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Sunday morning, July 7, Dr. Norman Wilson, Rev. Eliorgy Guerrero and I had the privilege of worshiping with Rev. Franz & Yudlia Gonzalez and the wonderful congregation at Vida y Esperanza (Life and Hope) in Goshen. It was a joy to preach the Word and to join with Dr. Wilson in welcoming this new congregation to our team.  Pastor Gonzalez and his team first connected with Rev. Guerrero and the Cielos Abiertos Church in Elkhart. Several of the folks in the congregation are here with official refugee status from the tragedy in Venezuela. This congregation has a vision for multiplication in Indiana and Mexico. Please pray for Pastor Gonzalez as he leads this movement!  Sunday afternoon, Sherry joined me in Anderson to bring greetings from the Crossroads District team as United Wesleyan Church celebrated Rev. Clifton and Arletta’s 45th years of marriage and ministry, with the last 20 years loving and serving this congregation. There was a great turnout for the event with fun memories and laughter. The church surprised the Ashlock’s with a travel voucher that will enable them to visit their friends in Brazil where the Ashlock family had a powerful ministry. They won’t be slowing down much with Cliff continuing to teach for IWU and serving on the District Board of Ministerial Development but it does sound like they’ll have more time to enjoy their grandchildren. Thank you, Clifton and Arletta for your inspiring example in ministry and marriage!  Last week afforded a change of pace for many of us with the July 4th holiday falling on Thursday. In addition to enjoying some time off, I was with Pastors Zack and Carla Working to sign loan documents for Hope Rising Church as they continue the revitalization project. On Tuesday evening, I met with the Lakeview Wesleyan Church LBA as they take the first steps on their pastoral search process. Friday morning, I met with Dr. Jeff Boyce, LBA vice-chair, to review options for interim ministry at Lakeview. Last week may have been a holiday week, but the Kingdom is on the move and lives are being made new! The first baptism picture this week comes from Pastor Mark and Sharie Schnell who serve together at Albion Wesleyan Church. This past week, Pastor Mark had the joy of baptizing C.J., their son, at a family gathering. Praise the Lord!  The second transformation story comes from The Branch Wesleyan Church in Lafayette. Earlier this spring, Pastor Logan and Shaina Patriquin were out walking in their neighborhood. They met a young girl named Kassie and Shaina invited her to be their guest at their new youth group led by Amber Bass. After one of the group meetings, Kassie prayed to receive Christ. Yesterday, she brought her unchurched family to church with her to witness her baptism. Praise the Lord for lives #madenew!  Congratulations to Pastor Ben Jones! He shared the announcement this week of his engagement to Miss Kirsten Harmon. Ben recently accepted the call to pastor our Beaver Creek Wesleyan Church (near the town of North Liberty and Potato Creek State Park).  A warm Crossroads District team welcome to Rev. Barry and Vickie Taylor who officially began their ministry yesterday, July 7, at Hartford City Wesleyan Church where Barry is the new senior pastor. They are settling in and have found their way to Ivanhoe’s.  Congratulations to the Monon Wesleyan Church on their call to Dan Clark to become their next pastor. Dan has been serving at Middletown Community Church before accepting this call to Monon. I’m looking forward to being with Monon Wesleyan on July 21 as the congregation welcomes Dan and Amanda to this new appointment. This week, the Fairmount Kids Camp is in full swing under the direction of Rev. Michele Henry. Pray that this will be a wonderful, faith forming experience for these children. Pray for grace and strength for the counselors and staff! Frankfort Family Camp began yesterday and runs through next Sunday with Rev. Noel Bates and Rev. David Duncan as the camp evangelists. Phil and Ronda Foley do a great job hosting this camp and they’d love to welcome you to their services. Keep on making a difference in the cause that counts! Your servant in Christ, Mark Gorveatte Crossroads District Superintendent
7/8/2019 12:58:21 pm
We're discovering the need in our church to also care for refugees and asylum seekers who are coming from tough situations in countries like Venezuala. We've found this resource by the Evangelical Immigration Table (Jo Anne Lyon sits on their board) helpful in thinking through this issue from a biblical perspective (rather than via partisan politics). Comments are closed.
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