The Voice Newsletter
The Voice Newsletter
Volume 19 Number 7 January 2012__________
President’s Corner
Dear Brethren, We are now moving deeper into the year 2012, this is evidence that God has been faithful to His church for some 1980 years. That is about how many years it has been since the birth of the church, and for the same number of years Christians have been overcoming. That is evidence of God's faithfulness to us and His response to the High Priestly Prayer of Christ in John 17. I read His prayer for His disciples and then I get excited when I reach verse twenty as He says "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word", it is there that He is even praying for us! Our Creator, our Savior, prayed for us and then He died for us, thus making it possible for us to be overcomers. I hope you find it as encouraging as I do to know He thought of me and you before He went to the cross. His prayer was that as overcomers we might be one, one church, one body, of one mind in one accord. May we live as one, may we love as one, and this June/July, may we come together as one. Till He comes, Pastor Chip
Pastorless Churches: Pray for the pastorless churches in Leon IA, Pickerington OH, Parkersburg WV, Ozark MI, and Aleppo PA
Fellowship Websites: CGBCI Fellowship website: http://www.theCGBCI.org If any church would like to have its website added to the Fellowship website; please send that information to Pastor Ethan Kallberg at pastorethan@lvgbc.net (new email address)
New Email Addresses: Pastor Ethan Kallberg has a new email address: pastorethan@lvgbc.net and Pastor Raymond Olinga (one of our African brothers) also has a new email address: olray39@yahoo.com
Our Second National Practorium Graduation will be Friday evening, June 29th, at National Conference meeting in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky. Local church Practoriums wishing to honor their graduates nationally need to contact Dr. Russ Simpson (Lakeland GBC, 574-268-0458) by March 15th, allowing sufficient time for transcript verification and ordering of gowns.
Musicians Needed for 2012 Conference: Pastor DeLane Miller is coordinating music for next summer's conference and needs musicians. A brass, woodwind, and strings ensemble is being put together for next summer's conference to accompany the congregational singing (mostly hymns). If you are planning to come to conference and would like to play in this ensemble please contact DeLane Miller: millerdelane02@gmail.com or 541-967-9357. Pastors if you can help give him leads on musicians he would appreciate it.
Additional Needs for 2012 Conference: Pastor Miller is also looking for specials for the Tuesday night session. This could include drama, skits, puppets or some form of media that edifies the saints.
Conference Information: The 2012 CGBCI conference will be in Fort Mitchell KY. We will be at the Drawbridge Inn & Convention Center. Room cost will be $76.65 including tax. Dates are Wednesday, June 27 to Thursday, July 5, 2012. (Wednesday & Thursday, Jun 27 & 28, will be for panel meetings, with conference registration starting on Friday afternoon, Jun 29). Our theme will be “The Overcoming Life”. A trip to the Creation Museum and a dinner cruise on the river are planned. Your pastor/church should have the information packet for the conference – please ask your church for a copy of the packet if you are interested in attending the conference. The packet also includes a registration form for the conference. Youth Conference information has not come out yet; as soon as it is received, the information will be passed on. Plan to attend all or at least some of the conference. For Reservations call: PHONE #: 800-354-9793 If you have never been to conference before, you are missing a wonderful experience. Why not come this year!!!
Whitcomb Ministries: Dr John and Norma Whitcomb ask for prayer as they continue their ministries in radio and are cutting back on travels and conferences. Go to www.sermonaudio.com/whitcomb to find Dr. Whitcomb’s sermons & speeches, etc. Pray for the continued impact these messages have on peoples’ lives.
Mishawaka GBC, Mishawaka IN, Pastor Davy Troxel: The Holy Spirit is alive and well. Since the First Sunday of the year was New Year's Day, I presented the theme verse for the year on the second Sunday; the theme is from James 1:27, dealing with the definition of pure and undefiled religion being to help widows and orphans, and keeping yourself unstained by the world. I compared being doers of the Word with the Lord's direction about living water pouring out from us, crossing lines and boarders of all kinds, and refreshing those who need a cool drink. At the invitation, four people came to give themselves anew to the "refreshment" of the tired and weary in the world. One of our widows also came to ask for prayer, because somehow she had lost her monthly support check of $400. It seemed like an obvious moving of the Spirit to take up a spontaneous offering to help her, and to allow everyone to begin the year with an opportunity to give that first drink of living water in 2012. I did not count what came in, I just handed it to her and--in spite of her reluctance--told her that the Lord could not have provided a better illustration for the message. That dear lady met with me on Tuesday. She said that there was no way she could keep all that came in for her, because the brethren had covered her needs to the tune of $820 ! She wanted to use it to help other widows also, and so the next Sunday we announced the beginning of the Widow's Cruze (remember the widow of Zerephath and Elijah?). This is now an ongoing offering that will be open to any contributions and will be used strictly for helping widows and orphans. This love offering, by the way, was on top of the congregation already having given a record offering that day. The following Sunday, a Gideon spoke on the need to distribute the Word of God to the world, and received a love offering of over $500 ! Just the night before, one of our young people had prayed to receive Christ. Hopefully, she and another will be baptized soon. I'm not saying this to make anyone think that we are wealthy here; we don't have a congregation of rich people. But a few weeks ago, we voted as a church to give a tithe of our monthly offerings to missions over and above the personal donations to missions that people make, and we decided to kind of keep an eye on things to watch and see how the Lord responded. So far, He apparently appreciates the decision! Also, people at national conference last year asked me to let them know when the next marriage retreat was coming. Well, our church's 2012 marriage weekend will be Friday and Saturday, March 23 & 24, 7:00pm Friday until about 4:00pm Saturday. The cost is just over $90 for the (very nice) motel, including a good breakfast, and all materials, snacks, prizes, and seminar. Lunch and shopping in the Amish village is on your own. Our theme this year is "First Things First": we will focus on how to keep idols from creeping up onto the marriage altar. For more info call Pastor Davy. (church phone #: 574-256-0225) I will need to have your reservations by the first part of March. Pastor Davy Troxel
GBC of Saratoga Springs, Ballston Spa NY, Pastor Dan Pierce: The Saratoga Springs GBC will be meeting together for the next few weeks. We will have a meeting following the morning service on February 19th to determine the future of the church. It looks as though they may want to continue to meet if an interim pastor is available. This may be possible as the Southern Baptists have a seminary nearby. Please continue to uphold your Saratoga Brethren in prayer. Cindy and I continue to covet your prayers for our future and direction. May the Lord bless you all. Pastor Dan & Cindy Pierce
Cameroon, Africa: Pastor Keith Merriman: Greetings once again from Yaounde, Cameroon. We had a challenging outreach Bible study here in the capital city last night. Please pray for the salvation of souls and also for wisdom for Pastor Salomon as he lays the foundation of a new church here. We have had a couple of days of recuperation and we leave for the East in about 1/2 an hour. Please pray for our safety and for an effective ministry in the churches in the East. We will be staying in Abong Mbang where Raymond and Roger pastor. We hope to visit Dimako, Baktala, Manpang,Bertoua and the pygmies on this trip (and maybe some other places). Les and I will be teaching in practorium and also take part in the graduation ceremony of two Practorium students on February 3rd, Lord willing. We plan on returning to Yaounde on the 5th and go to the South for a day on the sixth, Les is scheduled to leave just after midnight on the 8th. So we will bring him to Nsimalen airport about 8 pm on the 7th. Our team will then meet up with brother Sam Ndjembass and travel to the coast, Douala, Beua, etc. We are scheduled to return to Detroit on February 15th.
India: Pastor Ike Graham: Pastors Ike Graham & Don Farner met with 30 men from Odisha (formerly Orissa) January 9-14, 2012. Seven of the 30 are CGBCI endorsed church planters in India. The other 23 are men who have come to Christ recently, or have joined the endorsed church planters. Pastors Graham & Farner covered the topics of baptism, communion, the church, salvation, prophetic themes, and the Bible. They also discussed what it means to be a Fellowship of Churches. They encouraged the men to commit to their own Fellowship based on common belief (doctrine), common mission (church planting), fellowship and the same hermeneutic. The men committed themselves to each other and to working together to plant churches in Odisha. Three team leaders (Nehemiah Bardhan, Joseph Surya, and Peter Sipka) were presented with DVD players so they can begin their out practoriums and continue teaching the other men who are working with them. Dr. Whitcomb had provided a number of theology courses which the men will use to teach the other men as 2 Timothy 2:2 commands us. With the rapid forming of CGBCI (Conservative Grace Brethren Churches of India), our role will be changing. More information on this later. Since we were with our Indian Brethren in May 2011, the church (total number of believers) has increased by over 100. Praise the Lord!! Continue to pray for our Brethren in India.
“THE VOICE NEWSLETTER” is the communication tool of the Conservative GBCI. News or mailing updates should be sent to Connie Marsh at jcmarsh1@comcast.net or at 2376 Shadowbrook Dr, Peru IN 46970, or phone: 765-472-3847 (or cell: 765-475-3163), by the 20th of each month.
Volume 19 Number 7 January 2012__________
President’s Corner
Dear Brethren, We are now moving deeper into the year 2012, this is evidence that God has been faithful to His church for some 1980 years. That is about how many years it has been since the birth of the church, and for the same number of years Christians have been overcoming. That is evidence of God's faithfulness to us and His response to the High Priestly Prayer of Christ in John 17. I read His prayer for His disciples and then I get excited when I reach verse twenty as He says "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word", it is there that He is even praying for us! Our Creator, our Savior, prayed for us and then He died for us, thus making it possible for us to be overcomers. I hope you find it as encouraging as I do to know He thought of me and you before He went to the cross. His prayer was that as overcomers we might be one, one church, one body, of one mind in one accord. May we live as one, may we love as one, and this June/July, may we come together as one. Till He comes, Pastor Chip
Pastorless Churches: Pray for the pastorless churches in Leon IA, Pickerington OH, Parkersburg WV, Ozark MI, and Aleppo PA
Fellowship Websites: CGBCI Fellowship website: http://www.theCGBCI.org If any church would like to have its website added to the Fellowship website; please send that information to Pastor Ethan Kallberg at pastorethan@lvgbc.net (new email address)
New Email Addresses: Pastor Ethan Kallberg has a new email address: pastorethan@lvgbc.net and Pastor Raymond Olinga (one of our African brothers) also has a new email address: olray39@yahoo.com
Our Second National Practorium Graduation will be Friday evening, June 29th, at National Conference meeting in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky. Local church Practoriums wishing to honor their graduates nationally need to contact Dr. Russ Simpson (Lakeland GBC, 574-268-0458) by March 15th, allowing sufficient time for transcript verification and ordering of gowns.
Musicians Needed for 2012 Conference: Pastor DeLane Miller is coordinating music for next summer's conference and needs musicians. A brass, woodwind, and strings ensemble is being put together for next summer's conference to accompany the congregational singing (mostly hymns). If you are planning to come to conference and would like to play in this ensemble please contact DeLane Miller: millerdelane02@gmail.com or 541-967-9357. Pastors if you can help give him leads on musicians he would appreciate it.
Additional Needs for 2012 Conference: Pastor Miller is also looking for specials for the Tuesday night session. This could include drama, skits, puppets or some form of media that edifies the saints.
Conference Information: The 2012 CGBCI conference will be in Fort Mitchell KY. We will be at the Drawbridge Inn & Convention Center. Room cost will be $76.65 including tax. Dates are Wednesday, June 27 to Thursday, July 5, 2012. (Wednesday & Thursday, Jun 27 & 28, will be for panel meetings, with conference registration starting on Friday afternoon, Jun 29). Our theme will be “The Overcoming Life”. A trip to the Creation Museum and a dinner cruise on the river are planned. Your pastor/church should have the information packet for the conference – please ask your church for a copy of the packet if you are interested in attending the conference. The packet also includes a registration form for the conference. Youth Conference information has not come out yet; as soon as it is received, the information will be passed on. Plan to attend all or at least some of the conference. For Reservations call: PHONE #: 800-354-9793 If you have never been to conference before, you are missing a wonderful experience. Why not come this year!!!
Whitcomb Ministries: Dr John and Norma Whitcomb ask for prayer as they continue their ministries in radio and are cutting back on travels and conferences. Go to www.sermonaudio.com/whitcomb to find Dr. Whitcomb’s sermons & speeches, etc. Pray for the continued impact these messages have on peoples’ lives.
Mishawaka GBC, Mishawaka IN, Pastor Davy Troxel: The Holy Spirit is alive and well. Since the First Sunday of the year was New Year's Day, I presented the theme verse for the year on the second Sunday; the theme is from James 1:27, dealing with the definition of pure and undefiled religion being to help widows and orphans, and keeping yourself unstained by the world. I compared being doers of the Word with the Lord's direction about living water pouring out from us, crossing lines and boarders of all kinds, and refreshing those who need a cool drink. At the invitation, four people came to give themselves anew to the "refreshment" of the tired and weary in the world. One of our widows also came to ask for prayer, because somehow she had lost her monthly support check of $400. It seemed like an obvious moving of the Spirit to take up a spontaneous offering to help her, and to allow everyone to begin the year with an opportunity to give that first drink of living water in 2012. I did not count what came in, I just handed it to her and--in spite of her reluctance--told her that the Lord could not have provided a better illustration for the message. That dear lady met with me on Tuesday. She said that there was no way she could keep all that came in for her, because the brethren had covered her needs to the tune of $820 ! She wanted to use it to help other widows also, and so the next Sunday we announced the beginning of the Widow's Cruze (remember the widow of Zerephath and Elijah?). This is now an ongoing offering that will be open to any contributions and will be used strictly for helping widows and orphans. This love offering, by the way, was on top of the congregation already having given a record offering that day. The following Sunday, a Gideon spoke on the need to distribute the Word of God to the world, and received a love offering of over $500 ! Just the night before, one of our young people had prayed to receive Christ. Hopefully, she and another will be baptized soon. I'm not saying this to make anyone think that we are wealthy here; we don't have a congregation of rich people. But a few weeks ago, we voted as a church to give a tithe of our monthly offerings to missions over and above the personal donations to missions that people make, and we decided to kind of keep an eye on things to watch and see how the Lord responded. So far, He apparently appreciates the decision! Also, people at national conference last year asked me to let them know when the next marriage retreat was coming. Well, our church's 2012 marriage weekend will be Friday and Saturday, March 23 & 24, 7:00pm Friday until about 4:00pm Saturday. The cost is just over $90 for the (very nice) motel, including a good breakfast, and all materials, snacks, prizes, and seminar. Lunch and shopping in the Amish village is on your own. Our theme this year is "First Things First": we will focus on how to keep idols from creeping up onto the marriage altar. For more info call Pastor Davy. (church phone #: 574-256-0225) I will need to have your reservations by the first part of March. Pastor Davy Troxel
GBC of Saratoga Springs, Ballston Spa NY, Pastor Dan Pierce: The Saratoga Springs GBC will be meeting together for the next few weeks. We will have a meeting following the morning service on February 19th to determine the future of the church. It looks as though they may want to continue to meet if an interim pastor is available. This may be possible as the Southern Baptists have a seminary nearby. Please continue to uphold your Saratoga Brethren in prayer. Cindy and I continue to covet your prayers for our future and direction. May the Lord bless you all. Pastor Dan & Cindy Pierce
Cameroon, Africa: Pastor Keith Merriman: Greetings once again from Yaounde, Cameroon. We had a challenging outreach Bible study here in the capital city last night. Please pray for the salvation of souls and also for wisdom for Pastor Salomon as he lays the foundation of a new church here. We have had a couple of days of recuperation and we leave for the East in about 1/2 an hour. Please pray for our safety and for an effective ministry in the churches in the East. We will be staying in Abong Mbang where Raymond and Roger pastor. We hope to visit Dimako, Baktala, Manpang,Bertoua and the pygmies on this trip (and maybe some other places). Les and I will be teaching in practorium and also take part in the graduation ceremony of two Practorium students on February 3rd, Lord willing. We plan on returning to Yaounde on the 5th and go to the South for a day on the sixth, Les is scheduled to leave just after midnight on the 8th. So we will bring him to Nsimalen airport about 8 pm on the 7th. Our team will then meet up with brother Sam Ndjembass and travel to the coast, Douala, Beua, etc. We are scheduled to return to Detroit on February 15th.
India: Pastor Ike Graham: Pastors Ike Graham & Don Farner met with 30 men from Odisha (formerly Orissa) January 9-14, 2012. Seven of the 30 are CGBCI endorsed church planters in India. The other 23 are men who have come to Christ recently, or have joined the endorsed church planters. Pastors Graham & Farner covered the topics of baptism, communion, the church, salvation, prophetic themes, and the Bible. They also discussed what it means to be a Fellowship of Churches. They encouraged the men to commit to their own Fellowship based on common belief (doctrine), common mission (church planting), fellowship and the same hermeneutic. The men committed themselves to each other and to working together to plant churches in Odisha. Three team leaders (Nehemiah Bardhan, Joseph Surya, and Peter Sipka) were presented with DVD players so they can begin their out practoriums and continue teaching the other men who are working with them. Dr. Whitcomb had provided a number of theology courses which the men will use to teach the other men as 2 Timothy 2:2 commands us. With the rapid forming of CGBCI (Conservative Grace Brethren Churches of India), our role will be changing. More information on this later. Since we were with our Indian Brethren in May 2011, the church (total number of believers) has increased by over 100. Praise the Lord!! Continue to pray for our Brethren in India.
“THE VOICE NEWSLETTER” is the communication tool of the Conservative GBCI. News or mailing updates should be sent to Connie Marsh at jcmarsh1@comcast.net or at 2376 Shadowbrook Dr, Peru IN 46970, or phone: 765-472-3847 (or cell: 765-475-3163), by the 20th of each month.
| voice-jan_2012.pdf |
| voice-dec2011.pdf |
| voice-nov2011.pdf |
