Bryant Wesleyan, Coaching, and Baptism

Sunday, March 5, Pastor Paul VanCise and the team at Bryant Wesleyan Church welcomed me to bring greetings from the Crossroads District team and to bring the morning message. Attendance has rebounded well from the pandemic with 121 in worship last weekend. It was encouraging to hear how the church family reaches out to serve their community.
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Angelyn Van Cise, Pastor Paul’s wife, has been used of God to launch a release-time Bible class serving 11 students from their local public school. Pastor Paul has been entrusted by the community to lead the park development project to better serve their neighbors. The church is also reaching out internationally with their second team headed to Honduras later this month. After the service and a brief meeting with the Local Board of Administration, Pastor Paul and some of his team members joined us for lunch. 

Last Monday morning, Pastor Matthew Trexler hosted his monthly leadership cohort for area pastors. They’ve been working through the book “Pray First” by Chris Hodges (pastor of Church of the Highlands). Before heading over for our district staff meeting, I dropped in on the beginning of their session as they were sharing praise reports. WOW! It is exciting to hear how God is at work in their churches! 

Tuesday, I was back on the road for a coaching conversation with Pastor Jarod Osborne (Pathway Community Church in Warsaw). We met in the Kosciusko County Jail where Pastor Jarod and his team have been developing a strong ministry to prisoners. The ministry is called “Peace Force” and the program includes helping inmates transition back into the community. This has included several new believers who have been welcomed as part of the Pathway church family.
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On the way back to home, I was able to connect with Pastor Sam Maddox for an update on the ministry at Albion Wesleyan Church. They are continuing to build momentum and are preparing for their Easter outreach.

Wednesday, Pastor Scott McDermid (Sheridan Six Points) and I met for our coaching conversation. They are seeing good growth in their youth and children’s ministry. My next stop was with Rev. Rochelle Jenkins. Pastor Rochelle is concluding her ministry at Circle City Church so that she and Travis and Atlas can move to Wisconsin later this month. We are grateful for her commitment to making disciples in the hospital where she’s been serving and are excited to see how God will bless her ministry in this new location.

My next stop was with Rev. Gawin Anderson, our new pastor at Divine Direction Church in Indianapolis. In addition to holding down a full-time job and leading the church, Pastor Gawin is continuing his ministerial coursework at Indiana Wesleyan University. My last stop of the day was with Rev. Duane Summit at Fishersburg Wesleyan Church. After our coaching conversation, Pastor Duane welcomed me to join their evening Bible study.

Michael Wood and I met in Fishers on Thursday morning and interviewed a prospective team member to help our district team. After a denominational task force Zoom meeting, I headed back north to meet with Dr. Bob Hallett. Dr. Hallett is leveraging his considerable ministry experience in a new initiative to pastor pastors. I’m grateful for Dr. Hallett’s investment in pastors of every denomination. 

My final stop of the day was with a group of former Methodists who invited me for a “question and answer” session. This was a precious group of saints but these are difficult days for our brothers and sisters who are disaffiliating from their denomination.

Rev. John Hannan (CrossRoads Church) and Rev. Claudia Silva Ruiz (Richmond Casa del Alfarero) hosted a combined bi-lingual service in Union City this morning with 160+ in attendance. Praise the Lord for the two people who prayed to receive Christ!
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The team at Marion Lakeview Wesleyan Church, pastored by Dr. Chris Williams, celebrated another baptism on Sunday. Praise the Lord for lives being #MadeNew!
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I’m looking forward to seeing approximately 100 of our district pastors and lay leaders at the GrowLeader regional conference led by Pastor Chris Hodges (Church of the Highlands) at Heartland Church in Indianapolis on Tuesday. There may still be tickets available through GrowLeader if you’d like to join us!  Register at this link:
​https://brushfire.com/highlands/glregional22/536187/register

Thank you for all you’re doing to advance the Kingdom!

Your servant in Christ,

​Mark Gorveatte

Crossroads District Superintendent