Eastview Wesleyan, Thrive, and Baptisms!

This weekend (October 24-25) I had the privilege of preaching at Eastview Wesleyan Church in Gas City. Many of you have been praying for Pastor Mark Atkinson’s recovery and it was a joy to have him present for the Saturday evening service and for both services on Sunday morning. The church designated this as a “Pastor Appreciation Celebration” and honored the staff members with special gifts as part of a month-long initiative to express their gratitude and support for this leadership team. Pastor Mark is excited to be able to preach this coming weekend and is grateful for all your prayers!
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Sunday evening, I dropped in on Pastor Brent Miller and the team at Gas City Southside Wesleyan Church for their second monthly “Thrive!” service. This is a high energy, intergenerational service. Southside is also continuing to update of the facility with the auditorium currently being remodeled. Pray for Pastor Brent, Naomi, and their team!
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Saturday morning, I joined Pastor Matthew Stewart and a team of his leaders at Sweetser Wesleyan Church for a renewal of their StratOp plan. Rev. Chris Williams and I facilitated their first StratOp retreat back in the spring of 2019. Pastor Matt has been leading the turnaround project at Sweetser with patience and persistence. They’ve made measured progress even through the pandemic and have a great heart to connect with their community. We still have a few weekends available in the spring if your team is ready to take a next step in focusing your ministry for greater impact.

Last week was a delightful few days away for our family as we gathered at Oak Mountain State Park near Birmingham, Alabama to celebrate the wedding of Josiah and Elizabeth (Scotch) Gorveatte. Josiah, our second son, is the worship leader on staff with Pastor Brad LeRoy at Harvest Church. Elizabeth is an equine therapist with Agape Therapeutic Riding Resources. https://www.facebook.com/agaperiding
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Halloween and All Saints Day provide another opportunity for our churches to be creative in connecting with their communities. Pastors Dr. Richard and Rev. Carol Schenck led the Noblesville Circle of Hope campus in hosting an outreach event for a variety of community groups on their property. More than 700 visited their campus to take part in the various activities. Pastor Rich was even more excited to report another baptism in their network campus in Beech Grove. Praise God for lives being #madenew

There are three free tickets left for the Exponential Roundtable that The River Church is hosting in Marion on Wednesday. Reach out to Seth Bye at our district office if you’re hoping to join us for these important conversations.

​​Prayers are requested again this week for Rev. Ervin Webster (Warren Park St. Stephens Wesleyan Church), Rev. Mark Atkinson (Gas City Eastview), Pastor Steve Arnett (New Castle Mt. Zion), Pastor Dan Clark (Monon Wesleyan), and Mrs. Cheryl Laws (Rev. Allen Law’s wife) as they lean on the Lord for their journey toward healing. Pastor Jeff Brady, who is planting Commoners Church, shared on Facebook that he has been diagnosed with Covid-19. He is self-quarantining at home but was able to lead their Thursday evening service online. Thank you for praying for our pastors!

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

Your servant in Christ,

Mark Gorveatte

Crossroads District Superintendent

P.S. There’s still time left in October to let your pastors know how much you appreciate them. I’ve been helping out at Hartford City Wesleyan Church and two times this month we’ve have been blessed with pickup truck loads of fuel for the coming winter by the generous folks at HCWC. Nothing says “Pastor Appreciation” better than free firewood.
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