DALLAS, Texas—Gabriel Ojih, West African regional pastor, spoke to the Dallas Central church Aug. 19.

The following Sunday, Aug. 26, Jack Brunet, a minister who serves in the French-speaking Caribbean, spoke to the congregation.

Mr. Ojih works with English-speaking countries in West Africa including Ghana, Nigeria and Togo. The WCG has more than 20 congregations and more than 1,000 members in those nations.

Mr. Brunet pastors churches in Martinique and Guadeloupe and also serves members in French Guyana, St. Vincent, St. Lucia and Haiti.

Mr. Ojih said concerns in the West African region include inflation of more than 30 percent, high unemployment and numerous refugees be- cause of political instability in neighboring nations.

However, "the work of God is being done," Mr. Ojih said. "Where the Spirit of God is, there is joy, no matter what the circumstances."

Mr. Ojih has been presenting a 15-minute Ghana radio program, "The Christian Way."

The program is currently in hiatus. So far, the broadcast time has been free, but the station is proposing a 30-minute program but asking the church to pay for the time.

Mr. Ojih challenged the Dallas Central members to allow the Holy Spirit to accomplish the mission of Jesus in each of their lives and to fight against Satan stealing their time.

Mr. Brunet, the Caribbean minister who addressed the congregation Aug. 26, said the developing nations are worse off than they were 20 years ago. "God allows difficulties for others to see how we respond to them," he said.

He showed slides of Haiti to emphasize the poverty and difficult political situation there.

"People are frequently killed for political reasons," he said. "Haitians need Christ. We need to give the next generation of Haiti some hope."

Mr. Brunet added that the Haitian pastor, Blaise Franklin, is in his 60s and works as a baker. "He needs to find people of vision and leadership."

Mr. Brunet told Dallas Central members: "We can’t live in isolation, blind to what is happening in the world."

He urged the members to be peacemakers and to support evangelism and mission work. Frank Lewandowski.

HONORED PASTOR—
Charlie Piscitello, his wife,
Judi, and seeing eye dog, Cory.

BATAVIA, New York —Pastor Charlie Piscitello was nominated as pastor of the year through Crossings Christian Book Club by member Sally Murray.

Mr. Piscitello received a leather- bound edition of Nelson’s Study Bible and a certificate from the book club.

Ken Williams, district superintendent, was on hand for the presentation.

Mrs. Murray wrote in her nomination letter that Mr. Piscitello is "never more than a phone call away. He watches over his flock with love and compassion."

GATESVILLE, Texas—The Dallas Central gospel choir performed at the Murray Unit, a women’s prison in Gatesville, Aug. 5.

This was the second time the gospel chorus has sung at the prison and the fourth time Dallas Central members have provided music for a service at the prison.

Moses Santos, a Christian from Garland, Texas, is the contact person who arranges the prison visits and sometimes serves as sermon speaker.

Barry Ford, Gospel Choir director, said the prisoners attend the services on a voluntary basis and that all prisoners who attend participate. He noted the prisoners’ sincere, broken attitudes.

Mr. Ford said one of the prisoners, Frances, has a beautiful singing voice and sang a solo at each of the two visits by the full choir. Frank Lewandowski.

POLAR EXPEDITION 2001—Participants
in the Kenosha Vacation Bible School.
[Photo by Debbie Annear]

KENOSHA, Wisconsin—The Kenosha church conducted its third annual Vacation Bible School for 17 children June 19 and 20. The theme was The Polar Expedition.

Debbie Annear was Polar Expedition director, and Donna Baker was Polar Expedition leader. Three teens helped. Pastor Richard Frankel opened the Vacation Bible School with stories and songs. The children had fun learning Bible stories and songs about Jesus’ love. They made crafts that would remind them that Jesus is powerful, refreshing and is for everyone.

SON CREEK JUNCTION—Elkhart
children participate in Vacation Bible School.

ELKHART, Indiana—The Elkhart church was transformed into Son Creek Junction for Vacation Bible School, June 17 to 22.

Classrooms were decorated as an Old West school room and a general store. The sanctuary was transformed into a Western town. Bible stories focused on the travels of Paul. Adults prepared songs, lessons, crafts, snacks and games.

The Vacation Bible School ended with a program of songs and dances learned throughout the week. Awards were given for attendance and a coloring contest. The evening ended with an ice cream social. Angie Bielski.

MUSLIM CONVERT—Saidi
shows one of the tomato plants
grown by his church to raise
money for youth evangelism.
[Photo by James Henderson]

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa —"Sometimes it is difficult for people to shift culturally from Islam or other faiths to Christianity," said James Henderson, regional director for Africa.

"It is socially unacceptable, and often friends and families reject those who convert to Jesus. Such was the case with Saidi, who was born a Muslim."

When Saidi moved next door to Christian Worldwide Church of God neighbors, he began to find out more about salvation through Jesus, and eventually was baptized into the body of Christ and joined our fellowship.

Why did he do this? "Two things mainly," according to Saidi, "first, the resurrection—Jesus offers a hope for the dead. Second, Jesus is the Messiah—he died for me, and now lives in me. Jesus is not dead, but is the Living God." James Henderson.

SAYRE, Oklahoma—The Sayre Circle of Love Fellowship gave away clothing for school children and adults at its second Good Neighbor Day, July 21.

Several families took advantage of the free clothing and enjoyed refreshments provided by the women of the church.

One grandmother who is raising eight of her grandchildren because of their parents’ death was in tears. "I don’t know what they would have done for school clothes if you hadn’t done this," she said.

The event served as an evangelistic tool when one woman came back in the afternoon for the worship service and brought three other people with her.

"This is one of our most successful community services," said Shirley West, event coordinator, "because people feel like they are in a family atmosphere, receiving clothes while having a cup of coffee and a homemade muffin or doughnut."

PRETORIA, South Africa—Once a month, 12 to 15 women from the Pretoria church gather at various homes for a meeting chaired by Dolla Curtis.

The opening formalities are followed by a care and share time, where recent events, topics of interest and prayer requests are presented and discussed. During the past few years, speakers have covered subjects such as Satanism, personality types, breast cancer and other medical issues and entertainment etiquette.

One of the most memorable (though unpleasant) subjects was presented by Alexa Curtis, a prosecutor in the Durban, South Africa, Child Abuse court. It made us acutely aware of the problem even though we could do little to change the situation. An important point to remember is that small children should immediately tell mom and dad if a familiar person tries to persuade them to keep something "our little secret." Joleen Kriedemann.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa —The church now has an e-mail address in Uganda, reported James Henderson, regional director.

Mr. Henderson thanked members who have prayed that the church establish e-mail contact in African countries where the church has members.

DALLAS, Texas—The Dallas North girls teen group, the Jewels, have been busy with service projects designed to serve the congregation and help the girls themselves to get to know God and one another on a deeper level.

On May 19 the Jewels were hosts for a Mother’s Day tea to honor the time, effort and love the women of the church willingly give.

"The young ladies made us feel so special," said Patsy Plumlee. "We had a beautiful and loving time together."

Tiffany Scherich, the teen who organized the event, commented: "I’m so glad that we have had the privilege of serving the ladies. Their work so often goes unnoticed, and this was our way of saying thanks and introducing ourselves to them."

Another opportunity to serve came when two Jewels, Crystal Cartwright and Stephanie Clauson, graduated from high school. Melanie Cartwright decorated a red velvet cake, and Sharon Scherich planned the celebration complete with decorations and refreshments. Two large cards were made for each graduate featuring events from their lives for everyone to sign.

For Father’s Day, the Jewels passed out candy bars to the men of the church with a note attached expressing their gratitude. The idea was to help sweeten their day. Tiffany Scherich.

QUEENS, New York—Serge Volpe, Lenny Underwood and Heaven’s Light of Day announced the release of their premier CD, "Joy Everlasting."

It is a professionally recorded collection of the original songs of Mr. Volpe presented by an interdenominational choir and soloists from the greater New York City area along with the music ministry of One in Christ Community Church, the Queens WCG congregation.

Joy Everlasting is being reviewed by several major record labels and is receiving radio air play in Connecticut.

Mr. Volpe’s music has been performed at the festivals in Saratoga Springs, New York, and at Northeast regional conferences.

Songs on the "Joy Everlasting" CD represent the music genres of Gospel, Rhythm and Blues, Jazz, West African and prayer ballads.

The CD is available at New Life Christian Books in Queens. For additional information contact Light of Day Enterprises, c/o Debb Coleman, 360 Westchester Ave., L19, Port Chester, New York, 10573, telephone 1-914-939-4589, e-mail FencerDebb@aol.com.

KALAMAZOO, Michigan—The Kalamazoo church, served by Pastor Wilhelm Mandel and his wife, Ingrid, had its second reunion picnic July 8.

The purpose of the picnic was to show former members that those in the congregation still care for them and that their doors are always open to them. At the picnic were members and guests who hadn’t seen each other for 15 years. Rosetta Andrews.

OGALLALA, Nebraska—Mike Romero, 88, a member of the North Platte, Nebraska, church, has seen his paintings displayed in an art gallery, offices, businesses and homes.

Many of Mr. Romero’s paintings focus on religion. They include one showing Peter going to the Lord and another of a man beating a sword into a plowshare.

Mr. Romero has been an artist since he was a child. When he was young he made sketches of clothing and merchandise for department stores that were used for advertisements. He also made posters for movie theaters. Although his sight is now affected by cataracts, he continues to paint.

NORTH PLATTE, Nebraska—Irene Seifer, a member of the North Platte church, received the volunteer of the year award at the Sutherland Care Center April 26.

SAN LEANDRO, California—The San Leandro church will sponsor a 40th anniversary reunion of the Oakland-San Leandro-San Francisco area churches Nov. 10 at 11 a.m. at the San Francisco church facility, 855 Brotherhood Way, San Francisco.

Current and former members and ministers are invited.

Ron Kelly, founding pastor of the original Oakland church, accompanied by his wife, Norva, will officiate and reminisce. Festivities will include the worship service, a catered meal at a nominal charge and an afternoon of renewed friendships, fellowship and entertainment.

If you plan to attend, write to Jim Roberts at P.O. Box 933, Union City, California, 94587, or send e-mail to him at jim_roberts@wcg.org

AUGUSTA, Georgia—Ashley Perez, 10, was second runner-up in the Pre-Teen Georgia Scholarship and Recognition program June 15 to 17 in Augusta.

One hundred forty-eight of Georgia’s brightest students, ages 7 to 12, competed for more than $5,000 in educational bonds and awards. Each candidate was evaluated in seven areas: 1) academic achievement, 2) volunteer service to church and community, 3) school honors and activities, 4) personal development of abilities, 5) general knowledge, 6) communicative ability and 7) on-stage expressiveness. Ashley also played a piano solo in the optional talent competition.

Ashley was chosen as one of 35 semi-finalists. All 35 girls had to answer an impromptu question on stage. When asked, "What do you think the best job is?" Ashley answered, "Being a teacher, because you can teach people to save others’ lives." She received a trophy, a medallion, a $200 educational bond and an invitation to the national level competition in July 2002.

Ashley attends the Chattanooga, Tennessee, church with four generations of her family.

TOLEDO, Ohio—The Toledo congregation, pastored by Larry Brown, increased in numbers Aug. 11 as former members, visitors from other church areas and friends joined to welcome Dave Fiedler, North Central district superintendent and former Toledo pastor, and his wife, Linda.

After a puppet show about Joseph and teen-led praise music, Mr. Fiedler delivered the sermon.

On Sunday afternoon, Mr. Brown and some of the Toledo members gathered with the Fiedlers at a park in Elmore for a cookout. Lee Mooney.

NASHVILLE, Tennessee—In observance of the National Day of Prayer, May 3, Joshua and Bonnie Welch were hosts for an open house and a day of prayer, fellowship, music and food.

The doors were open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Women brought food for a buffet meal.

At 11:30, Joe Mayfield read the prayer written by Billy Graham. Eighteen people participated, including Bob Taylor, district superintendent; Pastor Jonathan Stepp and elder Bradford Rosenquist.

TYLER, Texas—A Disciples’ Concert to support Gospel for Asia missionaries will take place Oct. 14 from 3 to 6 p.m. at Bergfeld Park in Tyler. For more about their organization visit their website at www.gfa.org or call 1-800-WIN-ASIA. All concert proceeds go to the native missionary field in Asia.

For more information contact Michael Gonzalez at Mike@ kbjs.org or call 1-903-597-7847 (home) or 1-903-586-5257.

INDEPENDENCE, Kansas—Fellowship of Faith, the WCG congregation in Independence, was co-host along with First United Methodist Church to Irving Smith Sept. 8.

Dr. Smith, a retired minister from Enid, Oklahoma, has spent the last 13 years traveling around the Mid-west portraying Bible characters. He has appeared in 14 states and his program has been televised in five states. He served the English- speaking Methodist Church in Havana, Cuba, from 1946 to 1949 and returned there in 1951, 1953, 1987 and 1998.

At Fellowship of Faith, Dr. Smith preached the gospel of grace through the character Simon Peter at the worship service on Saturday. The next day Dr. Smith appeared at the Methodist Church as Saul and Paul. Charles Rice.

DALLAS, Texas—The final district conference of the year took place in Dallas Sept. 7 to 9 at the Omni Park West Hotel.

Pastors, ministry leaders and members from Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and New Mexico took part in inspiring instruction, praise and worship music, fellowship and meals.

The weekend conference began Friday, Sept. 7, as Dan Rogers, superintendent of ministers, addressed pastors and ministry leaders from the district encouraging them to focus their ministry on good stewardship and disciple-making.

Then controller Ron Kelly explained the new financial model the church will be using in the months to come. That evening, Mr. Rogers spoke about disciple-making, explaining that this is the expected duty of the church today.

Saturday morning after praise and worship, Mr. Rogers spoke on stewardship. Pastor General Joseph Tkach spoke on the vision of the church.

After lunch, Dr. Tkach and Mr. Rogers answered questions in an open forum. This was followed by several breakout sessions on 1) women in ministry 2) pastors’ discussion 3) conflict resolution 4) youth ministry discussion 5) worship techniques for small congregations and 6) pastors’ open forum. Saturday evening ended with an hour of praise and worship and included a prayer for families by Vince Fischelli, Dallas Central member, as his extended family of 20 stood behind him.

The district conference ended on Sunday with a session on reconciliation by Carn Catherwood and Curtis May followed by a worship service and communion attended by 377 members.

Forty-seven men and women completed New Pastors Training in Dallas Sept. 2 to 5. The participants received instruction on various topics to help them in their ministry. Arnold Clauson.

CHURCH WELCOME—Three members from Grace Community Fellowship (the Akron-Canton, Ohio, church) and Pastor David Kaiser installed a sign welcoming people to the churches of Greentown, where WCG services are conducted. They also added Grace Community Fellowship placards to the other existing church welcoming signs in the village. From left: Grant Stockberger, James Hilton and Peter Ekama. [Photo by David Kaiser]

DOVER PICNIC—The New Beginnings Church, the Dover, Ohio, WCG congregation, had its first picnic July 14 with 38 in attendance. Members invited extended family to the event. Several family members who had not attended WCG services in quite a while commented that church members are more open and loving.

WINTER PARK, Colorado—Plans are well under way for a regional SEP camp Dec. 16 to 21 in Colorado. YMCA of the Rockies hosts a facility called Snow Mountain Ranch nestled in the Colorado Rocky Mountains near Winter Park.

SEP Colorado is a weeklong program with activities such as down-hill skiing, snow shoeing, basketball, volleyball, swimming, indoor rock climbing, outdoor ice-skating, horseback riding and group sleigh rides, to name a few.

But, most importantly, SEP Colorado offers a Christ-centered environment where we all have the opportunity to grow in our relationship with our Savior.

We’d love to see this camp turn into a time of renewal for the whole family. We’ll have a full spiritual curriculum with individual breakout sessions and small group discussions for all age groups: pre-teens, teens, young adults, young marrieds, parents and grandparents.

For more information, please visit the SEP website at www.sep camp.com, or call Sarah Samuels at 1-303-809-2331.

Videos of SEP 2001 can be ordered by sending a $15 check made payable to the Summer Educational Program (SEP) and mailed to the SEP Office, Box 2211, Frisco, Texas, 75034.

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana— This year’s youth camp "Say Yes to Jesus," which took place at Fontainebleu State Park, July 1 to 5 included 33 Indian children.

About a year ago, Pastor Anthony Rice spoke with Randy Verdun, chief of the Grand Council of the Biloxi-Chitimacha Confederation of Muskogee Indians.

Chief Randy expressed the desire of the Indian community to provide a summer camp for their children in a Christian environment, but they did not have the necessary staff or funds to accomplish this.

The Baton Rouge congregation had been concerned that it might not be able to have a camp as it had for more than 10 years as many of the children were now teens.

However, the combined camp offered the opportunity to not only continue teaching children about Jesus and his love for them, but to promote unity and understanding between children of differing racial, social and economic backgrounds.

The camp had 120 campers and nearly 80 staff including teen and adult workers. People came from Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Alabama, Tennessee and Florida.

The first evening of camp featured an Indian ceremonial dance followed by a fireworks display on Lake Pontchartrain.

Nine members of Youth With a Mission (YWAM) joined the camp for three days helping out with activities and performing musical and drama presentations on mission opportunities.

One day 24 inner-city children from New Orleans visited the camp. They were participating in an outreach program called Light House. Jeremi Crump, 19, of the New Orleans congregation, served as a camp counselor and also tutors many of these inner-city children through the Light House program. Jeremi invited them to the camp.

Through the congregation’s partnership with the Confederation of Muskogee Indians, they have received enough grant funding to cover the cost of the first session of camp next summer. Joy Cryer.

CAMBRIDGE, Ohio—The third Cambridge women’s retreat took place July 6 to 8.

This year the retreat opened with the women attending a performance of the outdoor drama, "The Living Word," which depicts the life of Jesus Christ.

The second day featured a speaker from The Haven of Hope women’s shelter on rape and rape prevention. After lunch Pam Smith, wife of Pastor Tom Smith, spoke.

The third day was devoted to testimonials, rededication and communion. Lyn Mills.

OPELIKA, Alabama—The women’s ministry of New Fellowship Church will be host for a women’s conference with a theme, "Experience a New Life in Christ," Oct. 13 from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Cotton Duck in Valley, Alabama. The program will include speakers, testimonies, singing, music, praise, worship, prayer, lots of fun and door prizes.

Please call Peggy Kozak at 1-334-741-5406 (day), Dorothy Jackson 1-334-749-5476 (evenings), or Annette Winston, 1-334-756-0365 (evenings) to register or if you would like to give a testimonial or would like to do special music.

CULLMAN, Alabama—A women’s retreat is planned for Nov. 30 to Dec. 2 at the St. Bernard Retreat Center in Cullman. The theme will be "Our Spiritual Journey."

The price is $67 for two nights and five meals. For more information call Ruth Miller at 1-205-979-7321 or send e-mail to bob_miller @wcg.org

Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 2001