Pastors, if you have news from your congregation that you'd like to share, please send the information to mklotz@indianaministries.org
♦ Pastor Judy Williams shares that along with help from Dr. Tom Walls, seven people were baptized in a special service on July 18th. Judy pastors the Gentle Shepherd Church of God, a new congregation that meets in rural Gibson County.
♦ Church at the Crossing is wrapping up a month of serving. Missions Director Andrew Gale shares that the people of CATC performed some lawn care for Nora Elementary school, packaged food for Kids Against Hunger, and then helped prepare Shepherd Community Center for summer interns. They also parciipated in a Broken Bread Poverty Meal, resourced by World Vision, during which they eat the kind of food that is sent to people around the world in hunger/disaster relief situations. More than 300 people took part in these activities.
♦ Pastor Travis Inman, from First Church of God in Bedford, shares that 14 youth pastors from the area recently got together to pray about how to reach the youth in that community. Together they sponsored a movie night with hog roast and games beforehand. One of the church's praise bands came and gave a concert, then the movie "To Save a Life" was shown. It's an incredible movie about struggles, temptations and trials teenagers face every day. Over 400 students showed up for this event and at least 29 of them gave their hearts to Jesus! We are praising God along with Travis and the believers in his community who were a part of this great outreach. God is so good!
♦ The people of County Line Church in Auburn broke tradition and instead of gathering together to worship on Sunday morning, April 25, they scattered across the county serving others. Community Life Pastor Nathan Tatman shared that "Faith in Action" participants got involved in all sorts of projects from yard work and home repair, to helping out at a ranch, visiting residents of a nursing home, assembling packets of goods to ship to the military, and more. Their youth group recently gathered shoes to be donated to people in Haiti through the Soles for Souls ministry and ended up with 2000 pair! You can see lots of photos in the album on the left side of this page.
♦ Bruce Colbert, Creative Pastor at Crossbridge Community Church in Ft. Wayne, shares that the people of their congregation were recently challenged to do something they'd never done before by teaming with Team World Vision and either running the Fort 4 Fitness Half-Marathon or the Chicago Marathon and get at least 5 child sponsors. So far, over 40 people have signed up to join this journey, most of which have never done anything like this. If they all reach their goal of 5 child sponsors, 200 kids' lives will be changed and they will have raised over $250,000 for World Vision.
♦ John Sieg took his youth group and some of their parents to Chandler Elementary in Goshen to clean up and do yardwork. Good job! John is the youth pastor at First Church of God in Goshen.
♦ 15 Churches in the Pendleton area, including Pendleton Community Church, united to celebrate Easter together at the Pendleton High School gymnasium, with special guest speaker Nic Vujicic. Read Pastor Trey Oldham's article about this awesome event!
♦ Congratulations to Rev. Wil Sag
esse, ordained Sunday April 11th in a special service at Avon Community Church. He and his wife, Angela, are headed to Rhode Island to pastor a multi-cultural church there. We wish all of God's best for them!
♦ Congratulations to Rev. David Baylor, ordained last night in a special service at East Side Church of God in Anderson! He and his wife, Bonnie, along with their two sons will be on their way soon to Kenya to work at KIST: Kima International School of Theology.
♦ The youth group at The Church at the Crossing in Indianapolis, just hosted their 23rd Annual Dessert Theater to raise funds for mission trips this summer. Sr. High Pastor Brett Talley shared that after enjoying some delicious desserts, the guests are treated to a variety show put on by the students which this year was called "Dessert Theater's Excellent Adventure" in which five casts of students performing skits about the past five decades. In addition to being a fundraiser, the event gives opportunity for the students to work together, growing in relationships and developing leadership skills as they pursue two main goals: build community and prepare for life-changing experiences in the summer mission trip. 106 students and almost that many adults worked hard to make this happen and it was worth it: after three successful shows during the weekend of March 12-14, the youth group raised over $15,000!
♦ Pastor Georg Karl of First Church of God, Vincennes, has written a book entitled Six Stages of Forgiving Others. If you're interested in purchasing a copy, you can find it on Amazon, Ebay, order it from the local Christian bookstores or directly from Georg.
♦ In August of last year, Goshen First Church of God adopted Chandler Elementary school in Goshen, a school labeled a failing school by the No Child Left Behind Act. Every staff member at the school has a prayer partner from the church and gets an encouraging note at least monthly. The people of the church take special treats in for the staff monthly, volunteer at the school each week helping out in classrooms, doing clerical work, and anything else that needs to be done and provide a Wednesday night tutoring program for the kids and their families. They offer a free meal, tutoring, English classes for their parents (many are Hispanic), and other activities. Several of the kids have started attending the church. They're reaching out to the parents as well.
Pastor Troy Scott shares, "The Superintendent of Schools has lifted us up throughout the community as the shining example of supporting schools...On April 18th, the entire staff and their families will join us for our morning worship service. It's going to be celebration of our partnership over the last year! Serving others has pumped life into our church!"
♦ The Church at the Crossing is getting the message out to the neighborhood in fun, creative ways that they're there ready to love in Jesus' name! In their efforts to Go and Love their community, Church at the Crossing (Indianapolis) has launched a series of road signs to perhaps bring a smile to motorists along the now-heavy I-465 reconstruction bordering their property. Read more!
♦ Pastor Jerry Hilligoss sent this update about his congregation in Anderson: "Florida Station is busting at the seems right now with new people. Our new family life center is open and already being used for youth, fellowship and free community dinners. God has been so good to us all. Two days a week we do a bible study with the students of Frankton Jr/Sr High School. Once a month we provide the a free meal for the community around us. A daycare ministry is in the planning stage. Our mission ministry is preparing to go to Haiti. 15 people have accepted Jesus as thier savior, 10 have been baptized and more will come. Keep up the good work Church of God. Souls are being saved, lives are being changed and God is good!"
♦ Hoping to see people come to Christ, Pastor Denver Burns and the Michiana Community Church of God in Granger are preparing for an evangelistic Easter service. Several young families have come to Christ and are getting involved in the church's ministry. The church is raising funds to send two teams on mission trips this July, one to minister to Navajo people in New Mexico, and the other to offer some relief in Haiti. They recently completed a campaign to raise the first year's salary for a new worship pastor and are beginning the search process. All of this has Pastor Denver praising God and excited to see what God will do through the Michiana Church in the coming months.
♦ The people of Grace Community Church of God in Auburn, led by Pastor Paul Burrus, are planning a weekly outreach at the community farmer's market, handing out free drinks as a tangible expression of Jesus' love. In addition, they regularly minister through weekly worship and teaching times, as well as bi-monthly meals, at a local retirement apartment complex and are providing financial and material support for a local medical mission in their community.
♦ Pastor Trey Oldham from the Pendleton Community Church of Godshares about an exciting development in his county over the last few months. Read more about it!
♦ Pastor Bruce Applegate happily reports that over the last few months 10 people have been baptized at Mt. Pleasant Church of God in Evansville! This has generated excitement in other areas of their church's ministry including their Wednesday night programming that has had 50% increased attendance. Pastor Bruce attributes it all to a more intentional prayer effort and gives the glory to God.
♦ Greenfield First Church of God is impacting their community in new ways since the arrival of Chris Braschler as their pastor. The church now houses a free clothing ministry particularly targeting children and expectant mothers, as well as a self-supporting preschool, offering morning and afternoon programming on Tuesday-Thursday and Monday-Wednesday-Friday. They have also revamped their Sunday morning children’s programming in order to bring kids in from the community and provide a ‘place to call home.’ They are using their very visible location for some ‘explosive’ outreach events, such as the upcoming Easter Eggstravaganza on the Saturday before Easter. The event began two years ago, tripled in size last year…. “we’re preparing for a BLOW OUT this year!” Pastor Chris shares, “Our prayer has been for God to break hearts for Him, for families, and for the church. As that has begun to happen, our responsibility is to follow where God is leading.”
♦ Congratulations to Matt & Robin Tricker who recently brought home Eli, their new son, adopted from Haiti! In the adoption process for more than two years, they just recently went to Sarasota, FL where he had been brought by Agape Missionary Flights. They are so thankful he was unharmed by the recent earthquake and that they have him safely home with them. Matt & Robin's other boys, Isaiah (7) and Ian (4) are excited to have their little brother home, too. Matt is the worship leader at Avon Community Church.
♦ The people of the Lebanon Church of God have a history of helping the people of Haiti with thousands of pounds of beans, rice, peanut butter, along with diapers, wipes, and other supplies sent to the Lashbrook mission there. Pastor Gene Johnson is a frequent visitor to that mission. They are now raising funds for another shipment in March, already having raised close to $2500. It's great to see the Lebanon church being the hands and feet of Jesus, meeting needs to show His love!
♦ Northeast Community Church in Fishers celebrated their 10-year anniversary recently with a great time of worship followed by a church-wide tailgating party, watching the game on a big TV, lots of food and fellowship. Congratulations to Pastor Fred Bays and his wife, Dyan, and the whole Northeast family! God bless you with many more years of reaching the lost.
♦ The youth group from Donica Memorial CHOG in Bedford traveled to the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, eager to serve and share. They took part in a Community Fun Fair, providing food, donated clothing/household items, toys, school supplies, etc. to help need people in the area. Some also helped put a new roof on a leaky trailer home.
♦ Pastor Chris Gammello and Youth Pastor Tami Byrd took a team of students from S. Memorial CHOG in New Castle to "DAT House" an inner city ministry run by Laura and Derek Abner. They made and poured homemade laundry soap, sorted donations to be handed out in the community, unloaded firewood, hung out with some of the neighbors and served in Jesus' name! There are some more photos in the gallery to the left of this page.
♦ 5th and 6th graders from First Church of God in Kendallville raised money and accepted donations and gave 300 books to a program called "Kate's Kart". The program was created in memory of a little girl, who loved to read, who had incurable heart condition. The class, teacher and Pastor Jim Kendall are shown in this picture at Parkview Noble Hospital where the books are distributed.
♦ Pastor Denver Burns from the Michiana Community COG in Granger sent an update on some great things happpening: "
Four weeks ago we took $500 in 5 dollar bills and passed them out to our congregation along with a connection card that said 'Just for you just because... God loves you.'
We called it 'operation blessing' and challenged the congregation to go out and bless a total stranger in the spirit of God's love. ...Several rose to the challenge. Stories have been pouring in from our church people how they were so blessed to be able to participate in blessing someone else. They shared how God put them in positions to overhear conversations that provided an opportunity to bless someone in real need. Others just simply felt as if they should bless someone they saw because they looked like they needed a blessing. From buying extra dougnuts for the family who couldn't afford them to buying lunch for the janitor at the hospital. They've done it all! Many church members have even started blessing others with their own money since 'operation blessing' began. And as if that weren't reward enough, we have actually begun to receive cards and letters from those strangers that we blessed. Some saying that the money was an answer to prayer, the simple act of kindness was a reminder of God's grace, they needed to feel God's love, etc.
It has really been a fresh approach to sharing God's love for our church and I think for our community. The plan is to gather up all that was not given away and do it again towards the end of summer on a larger scale.
...With 6 salvations and 9 baptisms this year...God is up to something good here at Michiana Community COG and we are excited to be in it and to share it."
♦ The Church at the Crossing in Indianapolis got their hands dirty! Volunteers constructed a home on site in the near-eastside neighborhood of Bells Chapel Church of God (BCCOG). The home will allow H4H applicant, Sue Long, to have her first home, along with her 13-yr old son. It will also allow her to enter into foster care of 3 extended family members who need a home. Read more about it...
♦ Northeast Community Church in Fishers pulled together leaders from organizations all over their community to discuss how they can cooperate more to better serve the people in the Fishers area. Read more about this leaders' summit here.
♦ A simple act of kindness may be all it takes to draw someone to Jesus. Take, for instance, Amy Canada, of the Stoneybrook Community Church of God in Bloomington who had a burden for the down and out in her community and began a blanket ministry. The Stoneybrook congregation solicited donations of blankets from the Bloomington community has distributed over 150 blankets to those in need since December. As a result of this outreach, a homeless shelter in town asked Pastor Brian Bolton to come share a message. They have now asked him to come every Tuesday to share with the people at the shelter and several of those have been attending Stoneybrook Church and beocming part of that church family. There are a few photos in our gallery.
♦ For quite some time the Mooresville Church of God has supported a food pantry in the Mooresville community sponsored by the organization Churches In Mission. They soon realized there was a gap in the food pantry’s ability to serve because it wasn’t open on weekends. Realizing that this gap in service led to numbers of struggling families having to sometimes go days with little or no food the Mooresville Church of God launched a food pantry a few years ago and made it available only on the weekends so that it would not compete, but rather would support the overall food pantry ministry in the Mooresville community. In 2008 the MCHOG food pantry served over 500 families (over 2000 individuals) by providing them with needed food and basic goods! We’re thankful that God has blessed this effort to serve our community! - reported by new senior pastor, John Crump
♦ Meridian Church of Godin Indianapolis has an ongoing food drive, asking the congregation to bring items on the third Sunday of every month so they can be given to those in need.