Shalom, Southview, and Fairmount Camp

Sunday, July 25, I had the privilege of preaching at Shalom Church, our Burmese congregation who is hosted at the Southview Wesleyan Church in Indianapolis. Rev. Nathan Richardson, the new pastor for Southview, joined us for this service. They welcomed nearly 90 people for yesterday’s worship service. It was a special gift to hear the children’s choir. Following the service and a meeting with the leadership team, I was glad to connect with Benjamin Tlungloei Tuimuk who serves as the lay supply pastor for Shalom Church.
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Approximately 25,000 Burmese (Myanmar) refugees have been resettled in Central Indiana and Shalom is a delightful church family who have become part of our Crossroads District. Many of you will know that the political unrest and pandemic are taking a difficult toll on the nation of Myanmar. Many in the congregation have friends and family members still living in Myanmar who are facing great difficulty and even persecution for their faith. Please remember these sisters and brothers in your prayers.
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Sunday evening, I was honored to represent our Crossroads District for the installation of Rev. Nathan Richardson as the pastor of Southview Wesleyan Church. Although they moved to Indiana from Iowa, Jenny (Nathan’s wife) has deep roots with her family at the Greentown Wesleyan Church. Nathan is a graduate of Indiana Wesleyan University (2003) and graduated with his Master of Divinity degree from Wesley Seminary (2010). Please welcome the Richardson family as you have opportunity and pray for them as they settle into this new ministry appointment.
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On the way to my 12:30 engagement at Shalom Church, I was able to swing by Harvest Church in McCordsville to check in with Pastor Brad LeRoy and his team. Josiah, our middle son, serves on staff with Harvest as their Worship and Creative Arts Director. After the service I was able to connect briefly with Pastor Brad and Heidi LeRoy. It was also good to catch up with Rev. Larry Moore who, in addition to his role as Chief Operations Officer with Wesleyan Investment Foundation, serves as a key leader on the Harvest team. Josiah and Elizabeth Gorveatte are expecting their first child in October so I was especially glad to see them for a few minutes between services.
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Last week began with a quick trip to Cypress Wesleyan Church to attend the Greater Ohio District Conference led by District Superintendent Les Crossfield. Since launching the Heartland Region four years ago, Les has chaired our DS partnership and we’ve made visits to one another’s conferences as our schedules permitted. General Superintendent Dr. Wayne Schmidt was also there to bring greetings. Pastor Ken Murphy and the Cypress team did a great job hosting the event. Our own Michael (Woody) Wood provided his expertise with the electronic voting devices that Crossroads makes available to other districts. It was especially encouraging to hear how God has been blessing their church planting initiatives this year under the leadership of Dr. Chris Dyer.
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Fairmount Camp just concluded another successful week of Family Camp under the leadership of Pastor Angela Spangler and her team. This year, Fairmount celebrated their 125th Anniversary (plus 1) from the founding of the camp back in 1895. While Fairmount Camp is its own ministry organization, not controlled by the Crossroads District, this ministry is generous in their partnership with our area churches. Special guests and testimonies each evening included David Henry’s miraculous recovery and Rev. Andy Reimersma sharing about his call to plant ONE Church in Westfield this coming year.
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Dr. Jim Lo and Dr. Andrea Summers were the evangelists in the evening rallies. They were both used of God to bring anointed messages. Dr. Brannon Hancock, Wesley Seminary worship professor, and his team did a wonderful job leading the music. If you were unable to attend you can access videos of the services that are available online at this website:
​https://vimeo.com/user116890352

​Upcoming events at Fairmount Camp include the Old Time Camp (August 18-22) and the Marriage Retreat (September 10-12). For more information on these events or other camp activities, visit Fairmount Camp’s website: https://www.fairmountcamp.org

Last Thursday, I had the delight of hosting some of the leaders of Divine Direction Church for a tour of our denominational headquarters in Fishers. Their church building is just a few miles away but these leaders had never had the opportunity to visit HQ and catch the big picture of our international church family. I appreciated the way that General Superintendent Dr. Wayne Schmidt and his team so graciously welcomed our guests and shared the vision of our denomination’s global network of ministry. These local church leaders expressed how encouraged they were by this experience and how it gave them a greater sense of appreciation for our shared ministry. Have you considered taking your team for a visit to HQ?

This week, nearly 100 leaders from the Crossroads District will be making our way to Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, Alabama for the GROW Conference beginning on Tuesday and concluding Thursday afternoon. Special thanks to Dr. Craig Dunn and the team at WIF for helping us make this possible. I would be grateful if you would join me in praying that God makes this a significant event in the lives of our leaders as we prepare for this exciting new season of ministry. https://www.growleader.com/conference
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Keep on making a difference in the only cause that counts for eternity!

Your servant in Christ,

Mark Gorveatte

Crossroads District Superintendent