Congratulations to Rev. Michael & Kim Hewitt and the team at Rising Hope Church in Muncie on their successful launch yesterday, Sunday, September 16. The team has prayed hard and worked hard for the past year to plant the seeds of this new Kingdom community. It was exciting to worship with them and to hear their vision for a life-changing church committed to multiplying disciples and planting at least one daughter church in their first five years. In addition to a great crowd from the community, several special guests were part of the celebration including Dr. David Wright (President of IWU) who has a tremendous heart for church planting. Jon Wiest, Multiplication Pastor at Indianapolis Trinity, and Andy Riemersma, resident pastor at Trinity and Awaken Ministry leader, were in attendance. Danielle Freed (Fishers Waterline) brought church-planters in-residence from the Waterline network to help serve and take notes. There is much to be done to see Rising Hope Church build a strong foundation for their long-term vision but this was a wonderful day of celebration. Thank you to every church in the Crossroads District that has played a part in this first chapter of the Rising Hope story. Continue to pray, support and encourage the Hewitt’s and their team. It was a blessing to join with students at IWU last Monday as they hosted evangelist Nicole Reyes Smithee for their annual Summit. There was a wonderful spirit of worship in the service and a heartfelt response to Nicole’s challenging message on Jacob. Tuesday morning, I joined with Pastor Mark Atkinson and his team to bring the devotional for their staff meeting at Eastview Wesleyan Church. Then I joined our office team for staff prayer time and our weekly connection in Marion. My final meeting of the day was a coaching conversation with Pastor Tomasa Granados (Indianapolis Monte de Sion) and Christopher, her son who assists her in the ministry, at our office in Fishers. It was good to hear of a recent convert through their ministry. Wednesday morning, I was in Fishers with the Heartland Region district superintendents. We met with Kevin Batman, our General Treasurer, to consider the potential of a shared services contract with his office. After lunch, we were joined by members of the Heartland Region Multiplication Roundtable for a planning session. Then, on Thursday, a group of 30+ pastors met at HQ for ELEVATE, a leadership development experience hosted by Ken Murphy. There were many great takeaways from Ken’s sessions including this one: "Whatever I have today in my organization, I have either created it or allowed. As the leader, I am responsible." Friday, I was in Delphi to connect with Pastor Dan Fisher for our annual coaching conversation. Pastor Dan also serves as Zone leader in Region 3 and is faithful in calling us to pray for revival. On Saturday morning I was in Indianapolis to join Rev. Ervin Webster and the men of St. Stephen Wesleyan Church for their "Men’s Day" with guest speaker Rev. Fred Talley. There was a good turnout, a frank discussion time led by Rev. Talley and heartfelt worship led by Rev. Webster. Following the meeting, the ladies from the church blessed us with a wonderful meal. Congratulations to Pastor Brad and Heidi LeRoy and the team at McCordsville Harvest Church. They hosted their 5th annual "Touch a Truck" on Saturday with another great turnout from first responders for this community connection. I was able to take a sneak peek at their remodeled worship center. It was also fun to connect with Dr. John Connor and Rev. Wayne Richards. I was admiring John’s 1948 John Deere tractor! Pastor John and Danielle Freed lead the Waterline network with a vision to plant in dozens of rural communities. Pastor Joe and Dawn Deckard accepted the call to the first of these plants and last evening they met with potential launch team members in Pendleton. We have a building in Pendleton that they’ll be able to access next year but they found a great temporary space to meet downtown in the Studio 3 Music Academy. One of the highlights of the coming week will be our Crossroads District Board of Administration meeting in Tipton on Thursday. Your prayers are needed and appreciated as we seek God’s wisdom to pursue the mission of reaching 3 million Hoosiers for Christ. Just a reminder to our church planters and their spouses that they’re scheduled to join us for a fellowship supper at Gorveatte’s place on Friday evening. If you’ve not yet sent your RSVP, please connect with Seth Bye so we can plan accordingly. Many in your church will be asking how they can respond to Hurricane Florence. World Hope is mobilizing relief efforts and you are encouraged to direct them to this website: HURRICANE FLORENCE RELIEF Thank you for all you do to advance the Kingdom! Your servant in Christ, Mark Gorveatte P.S. Thank you to those who joined us in prayer this week for Pastor Tom Cochran’s father and for Dr. Ed Hoover’s surgery. We’re grateful to God for His healing touch for these men. Comments are closed.
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