Hamilton Wesleyan and New Castle Memorial

Sunday morning, September 30, I enjoyed worshiping with Pastor Dave & Carol Leitzel and the folks at Hamilton Wesleyan Church. I brought greetings from our team, met with the LBA after the service, and hosted the Leitzels for lunch. It was encouraging to see the full house and to sense the energy of 30 children worshiping in this intergenerational church. Pastor Leitzel is preaching through a series of what it means to follow Jesus on Sundays and leading a Bible study prompted by Dr. Jim Garlow’s book, Well-Versed.
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Sunday evening, Sherry joined me as I traveled to New Castle Memorial Wesleyan Church to install their new pastor, Rev. Eric George. I shared the message for the evening and the liturgy of installation. The service closed with a circle of leaders gathering around Pastor Eric & Diana George. Rev. George most recently served in the Greater Ohio District. Originally from New York, Pastor Eric holds degrees from Houghton College and Indiana Wesleyan University. Memorial Wesleyan has a wonderful facility, a strategic location in their community and a committed core of lay leaders. We’re joining them in praying for a bright future of Kingdom impact.
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​The highlight of last Monday was connecting with Dr. Richard and Rev. Carol Schenck. They are leading an innovative network of churches based out of what was Noblesville Lakeview Wesleyan Church. Their new network of ministries will be called Circle of Hope Wesleyan Church. The network includes the Noblesville campus, a campus in Beech Grove, the Bethel ministry in the core city of Indianapolis, and the former Central Wesleyan Church in Anderson, The network is combining staff and core services (website, communication, finance, administration, teaching team) to better reach these communities for Christ.

I was at Memorial Wesleyan in New Castle on Tuesday morning for the funeral of Rev. James Judd, one of our retired ministers. Rev. Ernest Batman, retired DS, and Rev. Paul Kirk, former pastor at Memorial, shared scriptures and memories of this faithful servant. Rev. Judd never pastored a large church but he was faithful in preaching the Word and leading people to Christ in every appointment. Our prayers and sympathy are extended to his family. Tuesday afternoon, I had two meetings back in Marion with ministerial students. It was interesting to connect with these leaders in the beginning chapters of their ministry on the same day we celebrated Rev. Judd’s homegoing. May God continue to send laborers into His harvest field.
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Wednesday over Friday, I was in Pittsburgh for training in the life planning process developed by Leadership League. One of the commitments our District Board made last year was to develop capacity to offer life planning retreats for younger, mid-stage, and convergence seasons of their ministry. We believe that everyone in the church benefits when the leader is more effective. You’ll be hearing more about this development at District Conference 2019.

​Saturday afternoon, I met with Rev. Eliorgy Guerrero and Rev. Frank Gonzalez in Warsaw to take next steps in building a network of Hispanic church leaders with a vision for church planting in the northern tier of Indiana. Both of these effective leaders immigrated to America from Venezuela and bring strong-track records of church planting experience to our team. I’m also grateful to Dr. Norman Wilson and Pastor Jarod Osborne (Warsaw Pathway) for their generosity in developing this partnership.
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I’m looking forward to all that this coming week holds with board meetings at Wesley Seminary (October 1-2) and Indiana Wesleyan University (October 4-5), but the highlight will be the Disciple Making Conference at Trinity Wesleyan Church in Indianapolis: https://www.encountertrinity.com/DMC2018/ This event is sold out. Please pray for Pastor Mike Colaw and Pastor Jon Wiest as they invest in ministry leaders in our region.

​Thank you for making a difference in the cause that counts for eternity!

Your servant in Christ,
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Mark Gorveatte

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