Michigantown Mt. Hope, Exponential Cohort, and Baptism!

Sunday morning, November 17, I had the privilege of worshiping with Dr. Max Kingsolver and the congregation of Mt. Hope Wesleyan Church in Michigantown. This small congregation has been a faithful ministry supporting Global Partner missionaries and participating in Samaritan’s Purse Christmas Boxes. After preaching, I had an opportunity to visit with Pastor Kingsolver and members of the congregation after the service for a discussion of future ministry partnership possibilities. Dr. Kingsolver has a surgical procedure scheduled next week and would welcome your prayers.
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Sunday evening, I was encouraged by the presentation that Rev. Timothy Gallant shared at Brookhaven Wesleyan Church. Tim and Tiffany serve with Global Partners in Cambodia and Tim was recently appointed as GP’s Asia Area Director. They have developed a discipleship and leadership development strategy uniquely for the oral learning tradition in their cultural context. They will be on home ministry raising partner support until January and would be happy to share their story over a cup of coffee. You can reach out to Tim via direct message on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TntGallant
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Last week, I joined a team of leaders from our Crossroads District to participate in learning cohorts sponsored by The Wesleyan Church in partnership with the Exponential Conference. These learning cohorts included multi-ethnic ministry leaders, pastors of larger churches, and district superintendents. Dr. Wayne Schmidt, our General Superintendent, joined the DS cohort for the first of the three events focused on leading discipleship and church multiplication movements. Five of us flew together from Indianapolis on Tuesday and arrived home from San Diego early on Saturday morning.

This first event was hosted at Skyline Wesleyan Church. Dr. Bobby Harrington and Ralph Moore were keynote speakers and Bob Cochanaur served as the facilitator for our cohort. The next session is scheduled for January at the underground church in Tampa, Florida. There were so many helpful insights and challenging conversations. Ralph Moore said, “What you measure improves and what you celebrate gets repeated.” Myron Pierce, pastor of Mission Church in Omaha, challenged us that “You can’t delegate what Jesus told you to prioritize. The pastor must be the CDM (Chief Disciple-Maker) in his or her church.” Bobby Harrington reminded us that “there is no disciple-making movement anywhere in the world that was not birthed in fasting and prayer.”
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I am always thrilled to hear stories from our pastors of lives being transformed. Co-Pastors Zack and Carla Working are celebrating another life changed by the Gospel at Hope Rising Church in Huntington. This was the 23rd baptism so far this conference year, compared to 2 baptisms last year. Praise God for the way He’s working!
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This week, please join me in prayer for important meetings as the General Board of The Wesleyan Church convenes at HQ in Fishers on Monday-Wednesday. Then, on Thursday, the Heartland Region will host a roundtable with Dr. Dan Reiland as we continue to explore ways to collaborate for greater effectiveness in serving our churches and reaching our mission field in the 4 states of our region.

Thank you for all that you do to advance the Kingdom!

Your servant in Christ,

Mark Gorveatte

District Superintendent

P.S. There still time to register for The Heartland Gathering, March 10-12. In addition to an open forum on the pros and cons of a potential merger, we’ll have a sneak preview of some of the key issues that will be debated at General Conference 2020 in Saint Louis. I hope you’ll plan to join us!

https://gathering.heartlandregion.org/