Sonlight Church, Old Time Camp, DS Meeting, and Makeovers

Sherry and I were privileged to worship with Rev. Lyle Breeding and his team at Bluffton Sonlight Church on Sunday morning. Rev. Lane Sander, our District Youth President, is a key member of the staff and he led in the altar prayer time during the service. It was a joy to bring the message and then to meet with the LBA following the service.
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Pastor Lyle and his team have been hard at work implementing their Maximizing Impact prescriptions from last year and preparing for their StratOp planning consultation this fall. Sherry and I enjoyed hosting Pastor Breeding and his team for lunch.

Angela Spangler, Executive Director, and her team at Fairmount Camp hosted another successful Old Time Camp Meeting this past week. I was able to take in the Thursday morning Bible study session led by Rev. David Vardaman and the closing rally on Sunday evening. Rev. Alex Mandura did a great job leading the services.
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Pastor Ken Dykhoff brought his enthusiasm in leading the music, and Rev. Joe Kelly preached a helpful series on the faithfulness of God. Rev. Ashlyn Luttrell rounded out the team by leading the afternoon prayer studies. Mark your calendar for next year’s “Old Time Camp Meeting” (August 12-16, 2020) with Dr. Bud Bence as the camp evangelist.

It is always encouraging to be able to share reports of spiritual victories. Pastor Dale Munsell shared this photo of their first baptism celebration for this conference year at Albion Cornerstone Wesleyan Church. They are believing God for 15 baptisms this year!
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Dr. Craig Dunn and the Wesleyan Investment Foundation team generously provided an exceptional learning opportunity for our Wesleyan district superintendents last Tuesday and Wednesday at Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, Alabama. We heard from the executive leadership of the church, from an expert in counter-terrorism and church safety, and from Lee Domingue, the point leader for the Legacy Team at Highlands. Lee shared some key insights from the strategic funding at COTH. Their Legacy Team has 901 members (about 2% of their worship attendance of 50,000+) but contributed 25% of their financial resources. Lee talked about their intentionality in developing a sustainable culture of generosity. One of the principles he shared was that “the pastor determines the vision, the business leaders determine the speed.”
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Highlands owns approximately $300 million of facilities and property debt-free. Pastor Chris Hodges and Highlands Church helped to create ARC (The Association of Related Churches) and they have helped plant 900 churches in the past 18 years. Highlands is fueled by a culture of prayer with 1500 people gathering at 6:00 a.m. in the Birmingham location as part of their 21 Days of Prayer to launch into the fall season. They also generously provide their resources free of charge at this website: www.growleader.com

Summer is a great time for our churches to "get ready for company." Good stewardship includes not just maintaining the facilities with which we’ve been entrusted, but also improving them to create the most welcoming environment possible for our guests. Pastor Jeff Luedtke invited me to Fairmount Wesleyan Church last week to see the wonderful improvements they’ve made to the children’s ministry areas and the auditorium. They’ve done a great job preparing to welcome guests!
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Please continue to pray for Grace, the daughter of Pastor Jon and Katie Wiest (Indianapolis Trinity Wesleyan Church), who has been diagnosed with leukemia. The family has created a webpage where you can lend them your support and prayerfully follow their journey: Caring Bridge link for Grace

Thank you for all you do to advance the Kingdom!

Your servant in Christ,

Mark Gorveatte
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​Don’t miss the International Wesleyan Youth Conference (Dec. 28-31, 2019)

​Pastors and youth leaders can sign up now at www.followconference.org to get free resources and updates on all FOLLOW details.