teenagers. After the service, I met with the leadership team and Mr. Benjamin Tlungloei who serves as their lay supply pastor. This year, one of their members became the first of their congregation to enroll on campus at Indiana Wesleyan University. Special thanks to Pastor Rick Matthews and the congregation at Southview Wesleyan Church for being such gracious hosts for this growing church. Before heading back to Upland, I was able to connect for two more meetings, one with a prospective pastor and anther with a prospective church planter. Monday through Wednesday of last week, I represented the Crossroads District on the General Board at the regular fall session held in Indianapolis. Dr. Wayne Schmidt led the Board through a series of discussions and decisions, not all of which were easy. One of the highlights was the presentation from the Hephzibah Ministries revisioning task force. The full announcement will be made at The Gathering but I can share that they are charting a course to engage every Wesleyan church in caring for orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC). Two of our Crossroads District leaders participated in the closing session that focused on discipleship. Rev. Jon Wiest shared the story of the D-groups at Trinity Wesleyan Church in Indianapolis and Coach Jeff Clark (a lay member of our District Board of Administration) shared about the discipleship strategy that is shaping the culture of IWU’s championship basketball program. Thursday’s highlights were coaching conversations with Pastor Doug Sharrard (Lancaster Wesleyan), Pastor Jeff Luedtke (Fairmount Wesleyan), and Pastor Ryan Budde (Westview Wesleyan). Our office team also hosted Jake Lapp and Matthew Ray from the General Treasurer’s Office to map out our implementation plan for shared services. We’ll begin working with them for payroll services in January and are moving toward utilizing them as our accounting team beginning in the 2019-2020 conference year. The highlight of Friday was co-hosting our Retired Pastors & Spouses Thanksgiving Fellowship at Tipton Trinity Wesleyan Church. Rev. Duane Seitz gave an inspiring devotional from his study of Bible prophecy. Seth Bye did a wonderful job of handling the logistics and Big Dog BBQ provided a delicious meal for our team. The singing and prayer times are always a blessing with this dedicated group of ministers. I met with Pastor Allen Gross (Cicero United Wesleyan) later on Friday afternoon for our coaching conversation and was encouraged to hear the progress that Allen is seeing. Saturday morning, I hosted a small group of bivocational pastors at The Branch in Fairmount to discuss the joys and struggles for ministers who serve full or part-time in the marketplace. We’ll be having a follow-up meeting after the Gathering to explore the ways our district can better serve and support the large number of our leaders who serve as bivocational pastors. Special thanks to The Branch for their hospitality! My final meeting on Saturday was with a terrific group of leaders from Venezuela who have reached out to us for partnership in the planting and establishing of a new Hispanic church in Goshen. Pastor Franz Gonzalez leads this team and connected with us through Pastor Eliorgy Guerrero who leads our Hispanic Wesleyan church in Elkhart. We had a wonderful conversation about the vision, mission and beliefs of The Wesleyan Church. Dr. Norman Wilson met with this congregation earlier in the fall. Now they are preparing a letter to our DBA requesting adoption as our newest church. Pending DBA approval, I’ve been invited to preach Iglesia Vida y Esperanza in Goshen on December 30 to welcome their charter members into our fellowship and install the leadership team. May God bless you and your loved ones as you take time this week to thank our Father for His faithfulness and His many mercies. Your servant in Christ, Mark Gorveatte Crossroads District Superintendent Rev. Chris Williams, Assistant DS, and I were privileged to invest this past weekend in StratOp planning and training with Pastor Tim McClellan and a team of 14 leaders at Lakeview Wesleyan Church. The initial phase of StratOp is a 3-day retreat that builds on the lessons of the past, brings clarity to the realities of the present, and develops a strategic operating (StratOp) plan within the church’s vision to create momentum around key action initiatives that the team prioritizes. We appreciate the invitation from Pastor McClellan and the team to serve them in this process. It was also a joy to preach in the morning service. Lakeview Ministries (with the powerful combination of the church, Christian counseling center and Christian school) has unique positioning for significant Kingdom impact in Grant County and around the world. Pray that God will bless their intentionality to move forward with ever increasing effectiveness in the Great Commission ministry! We are excited to welcome Rev. Andrew and Elicia Cole back to our Crossroads District team as they’ve accepted the call to lead Daybreak Community Church in Lapel! Pastor Andy has more recently been serving in Alabama and is a certified trainer with Dynamic Church Planting International. Special thanks for Rev. Dr. Joe Harmon for a great job serving the Daybreak congregation during this transitional season. (Dr. Harmon will have a little more time for golf now but he wanted to make sure that I let you know he’s available for weekend revivals and pulpit supply.) Attendance doubled on Pastor Andy’s first Sunday, November 4, and they are expecting great things ahead for Daybreak! Monday is usually a catch-up day after the weekend but I was delighted to meet with Dr. Aron Willis on Monday morning. He is a wise mentor and trusted friend so these opportunities, more limited since his move to North Carolina, are always valued. On a personal note, Dad (Dr. Ken Gorveatte) and Merle Stevens Gorveatte, his new bride, stopped in on Monday enroute to Brooksville, Florida. It’s always a blessing to have them in our home but they didn’t stay long with colder temperatures forecasted here and Florida’s sunshine calling! Our Crossroads District team marked three passings this week with retired minister Rev. Jimmy Robbins’ funeral on Saturday, Pastor Chuck Moorer’s son’s funeral on Wednesday, and faithful lay leader Mr. Jack Bickel’s funeral on Tuesday. I was honored to be able to represent our team on Tuesday at Jack’s funeral and extended our sympathies to Rev. Dan Bickel, DS of Wisconsin District, and his family who gathered in Muncie for Jack’s funeral. Rev. Michael Hewitt, pastor of Rising Hope Church, officiated and brought a message of hope and comfort from God’s Word. Tuesday afternoon, I was back in Marion to meet with a prospective church planter and took advantage of the opportunity to cheer on the IWU Wildcats Men’s Basketball team. Assistant Coach Jeff Clark is a member of the Crossroads District Board of Administration so I was glad to be there to cheer him on. And, yes, the Wildcats won! On Wednesday, morning I connected with Assistant DS Chris Williams in Marion before heading to Indianapolis to attend Chadwin Moorer’s funeral. Rev. Chuck and Crystal Moorer, Chad’s parents, are valued members of our pastoral team as they lead Divine Direction Church on 46th Street. There was a strong representation from our Region 2 pastors led by Rev. Mike Colaw, Assistant DS. Indiana Wesleyan University was well represented with faculty, staff and Chad’s friends, led by Rev. Dr. John Bray, Chaplain. After the funeral, I met with Rev. John & Danielle Freed, pastors at Waterline Church in Fishers, who play a key role in our district’s multiplication initiatives. They have been effectively leading our bootcamp for church planters and we are working on next steps to increase the capacity of our church multiplication systems. I met with Rev. Jarod Osborne, pastor of Warsaw Pathway Church, in Fort Wayne on Thursday as he and his team prayerfully consider their next steps in ministering to the growing Hispanic community in the Warsaw area. From Fort Wayne to Kokomo that afternoon to meet with Rev. Alan Downing, pastor of Frankfort’s Connecting Point Church, for our annual coaching conversation. My final stop of the day was a quick check-in with Rev. Matthew Trexler, Region 1 Assistant DS and pastor at The River. StratOp was the highlight of the weekend. We started at 6 p.m. on Friday evening and wrapped up that first session just before 9. We were back at 9 a.m. on Saturday and worked together until just before 6. Then, immediately after the worship service on Sunday, we worked through the process and wrapped up before our 6 p.m. deadline. Special thanks goes to the members of the Lakeview team who worked together so well and stayed fully engaged through a long weekend! (Please connect with one of our team members if you would like to explore using these StratOp resources for your ministry’s next planning retreat.) Thank you to each of our churches, including Lakeview Wesleyan Church, who took time in their services yesterday to thank our veterans for their sacrificial service in the cause of freedom. May we never forget. Your prayers are appreciated as the General Board of The Wesleyan Church meets this week in Indianapolis. God’s wisdom is always needed but never more than in these days of challenge and opportunity for the church. Keep on making a difference in the cause that counts for eternity! Your servant in Christ, Mark Gorveatte Crossroads District Superintendent Sunday morning, I dropped in for worship at Lakeview Wesleyan Church in Marion in preparation for the StratOp consultation our team will be providing this coming weekend. It was great to connect with Rev. Tim McClellan and his team. Pastor Tim brought an encouraging message from Philippians 4 on overcoming anxiety. We look forward to serving Pastor Tim and the Lakeview team this weekend. Sunday evening, I joined with Rev. Dr. Richard Schenck and the leadership team of the congregations in a new network that launched tonight as Circle of Hope. The network includes the congregation of Noblesville Lakeview Wesleyan, Noblesville Gloria el Rey, Beech Grove Wesleyan, Anderson Central Wesleyan, and a new ministry being launched as Circle of Hope at the Indy North campus of IWU. This network also is partnering with Pastor Joshe Bose for a new campus in Dhaka that met today with 20 in attendance. The network shares a common vision and leadership resources. They will also provide administrative, marketing and financial services at a central location for the congregations. The first step in building this network was when Noblesville Lakeview adopted Beech Grove. At the time, Beech Grove was running in the 20s. This morning, Beech Grove had 42 in attendance. Since then, Anderson Central voted to join the network. Dhaka campus just started meeting this fall and the Indy North IWU campus congregation will begin meeting in January. The combined attendance at their campuses this weekend was 282. The week began with a quick trip to Maryland to visit with the team for the New Life Network based in LaPlata and led by Pastor Mike Hilson. This is an amazing group of young leaders advancing the Kingdom in the bedroom communities surrounding Washington, DC. I spent Monday with Robert Hilson, network development leader, visiting sites and connecting with campus pastors. On Tuesday, I led the staff devotional for the LaPlata campus and sat in on a variety of staff meetings. I met with Robert Hilson on Wednesday morning for debriefing before flying home in the afternoon. I was glad to reconnect with Pastor Jordan DeMerchant, one of our own Crossroads team members, who now serves as a New Life campus leader in Alexandria. We’re excited to announce that Pastor Mike and Tina Hilson have agreed to join us for ReEquip, our district-wide training day, on April 6. Thursday morning, I joined with Assistant DS Chris Williams and our pastors in Region 3 for our fall meeting hosted by Rev. Ollie Dongell and the team at Plymouth Wesleyan Church. Chris brought a great leadership lesson on finishing well in ministry. It was good to hear how God is at work in this region and to welcome Rev. Matt Ohime, Davis Wesleyan Church, as the newest member of the team. Several of our Grant County pastors joined me for a supper meeting on Thursday evening with one of our Global Partners medical missionaries who serves effectively in restricted access fields in Asia. It was encouraging and challenging to hear how God is at work in the most challenging of circumstances. Thank you to our pastors and churches that prioritize financial and prayer support for our Global Partners missionaries. Friday, I met with Pastor Ben Capshaw for our annual coaching conversation. It was inspiring to hear how God is blessing at Elwood Central Wesleyan Church under Pastor Ben’s leadership. They thrived in spite of being forced out of their worship facility due to a structural issue that required replacing the entire roof. They even grew while meeting in their fellowship hall. The church has more than doubled in size in the past 3 years and they have recorded 31 professions of faith so far this year. Saturday morning, I attended the fall meeting of the Fairmount Camp Board of Directors under the leadership of David Tippey, chair. Angela Spangler, Executive Director of Fairmount Camp, reported on another successful summer of camping ministry and expanding rental opportunities. The Fairmount Camp Board is blessed with a wonderful group of committed and generous volunteers. You’ll be hearing more from this team as they move forward with enhanced marketing and fundraising initiatives. Our prayers and sympathies are extended to Rev. and Mrs. Charles Moorer on the passing of Chadwin Timothy Moorer (age 23), their son and a beloved student at Indiana Wesleyan University where he had served as chaplain in Kem Hall. The funeral will take place at Divine Direction Christian Church in Indianapolis on Wednesday, November 7. We also extend our prayers and sympathies to Mrs. Ruth Bickel and the family of Mr. Jack Bickel, long-time lay leader of The Wesleyan Church in Muncie, who passed away on Thursday evening at the age of 89. Jack was a leading proponent of helping to launch Rising Hope Church. Jack was also father to Rev. Dan Bickel, a former pastor in our district and who now serves as the Wisconsin District Superintendent. His funeral will be held on Tuesday, November 6, at Union Chapel Ministries. Congratulations to Rev. Dr. Jim Dunn and his new bride, Wendy Agner Dunn, on their wedding this past Friday evening. Dr. Dunn, a member of our district family, serves at the Wesleyan Investment Foundation as Vice President of Church Relations. I’m looking forward to coaching conversations this week and preparing for the StratOp consultation this weekend at Marion Lakeview. Your prayers are always appreciated. Keep on making a difference in the cause that counts for eternity! Your servant in Christ, Mark Gorveatte |
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