Crossroads District
  • Team Updates
  • Events
  • Find A Church
  • Resources
    • Developing Church Monthly Report
    • Multiplication Fund - Matching Grant Request
    • Request for DBA Agenda Item
    • Request for Ministerial Staff Person
    • Annual Reporting
    • Standing Rules
    • DBMD Resources
    • Church Resources
    • Church Planting Resources
    • Celebration of Holiness
    • Wesleyan Job Postings
  • Hispanic
  • Contact
  • Team Updates
  • Events
  • Find A Church
  • Resources
    • Developing Church Monthly Report
    • Multiplication Fund - Matching Grant Request
    • Request for DBA Agenda Item
    • Request for Ministerial Staff Person
    • Annual Reporting
    • Standing Rules
    • DBMD Resources
    • Church Resources
    • Church Planting Resources
    • Celebration of Holiness
    • Wesleyan Job Postings
  • Hispanic
  • Contact

Team Updates

Davis Wesleyan, DBMD, and General Board Prep

11/8/2021

 
Sunday morning, November 7, I had the joy of joining Pastor Matthew Ohime and the team at Davis Wesleyan Church located in the country near Hamlet and Knox. Pastor Matthew and Kendra, his wife, have 3 gifted children who assist them in the ministry. The church has completed a beautiful remodeling project and taken the lead in creating the Starke County Resource Center to serve the homeless in their community.
​
Picture

Pastor Matthew was wrapping up the second to last sermon in the series he has been preaching through the Gospel of Mark. After the service, I was glad to catch up with members of the leadership team. They are still working to regain the momentum they had experienced before the pandemic but morale is good and their focus on serving the community is strong. Pray with them for continued Kingdom impact!
​
Picture

Sunday, November 7, also marked the conclusion of Rev. Jeff Brady’s interim ministry with Level 13 Church in Fort Wayne. Rev. Brady had the delight of concluding his service by celebrating the rite of baptism for a newborn in their congregation.

Picture

We are delighted that Rev. Mike Henry has accepted the appointment as pastor for Level 13 and will be transferring into our district from the Great Lakes District. Please join me in extending a warm welcome to Pastor Mike and Hannah Henry and their family and pray that God will bless this new chapter in the ministry of Level 13 Church.
​
Picture

I was glad to catch up with Rev. Jason Tash on Monday afternoon. Jason serves with Destiny Rescue and Rev. Rob Tippey’s staff at Wabash New Journey Community Church. He also continues to make an impact in our district churches as StratOp facilitator and ministry coach. Following my meeting with Jason, I traveled on to Warsaw to meet with Pastor Jarod Osborne and the LBA at Pathway Community Church. Pastor Osborne and the LBA have a sabbatical policy but were interested in learning more about the best practices we are seeing across our district.
​
Picture

Many of you will know that The Wesleyan Church recommends sabbaticals for pastors after seven years of service. The Lilly Foundation also provides generous sabbatical grants for which our pastors are eligible to apply. Please reach out to our district staff or to the Education and Clergy Department at Wesleyan HQ if you or your team would welcome assistance in crafting your sabbatical policy and developing proposals.

Members of the General Board and district superintendents participated in a series of four Zoom forums, two on Tuesday afternoon and two on Thursday afternoon, in preparation for the General Board’s meeting later this month. Each of the sessions focused one of the specific memorials that have been developed around key issues: 1) credentialing process revision, 2) USF policy revision, 3) simplification of The Discipline’s guidelines for local and district governance, and 4) revision of the guidelines for use of spiritual gifts in our congregations. Any of these alone would be significant, but the four together could make for an interesting General Board meeting (November 16-18) as we prepare for General Conference in St. Louis (May 2022).
​
Picture

On Wednesday, I was in Indianapolis for coaching conversations with Rev. Darrell Herring (Central Wesleyan Church) and Rev. Jim Weinmann (Evanston Avenue Wesleyan Church). Rev. Herring requested prayer for Shirley, his wife, who will be needing a transplant procedure in the near future. Rev. Weinmann graciously hosted me in his new office at Wesleyan Pension Fund where he recently accepted the position of Assistant Director of Operations.

I was also able to drop in on the training that Rev. Carla Working, DBMD Vice-Chair, was leading for Rev. Clifton Ashlock, Region 2 Chair, and other members of the Region 2 DBMD team. Rev. Joe Jackson graciously hosted the training session at United Wesleyan Church.

Picture

Thursday evening, I was able to be part of the Fall Revival service that Rev. Ben Parker was hosting at Fairmount Back Creek Wesleyan Church. This year’s evangelist was Rev. Dr. Joe Harmon, pastor of New Castle Memorial Wesleyan Church. Dr. Harmon has been a long-time friend and mentor for Rev. Parker. Pastor Mark Atkinson (Gas City Eastview) and other friends from the area joined in for the service which featured Dr. Harmon both singing and preaching. I’m grateful for Dr. Harmon’s ministry at New Castle and for his continued investment in developing leaders!
​
Picture

My last coaching conversation of the week was with Rev. Randy Yaryan at Union Street Wesleyan Church in Winchester. It was encouraging to hear the story of a new teenager who has joined the Bible quiz team as part of his discipleship and has already memorized the first 8 chapters of Romans.

This coming week, I’ll be assisting my father as he migrates from Beulah Camp in Canada to Brooksville’s Wesleyan Village in Florida coming through Indiana on his way south. I’ll be out of the office traveling with him from Monday through Wednesday but our district team is available to assist you and can always reach me in emergencies.

Sherry and I are looking forward to hosting our retired ministers and their spouses on Friday morning in Marion and also hosting our monthly pastors’ fellowship on Friday evening at our home. Then, on Saturday, I am excited that we will have nine churches and more than 50 leaders coming to the Next Level Church training event hosted by Dr. Chris Williams and Lakeview Wesleyan Church.

Executive Director Zach Coffin has released the information for the upcoming FUEL 2022 training event for youth workers. This time the event is coming to Muncie so every youth worker in our district will have the opportunity to participate. Rev. Jessica Folz, our Crossroads District Youth President, will be hosting our district youth leaders who attend. If you’ve added staff or volunteers who may not yet be on our contact list, please forward this link so they can jump in for this training:
https://resources.wesleyan.org/fuel-2022-promo-kit
​

Picture

Make plans to join us for The Heartland Gathering on March 22-24, 2022 in Pigeon Forge, TN. Every local church received a scholarship for one pastoral couple to register and that amount can also be applied toward the THRIVE initiative. For the speaker lineup and more detailed information, please visit: https://gathering.heartlandregion.org

​Our prayers and sympathies are extended this week to Rev. Jorge Escalante, Jr., (Indianapolis Trinity Wesleyan Church) and his family on the death of his father, Mr. Jorge Escalante, Sr., on November 3. The funeral was held in Topeka on Saturday, November 6, with Rev. Jorge Escalante and Rev. Zulema Escalante conducting the service.
​
​Thank you for partnering together in the Harvest. We have 3 million people to reach in Indiana!

Your servant in Christ,
​
Mark Gorveatte

Crossroads District Superintendent

Comments are closed.

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016

    RSS Feed

Picture