On the weekend of March 4 and 5, Randy Bloom, Director of Church Multiplication Ministry (CMM) for Church Administration & Development, conducted a workshop for Charlotte, NC, area congregations. The workshop included the WCG vision for church multiplication, how to prepare to parent a new church, and how to develop a healthy parenting process. It was designed to help congregational leaders understand how they can prepare now to start or support a new church plant at some point in their future.

Randy addressed the typical objections and myths related to church planting and explained the basic processes that any church can implement in order to support church multiplication, either as a "parent" or a "partner" of a new church. Over 20 people attended the Saturday workshop. On Sunday Randy explained the WCG vision for church multiplication in the discipleship class and preached the sermon.

Kevin Phillips, one of the participating pastors, said, "Since I’m interested in church planting, I enjoyed learning about WCG’s church-planting goals and its process of identifying, preparing and equipping church planters. I would encourage all WCG congregations to partner with CMM to financially support WCG church plants and/or start the process of planting churches themselves. If a congregation can’t plant a church, it can still support other WCG church plants financially."

Troy White, another participating pastor, said, "It is my hope that the entire denomination takes advantage of this opportunity to learn in more detail the process of church planting. I was so encouraged to see where God is leading us and how we plan to approach the difficult task of church growth. You can easily see the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in this workshop. It is also uplifting to know how you as an individual can be used by God in church planting and ultimately in God’s work in the Great Commission."

Alvin and Rhonda Goodwin heard about church planting last year at the conference in Lexington, KY. They added, "Randy turned it up a notch at the training last weekend."

The Harvest Church of Marion, SC, under the leadership of Pastor Howard Blakeney, hosted the Youth Discovery Weekend in Myrtle Beach, SC, on Jan. 13-15 at the Myrtle Beach Christian Retreat in North Myrtle Beach.

There were approximately 50 youths and adults in attendance. We had worship services, breakout sessions, NASCAR racing, talent show, 4-on-4 basketball, beach service and worship services at the Outreach Homeless Shelter. The youth also served food to the clients at the shelter. It was a spiritual and educational time for them.

We had communion on the last day, with Regional Superintendent Keith Brittain giving the message. Everyone had a wonderful time and we look forward to next year.

After participating in the national pastors conference in Australia, Ambassador College of Christian Ministry (ACCM) instructors Mike Feazell and Randy Bloom co-taught the Life & Teachings of Jesus Christ class with Australian National Director and ACCM Diploma Director John McLean, in Brisbane, Australia.

Almost 50 people joined together for a weekend of immersion in the Gospels revisiting the greatest story ever told. In an interactive and engaging style, the group explored the background to the Gospels, the life and times of Judea in the first century, and the texts of the Gospels. Using good principles of Bible study (exegesis), the class was an opportunity to begin to mine the rich treasures available to Gospel readers. Most importantly, the group encountered together the full revelation of God in the Son—God in the flesh, God as one of us.

The Gospels are a special form of literature, written well after Jesus lived, and written with the firm conviction of his resurrection—that he was more alive than ever. They bring us into contact with Jesus the person as the loving manifestation of God to his creation. "For God so loved the world, he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

The group looked into the unique approach of each Gospel author, providing four perspectives on the one Jesus. Collaboratively, they investigated both the method and message of Jesus’ teaching—the One Teacher for all of us (Matthew 23:10b, The Message).

Retired lawyer and Brisbane church member Max Smith said, "I found the ACCM weekend on the Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ a quality, preliminary program in exegesis generally and of the Gospels in particular. Those attending were more than fortunate to have present Dr. Feazell, John McLean and Randy Bloom. We really scored the A-Team of lecturers, all very knowledgeable, insightful and. most importantly. approachable.

"It was clear from the course that all Scripture, in particular the old covenant, must be considered and understood through the ‘Christ Event,’ the coming of Jesus, the Son of God. To do so avoids errors in understanding. Also, an understanding of the history of the period before and at the time of Christ’s earthly ministry, an understanding of the Gospel author’s audience and the literary devices used can add to our individual and collective abilities to understand biblical teachings and their application to each of us today."

The learning process was helped by the interactive nature of the weekend, and by the opportunity to learn together in community. Apart from the joy and privilege to dwell on the life and teachings of our Savior and friend, it was a time to enjoy fellowship with one another—and fellowship with the Father through the Son by the Spirit, rejoicing in sharing the life of God through Jesus. [Editor’s note: There will be another Life & Teachings class taught in Indian Wells, CA, July 30-31. See www.wcg.org/events for more details and comments from students.]

We have some positive developments/blessings in Hickory, NC, concerning our children’s and youth ministries. About three years ago our children’s and teen ministries were down to three and we began looking at what we needed to do differently to grow this population of people in our church. We had several families leave at that time to attend much larger churches where they felt there were bigger and better things going on.

I asked my wife Emma Lee to find a curriculum for children that was Christ and grace-centered and would make class preparation less labor intensive for our teachers. In addition, we began looking for ways to include our children every week in every aspect of the life of the church, such as worship leading, ushering, praying, leading communion, giving "mini-sermons," etc. Also, we felt it was important for the children and youth to be in the second half of our service with their families for the praise and worship, sermon, offering, etc. (there was a time when we sent them out for discipleship during the sermon).

To include children, I don’t address only the adults during my sermon, but I also do my best to engage the young people as well.

The result of what the Holy Spirit is doing through all of this is that our children and teens have taken an active role in our church. They come up practically every Sunday to sing with the praise team and help lead worship. There are times when we have more people on stage during praise and worship than we do in the congregation! We have children who play guitar and drums who are almost at the point where they can play the music entirely by themselves. 

We are finding more and more that our children are ministering to the adults each week. When people come forward for prayer, it is often the children who rush up the quickest to lay hands on the individual being prayed for. We’ve gone around in the neighborhood meeting and inviting people to visit our church, and our children have been right in the middle of that, too.

None of this happened naturally, of course. We had to become intentional about changing our approach to children’s ministry. Some didn’t like it and quit coming. That didn’t alter the vision God gave us for what could be. It took patience and change in our way of thinking, but we learned that a polished and seamless worship format was not nearly as important in the overall scheme of things as having our children engaged and taking ownership in the congregation. Our children’s and teen ministry has grown to almost 20 and continues to grow. We are thankful that God gave us a vision for what our children’s and youth ministries could be and for the lead of the Holy Spirit in making it happen!

Recently we went to stay with my brother, John Halford, in Indiana for a few weeks. While there, I was asked to speak in the Cincinnati church about the work my husband Chris and I do with the Chernobyl children. For the last four years we have been chairpersons of a local branch of the Chernobyl Children Life Line, a charity dedicated to helping children suffering the effects of low-level radiation from the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident of 1986.

These children come to us in England with nothing, often not even a change of clothes, and on average it costs us around $1000 to bring each child.

The members of Christ Fellowship Church in Cincinnati, pastored by Rick Shallenberger, were warm and hospitable and deeply interested in helping the children. It was exciting and encouraging to be with such an active giving congregation. Before we left, they donated $2,200 to pay for the airfare, clothes and other needs of two of the twelve children we are bringing over in June. 

J.O.Y. Ministries, Inc. ("Jesus, Only You") has been busy. Since December 2005, their mission has been to minister to the homeless in Tampa, FL. Every Friday night, a group of people hit the streets of downtown Tampa, equipped with sack lunches and love. They also provide necessity items such as toiletries, backpacks, T-shirts and blankets, which are generally donated by the Tampa/Lakeland and Ocala congregations and some coworkers.

President Ellie Kurzawa is joined in service by Vice-President Lynn Rowe; Directors Todd Rowe, Leslie Mozon and Flora Mozon; and Treasurer Kasia Kurzawa. Donna Rowe is the Registered Agent for the corporation. Ellie, Lynn, Todd, Leslie and Donna minister to the homeless on Friday nights on a regular basis. They are sometimes joined by other volunteers, such as Todd and Donna’s 9-year-old son Randall.

The J.O.Y. Praise Band has recently gotten involved with the homeless ministry as well. In October 2006, they performed at Hyde Park United Methodist Church at the time a weekly meal was being provided to the homeless. In December, they played at Metropolitan Ministries in Tampa when a holiday meal was being served.

Beginning in January, the band has been serving twice a month by playing during a meal that is given in a downtown parking lot by a group that calls itself Matthew 25:35 ("For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in."). The band plays for about 45 minutes with some motivational words between songs, inviting those present to sing along or come forward to form a "choir" if they so desire.

The people who partake of the meal, some of whom have become friends of J.O.Y. Ministries, Inc. from the Friday night visits, are offered prayer and a listening ear from the band members afterwards. The homeless in attendance are becoming more interested in what the band is doing, and seem to be gradually more trusting of the band’s presence.

The members of the J.O.Y. Praise Band are Lynn Rowe, keyboard; Ellie Kurzawa, lead singer; John Quade, bass guitar and backup vocals; Todd Rowe, guitar and backup vocals; LeRoy Davis, drummer; Laura Quade, keyboard and backup vocals; and Robert Quade, who just celebrated his 90th birthday, rhythm instruments.

On March 25, while Ross Jutsum was visiting for a special service, Ellie was ordained as an elder in the Tampa/Lakeland congregation (see photo). She then led the congregation in the communion service and will serve as an assistant pastor.

Frank Lewandowski has his first novel published. Entitled: Light Years From Paradise—Einstein’s Double-Take, the science-fiction tale depicts the struggle between good and evil, some Christian themes and an element of romance.

Lewandowski says: "I’d rate the story a PG rather than a G. I tried not to present the bad guys’ actions in a graphic manner. Also, I wanted the good guys to come across as real people with real problems. They’re not perfect, just like none of us is perfect, but they seek God’s help, try to do the right thing and triumph in the end."

The book is available at PublishAmerica.com, BarnesandNoble.com and Amazon.com.

Over a period of about a decade, Lewandowski has written about three dozen plays and skits that have been performed at Grace Family Church, the WCG congregation in Richardson, TX. Most were directed by Joel Gehman, who has since moved to another area.

Lewandowski graduated in 1976 from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Journalism. He and his wife, Sandy, live in Mesquite, TX. They have two adult children, Holly and Michael, and a two-year-old-grandson, Brandon.

Heroes come in the nick of time and in all shapes, sizes and ages. And every year, the American Red Cross recognizes local heroes with its Acts for Courage awards. One of people to get an award this year is Aubray Neal, a member of the Akron/Canton WCG church, Grace Community Fellowship. He heard screams for help and went onto his 12th-floor balcony to find his badly burned elderly neighbor on her balcony and smoke pouring from her apartment. Neal credits God with giving him the strength to pull her across the open space 120 feet above the ground between the balconies to the safety of his balcony. Neal’s neighbor recovered and is living with her family.

On November 20, SonLight Christian Fellowship—in cooperation with two local outreach ministries, Reach4Hope (which ministers to the homeless in and around Concord, NH) and the John O’Cate van service (which provides transportation to the disabled and elderly "shut-ins" of Loudon, NH)—provided a Thanksgiving meal to dozens from our local community who are living under difficult circumstances.

The ladies of the church (all of them excellent cooks) put together a delicious meal at the American Legion in Loudon, NH, where we meet for services on Sunday mornings. We were privileged to shine the light of Christ into the lives of these individuals and make their day substantially brighter.

For the past five years, SonLight Christian Fellowship has invited the local community, and in particular the local shut-ins, to our annual Thanksgiving Luncheon. Due to our alliance with Reach4Hope, we were able to deliver a personal invitation to Concord’s homeless community. Neil Burtt, the founder of Reach4Hope stated, "This work that we are involved with in helping our fellow believers in need—and really toward everyone—is producing bountiful thanksgivings to God. Not only that, but those who believe are actually praying and interceding for us, thank You, God! Those who don’t believe yet are beginning to see that God loves them."

Everyone had a wonderful time. Our homeless guests were doubly pleased and surprised to find a table laden with blankets and warm clothing, free for the taking. And each of them left with a goodie bag filled with non-perishable food items. Some took extra bags and box lunches for friends who were unable to join us at the Legion.

During the meal, Pastor Thom Friedrich shared a brief presentation on the King, who has prepared a banquet for all who will come to him—and how he made all this possible. It was well received, and some guests asked if they could have a recording of the message to remind them of God’s love whenever they get discouraged.

The Monroeville, AL, WCG hosted the New Life Christian Church Youth Drama Team on January 21. In an effort to minister to the community, teens performed choreographed, dramatic presentations set to contemporary music conveying the gospel message.

The Monroeville WCG invited New Life to perform as part of their community outreach ministry and then served a meal afterwards. The special day was announced in the local newspaper and letters of reconciliation were sent to former members. Attendance was more than double our usual, with former members making contact expressing their appreciation for being remembered and invited. The letters have proved to be a powerful tool of outreach and will continue as part of an ongoing effort to reach those who have stopped attending services.

New Life Christian Church is a nondenominational church in Monroeville involved in various ministries, including a school for grades K-12, youth outreach programs and ongoing missionary programs.

Under the leadership of Arthur Carlisle and James Lewis, co-pastors of the Montgomery, AL, congregation, we have begun to see positive consistent results in terms of new people attending our weekly service. During the last six months, our weekly attendance has doubled. Our former district superintendent, Al Barr, worked with us as we applied strategies we envisioned to make disciples. He coached, encouraged, and helped us in our weaknesses as we transformed to become a more healthy congregation.

We cut out all ministries that were not aligned with our vision. Our major corporate ministry is the Youth Ministry, which we use as an aid to reach others. We are connecting each event to another, which is proving to be effective. We made a four-month planner that formatted monthly activities designed for families The activities or events are well organized and are in our capacity of accomplishing.

The Vacation Bible School in July presented us the opportunity to focus on our youth ministry. From the VBS, five new people began to attend church. The following Sundays, more cousins and friends of the youth showed up. The majority of the youth need rides to church, which has presented opportunities for church members to build friendships with the families. We have taken that small step of faith and are going into a world where families are crippled by hurts and pains of this world's value system.

Our back-to-school event in August was a huge success. We hosted a picnic/barbecue and had school supplies for the children. We had around 75 in attendance. Among our guests were families from the Battered and Abused Shelter for women and children. We have provided assistance to the shelter for the past five years. A facilitator at the shelter had warned us that the women were ashamed of their situation and would probably not come. We have extended invitations to them over the years and no one ever showed up. For this event, two mothers accepted our invitation and brought along a groups of kids.

The last event we hosted was Hallelujah Night, the last Saturday in October. Seventy-four people attended this event. To our amazement, around 14 families from the shelter attended. We had praise and worship, games and treats for the children, and washing supplies such as

washing powder, bleach and fabric softener for the women. Afterwards we had hot dogs, drinks, and popcorn.

Ministering to the youth is both challenging and rewarding. They range in ages from 2 to 24. Twenty-seven new people have attended our church services since June. The majority of the families God is sending to us are low-income workers. The harvest is truly plentiful, but the workers are few. We are asking the Lord of the harvest to send more laborers.

We only have a handful in the Opelika, AL, congregation—Al Barr used to refer to us as the 12 disciples. We started as a home church in 1999. If we had 20 on a good day we were really excited. During our first couple of years we tried to get involved in everything: children’s ministry, vacation Bible school, community fish fry, women’s conference, I can’t remember all we did. We had very little growth from the outside, but God was doing a lot of growth on the inside.

We did a lot of praying, regrouped, did some in-house surveys, and found that almost everyone had some experience with alcohol or drug abuse either personally, a family member or a close friend. Our community is plagued with alcohol and drug problems, and meth labs are cropping up everywhere.

Just after we summarized the results of our survey in house and in the community, we began to look for a group that assisted faith-based communities with building an outreach ministry, and we found Faith Partners/Johnson Institute. A couple of us attended a seminar in Cincinnati and learned how to set up a ministry of recovery or prevention.

We are doing the prevention aspect at this time. Also during this time of much prayer and seeking God’s will and observing that he was not sending anyone to us at this time, we thought "May be he wants us to go to them." If the people were not coming to us, then we would go to them, and that is what we are doing. Needless to say, we have changed our mission statement to "Taking the Church to the Community."

With the strength of the Holy Spirit, we began to go out in the community monthly. We choose a subdivision, and cover 14 homes on a Saturday morning. We call our ministry (HVO) Home Visit Outreach Ministry—Substance Abuse Prevention Ministry. We approach each home by introducing ourselves and giving them one of our church business cards. We tell them that we’re not there to sell anything or sign them up for anything. 

We have a questionnaire of about five questions that we ask them. We got this idea from Rick Warren—he surveyed his area before he began his congregation to get the feel of the community. We ask them,

We were amazed how by the grace of God people opened up with these questions and readily shared their thoughts with us. We also asked them if they had anything they wanted us to pray with them about. We have been in some homes for almost and hour and a half sharing the gospel, praying, laughing and crying with people. We were even out in the middle of a mobile home park yard on our knees praying with person (well, some of us were on our knees).

After we spend time with them, we leave a gift packet, including a bag of popcorn, key chain, kid stuff, information about our congregation, substance abuse prevention information, a bookmark with books of the Bible on it and a tract from Billy Graham on the plan of salvation and a few other things. Then we invite them to church.

We are not able to go out much in winter but we have planned to modify our outreach to be the "Welcome Wagon" for all the new homes in our community. They are building 19 new homes right in front of us. We are going to make up new home gift baskets with cleaning supplies in them.

I read that some WCG congregations are passing out Christian Odyssey in their community and we thought that this would be a great idea to put copies in our new home gift baskets.

My employer sponsors a mission trip for their employees in Honduras. The trip is only $200, which is deducted $25 per pay period from the paycheck, plus we are paid our salary for each working day we are there. This is a great opportunity and I loved every minute of it. I’m a registered nurse and went on a medical mission. In response to a question in the February-March Odyssey, I want to say, "Yes," a short-term mission trip is worth it—and much, much more.

Here is an article I wrote for our employee newsletter:

Hola!

I praise the Lord for this wonderful experience in Honduras. I didn’t realize how much I enjoyed this mission trip until the bus ride to the airport on our return home. Sadness came upon me; I didn’t want to leave these people. Faces came to mind of Noelle, the little girl at the orphanage. When I first saw her, she was shy and stood a ways off. I beckoned to her, but she would only tuck her chin and glance away. Then I noticed how the children loved for their pictures to be taken, and I pointed my camera at her and she struck a pose, and a couple other girls joined her. Finally she came over to me, sat on my knee, and we took a picture together.

Then I thought about the old woman in the Valley of Angels who was begging for money and the boys who were begging and trying to sell their cookies.

Pictures of poverty ran through my mind and I asked God, "Why do people have to live like this?" and my answer was that it was the responsibility of Christians who have more to show the love of Jesus to care for those who are poor because Christ said that the poor would always be with us.

I remembered giving a gospel tract to one lady and she told me, "I have the love of Jesus in my heart" and I thought to myself, "If we have that we have everything."

I learned a lot about life and about myself during this trip.

How blessed we are here in the USA, not because of anything we deserve or anything we have done, but because of God’s grace and mercy. I thought about the founders of the mission and what wonderful role models they are to what Christian charity is all about. They were always giving and thinking about others before themselves.

From now on, when I begin to complain about the little inconveniences of life, I will as much as humanly possible try to catch myself and remember the people in third world countries like Honduras who don’t have anything, but are happy and don’t complain and I will say, "I have the love of Jesus in my heart and that’s all I need."

Adios!

Johnny Hall, co-pastor of the Monroeville WCG, performed an ordination service on February 4. Nella Easterling, Jean Mooney and Steven Mooney were ordained as deacons during the special service. In addition to these ordinations, Pastor Hall paid tribute to Nick Easterling, Sr. (deceased) by proclaiming him an honorary deacon.

Pastor Hall gave a sermon on the story of Zacchaeus climbing the sycamore tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus (Luke 19). We may be searching for God, but God knows where we are and often comes calling to us. "If we are willing to listen to the Holy Spirit, he has a job for each of us. Like Zacchaeus, God is calling us down from the tree."

The Easterlings (left) began attending the WCG in Hattiesburg, MS, in 1980. Both were baptized in 1982. They have four children, two sons and two daughters, ten grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. They have always faithfully served the body of Christ in any area that there was a need. It is with sorrow that Nick went on to be with the Lord in March 2004. However, Nella has continued his legacy of faithful service by making herself available in Nick’s absence.

It was discovered recently as an oversight that neither Nick nor Nella had ever been ordained to deacon and deaconess even though they had served as such for years. Therefore, in honor of Nick and in recognition of Nella’s continued service, the advisory council felt it was long overdue. Nella continues to be generous with her time and resources; she serves as the Treasurer, business officer, and sound engineer.

The Mooneys led separate lives in their early association with the WCG. Jean began listening to the Radio Church of God in 1962, then started attending in Birmingham, AL, in 1973, and was baptized in 1974. Steve began attending in Jackson, MS, in 1981, and was baptized in 1983. They were married in 1985 and began attendance at the newly formed Monroeville congregation, where they raised a boy and a girl. They now are grandparents of four, two boys and two girls.

Steve and Jean moved from Monroeville to Estes Park, CO, in 1995 due to work and then continued to travel and work for sometime afterwards. They discontinued their fellowship with the WCG for a time, not in anger or protest, but due to circumstances beyond their control. However, God used this time to guide and train them in matters of truth concerning his word by allowing them to interact with other Christians and denominations as participants and observers. They also had opportunities to interact and witness to individuals immersed in sectarianism and share with them their story of experiencing the freedom of coming out of the same type of authoritarianism. Wanting to be near their children and grandchildren, the Mooneys returned to Monroeville in 2005.

In November 2006, God led the Mooneys back to their church family in the WCG after years of absence. Immediately upon their return, they were warmly welcomed back as family members who had been missed. Once returned, they saw a need to become involved and God gave them a sense of purpose and the ability to fulfill it. Steve has begun training for the ministry.