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Sunday, December 1, Pastor Dan Fisher and the team at Delphi Wesleyan Church welcomed me to worship with them and bring the morning message. Pastor Dan and Amy have served this congregation since 2007 and the past few years have been some of the most fruitful. Last year, with an average worship attendance of 54, they baptized 11 new believers. Pastor Dan’s ministry focuses is on practicing prayer and preaching holiness.  On Monday, December 2, I was back in Marion for a planning meeting with our district staff. I dropped in at Muncie Rising Hope Church on Monday night as Pastor Michael Hewitt and their growing young adult ministry hosted an evening of worship and prayer for Ball State University students. It’s encouraging to see our churches ramping up their ministry with young adults.  Tuesday, I was on the road to meet with Rev. Aldean Pablo in Fort Wayne and then traveled on to Hamilton to connect with Pastor David Leitzel for our annual coaching conversation. Then, on Wednesday morning, Rev. Steve Arnett (New Castle Mt. Zion) and I met in Muncie for our coaching conversation. It was good to hear about Pastor Steve’s recent well-deserved sabbatical. The homegoing celebration for Rev. Herb Mohler was held in Marion at noon on Wednesday. Rev. Mohler was a beloved pastor for 26 years and our District Secretary for the Indiana North District for 20 years. Pastor Ron Forsythe conducted the service and Pastor Steve Colter brought the comforting message from God’s Word. My last stop on Wednesday was a coaching conversation with Rev. Michael Gallant, pastor of Mt. Etna Community Life Church. Pastor Mike has announced his retirement and is leading well in this year of transition. Here’s the job posting if you know of candidates: https://secure.wesleyan.org/job/frame/9494  Thursday morning, I dropped in on Dr. Chris Williams and the monthly leadership cohort for area pastors that he hosts at Lakeview Wesleyan Church. I was reminded again of the truth that “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” (Proverbs 27:17) Pastor, if you’re not yet in a leadership cohort but want to take advantage of these growth opportunities, please reach out to our district office. Thursday afternoon, your Crossroads District Board of Administration met for our last quarterly meeting of the calendar year. We had a full agenda but the highlight was hearing from our Pastor Janiel Caraballo who leads The Exit Church in Anderson, our most recent church plant.  It was exciting to hear how God is at work changing lives through this new congregation. Thank you to each of our pastors and churches that are investing financially and supporting our Crossroads District church planters in prayer.  More than 150 pastors and their spouses joined us at Indiana Wesleyan University on Saturday morning for our district Christmas fellowship. In addition to a tasty brunch and encouraging fellowship, we enjoyed a private concert with Conductor David Chin and the IWU Chorale. Another highlight was the awarding of seven $1000 scholarships for pastoral couples to attend the Harvest Foundation Retreat in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic next October.  Sunday morning, December 8, I had the opportunity to worship with Rev. Matthew Trexler and the team at The River Church in Marion. This has been our home church since we moved to Upland back in 2017 and Sherry serves on their local board of administration. These are exciting days at The River Church with attendance at their two campuses (Chesterton and Marion) regularly surpassing 1600 this fall.  This coming Saturday is their annual “Big Give” which provides a Christmas meal and all the trimmings for 1250 families. They continue to rejoice in changed lives with eight more baptisms on the previous weekend. The next big step of faith at The River Church is opening a new campus on the east side of Grant County where they’ve had over 1200 people attend at least once in the past 7 months.  We love to share baptism stories as they come in from across our district team. Pastor Rob Tippey and the team at New Journey Church in Wabash celebrated five more baptisms on the first Sunday of December!  Pastor Joe Jackson and the team at Anderson United Wesleyan Church celebrated two more baptisms yesterday. These are two more young men who came to Christ through United Wesleyan’s Upward Soccer program. Praise the Lord!  Pastor Nathan Richardson and the team at Indianapolis Southview Wesleyan Church were also celebrating yesterday as two more new believers stepped out to publicly declare their faith in Jesus Christ through obeying His command to be baptized. God is on the move!  Make plans now to join with hundreds of churches across America in the upcoming 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting hosted by the Church of the Highlands. The dates are set for January 5-25. They have freely provided an incredible treasure of resources for churches and individuals who will be joining in this annual prayer focus. Here’s the link: https://21days.churchofthehighlands.com/resources  May God’s goodness overwhelm you, your church, and your loved ones in this Advent season! Your servant in Christ, Mark Gorveatte Crossroads District Superintendent Comments are closed.
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