Linnie Abernathy:
house church leader

Back row from left: Faye Dode, Dixie Holcomb and Mary Seals. Front row: Danny Thomas, Linnie Abernathy, Aline Holliday and Parlee Higgins.

CORDOVA, Alabama—Little did Linnie Abernathy realize what was in store for her and many others as she embarked on her mission.

The congregation she attended had been meeting in a rented building not too far from her home, but when the congregation purchased its own building, the new location was too far for Linnie to drive.

Knowing she needed to be fed spiritually, she began to get taped sermons of various speakers. Some of her friends and her daughter began to come to Linnie’s home to listen to the tapes with her, and before long the group turned into a house church as Linnie invited speakers and friends to join in the worship services.

Now, after nine years of running a house church known as Linnie’s Outpost, she has announced the outpost is closing. Congratulations Linnie on a job well done. Linda Stephens.

Mission continues
in Kitgum, Uganda

DANDORA CONGREGATION—Kimani Ndungu, John Amadala, James Marete and James Omuhaka.

KITGUM—Bernard Abwola and William and Jesca Othieno.

KITGUM, Uganda—WCG mission work continues in the troubled Kitgum area of Uganda.

Kitgum has been a project of our Tororo church for a number of years. Many years ago in Kitgum, church groups formed around the 1970s teachings of the WCG, and they called themselves, unofficially, the Worldwide Church of God in Uganda.

Members from these groups responded to a radio commercial our Tororo congregation had aired. It took a while to get in touch with them as a Ugandan rebel group called the Lord’s Resistance operates in the Kitgum region.

By the time we established regular contact, we were well into our new covenant teachings. William Othieno, our Tororo pastor, has visited the Kitgum groups on a number of occasions. He teaches them Christ crucified and the grace of the new covenant.

Some rejected the new covenant, but many have responded. Sixty have been baptized, and 100 or more are awaiting baptism. Our efforts among these people is hampered by a lack of money and resources and also by other practical considerations.

The trip from Tororo to Kitgum is hazardous. The area has been devastated by fighting. To get to Kitgum, Othieno has to take a 10-hour bus journey through rebel and bandit country in an armed police or army convoy. James R. Henderson.

San Fernando has bimonthly evangelistic service

SAN FERNANDO, California—About 140 people attended the bi-monthly evangelistic service of the San Fernando Hispanic church Sept. 17.

We heard a testimony from a girl who had undergone a double organ transplant. People were moved to tears upon hearing her story of faith.

Before the sermon, dozens of children joined children’s ministry activities specially prepared for them. Pastor Heber Ticas’ sermon was on salvation by grace with a focus on the visitors who had come to hear of Jesus Christ.

After the service, food was served, and all the tables were filled with families visibly enjoying themselves. Pastor Ticas explained that his church conducts a late afternoon evangelistic service once every two months.

The members plan and pray for each of these services. Members look forward to these services with joy and anticipation, as they always produce new contacts and eventually new members.

Pastor Ticas is a dynamic preacher with a generous heart and a love for people. He emigrated to the United States from El Salvador as a young boy.

Unavoidable family circumstances caused him to be placed in a foster home for a time. His uphill battle with harsh circumstances challenged him to work hard to make ends meet and provide for his younger sibling. He also took college and seminary courses while making his way up the corporate ladder.

At age 35, he is the vice president of a successful mortgage banking firm. He and his wife, Xochilt, also from El Salvador, have three children.

Heber has been the bivocational pastor of the San Fernando congregation for the past seven years. At church is where his heart finds fulfillment. His congregation has been transformed during his tenure as pastor. It is now gospel-oriented, evangelical and outreach- driven.

The congregation offers an annual marriage retreat during which most of the church’s married couples and visitors get away for a weekend of seminars, prayer and fellowship.

Five to 10 people a year are baptized in the congregation. Evangelistic services and home cell groups account for most of these. Pastor Heber took a seminar several years ago on how to conduct evangelistic campaigns, which has produced results. It has become an ongoing ministry for the congregation.

Pastor Heber believes that the key to church ministry is expository preaching. He feels it is important to give a biblical message each week that is true to the Word—to exegete the Word and allow the message to flow from the Bible to the preacher, rather than from the preacher to the Bible.  Lorenzo Arroyo.

VICTORIA, Texas—Steven Spencer Satava passed his Boy Scout board of review Sept. 13 and became an Eagle Scout.

Steven attends the Victoria congregation and is the son of David and Susan Satava. Despite having Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Steven was able, with hard work, to achieve the Boy Scouts’ highest honor.

“We are proud of his achievements in scouting as he achieved them with a disability,” Dr. Satava said. “We believe that it could inspire others to work toward lofty goals despite having hardships along the way.”

Steven now looks forward to graduating from high school and starting a career in computers and telecommunications. David Satava.

For more information on how the Satava family deals with Attention Deficit Disorder, click here or email the author at SATAVAD@uhv.edu. 

Wolfgang Pannenberg (left) and John McKenna

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania—John McKenna, doctrinal advisor, represented the WCG at the American Academy of Religion’s newly formed T.F. Torrance Fellowship, in November.

At the event, Professor Andrew Purves of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, a student and friend of Thomas Forsyth and James Torrance, spoke on the vicarious humanity of Jesus Christ. 

Dr. Purves spoke of the way Christ must be understood as the man who mediates as the Son of the Father the atoning love of God made known to us by the Holy Spirit. 

After the plenary address given by Lutheran theologian Wolfgang Pannenberg, Dr. McKenna introduced himself as a student of Tom Torrance. Dr. Pannenberg asked Dr. McKenna to take his greetings back to Tom in a nursing home in Edinburgh, Scotland, as Torrance and Pannenberg are friends.

Pannenberg  wanted Torrance to know that we Western Christians have not yet grasped well enough the relationship Torrance sought to articulate between theological and natural science, and that we would continue to seek to understand what he had championed in his life’s work.

Mary Austin with her six great-grandsons and her son’s mother-in-law [Photo by Mike Austin]

ACWORTH, Georgia—Mary Austin, 95, who suffers from glaucoma and can hardly see, reads WCG Today faithfully. Because of her limited vision and poor hearing she does not try to attend worship services at the church she so dearly loves.

“Mrs. Austin is a tremendous inspiration to all who visit her,” said Tom Mahan, her pastor. “She is always happy and positive.”

Her generosity knows no limits. She and her husband, Edward, who died in 1992, taught many people what love really means.

The Austins had three children of their own: a son and twin daughters. Mrs. Austin was pregnant with the twins when Mr. Austin left for World War II. He did not see the twins until they were 22 months old.

In 1957, Mrs. Austin lost her only sibling, a sister, and mother in a fire. The sister’s husband was later killed. The Austins took the sister’s four children to raise. Two were still in diapers.

Mrs. Austin has continued the tradition of loving service. Sgt. Hans Hawkins, retired from the Army and disabled, had a quadruple bypass. Mrs. Austin invited him to live in her home.

She also provides a home for a nephew she raised who is in poor health.

In 1996, when one of Mrs. Austin’s twin daughters had brain cancer, she brought her home and took care of her the last few weeks of her life.

Mrs. Austin was active in women’s club and taught the younger women to sew. Her husband served as a deacon and church treasurer for many years.

Irma Taylor celebrates 100th birthday

BEND, Oregon—Irma Hallock (Bond) Taylor of the Bend church celebrated her 100th birthday Oct. 4. 

Irma married Lyle Taylor Aug. 24, 1924. They were married for 64 years before he passed away in 1988.

A party in her honor took place at her daughter’s house in Crooked River Ranch, Oregon. She was joined by family members and friends from across the country and received a birthday greeting from President and Mrs. Bush.

Mrs. Taylor has three children, nine grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren and 11 great-great-grandchildren. Robin Chester.

PASADENA—Church Administration announced the following ministerial ordinations.

Raymond Anderson, Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada.

Richard Andrews, Baltimore, Maryland.

Peter Baroi, Bangladesh.

Frank Chimezie, Owerri, Nigeria.

Joseph Jeffcoat, Maryville, Tennessee.

Dawid Labuschagne, Cape Town, South Africa, North.

Perseverando Macabasa, Solana and Camiguin, Philippines.

David Marquis, Lexington, Ohio.

Jim Miller, Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada.

Anthony Mullins, Kennesaw, Georgia.

John Newsom, New York City and Manhattan, New York.

Ireneo Tapan, Naga City, Philippines.

Sylvanus Ugorji, Aba, Nigeria.

Curtis May speaks at
mayor’s prayer breakfast

Curtis May speaks at 40th annual Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast in Monrovia, California, Nov. 18. [Photo by Tom Hanson]

MONROVIA, California—Curtis May, director of the Office of Reconciliation Ministries and Southwest district superintendent, spoke at the 40th annual Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast in Monrovia Nov. 18.

The Rotary Club sponsored the event, and many present and former Rotary Club members were in attendance. Also in attendance were one state senator and one state assemblyman, a number of city officials, police officers, school teachers, school board members, pastors and others.

May spoke on John 4, the story of the Samaritan woman.

After the meeting, May was asked by a Monrovia school board member about speaking in the school system on sexual abstinence.

“I was also surrounded by several African American leaders who told me stories of their struggles against racism. We are far from unified even among Christians.

“However, as I see it, the Holy Spirit is working throughout the Body of Christ and is transforming it on a daily basis. Knowing this helps us all face the massive problem of divisions and walls that Satan has erected among us humans. God speed that day when we will all be truly one.”

PASADENA—The church announced the following employee transitions.

Mat Morgan has been appointed as treasurer of the church. Bernie Schnippert, former treasurer, serves as general counsel for the church.

Vance Gilless, facilities director, transitioned to employment outside the church, and Mitchell Vasseur has assumed Vance’s duties as facilities director.

Ron Urwiller, church archivist, has left the employ of the church. Scott Wertz has assumed his duties.

Mike Arguien and Jerry Thornton of Computer Information Systems have left the employ of the church.

Ron Boyer and his wife, Susan, with John Stott. [Photo by Roger Lippross]

LOMA LINDA, California— Some 1,100 people, including seven members of the Glendora-Rancho Cucamonga congregation, heard John Stott, British writer-theologian, Nov. 2 as he expounded the subject: “Our God Is a Missionary God.”

Stott, 84, has been a chaplain to the Queen and was proclaimed “the most respected clergyman in the world today” by Billy Graham. Time magazine listed him as one of the “most influential people of the 20th century.”

After a jab at pluralism (the supposed validity of all religions), which he called “the pop ideology of the day,” Stott admitted that some Christian attitudes past and present have been arrogant and imperialistic but, this is no reason for believers to surrender the task of world evangelism.

“In Genesis 12:1-4,” Stott said, “we see that Yahweh is not a tribal God. He called Abraham to be a blessing to all the nations. We sitting here tonight are beneficiaries of a 4,000 year old vision.”

And Jesus? Stott showed that even Matthew’s Gospel—the most Jewish of the four—has a global horizon.

It is there we meet the Magi, perhaps pagan astrologers from Persia, the statement that many will sit down in the kingdom “from the east and the west,” and the crowning commission to make disciples of all the nations (Matthew 28:19-21).

Stott quoted William Temple, former archbishop of Canterbury, in perhaps his most telling point of the night: “No one can be indwelt by that Spirit and keep that to himself—if there is no flowing forth he is not there.”

Next Stott reminded us that the church is not a club. “Indeed the church is the only cooperative which exists for the sake of its non-members. Many churches are self-centered and need to be turned inside out.”

Afterward, Worldwide Church of God  members Shelby Grundy, Ron and Susan Boyer, and Roger Lippross conferred briefly with Stott. Ron Boyer shared some WCG literature with him. Neil Earle.

SPOKANE, Washington—Mike Zorn, a member here, facilitates the Ministry Leaders Network on behalf of Mission Spokane, whose president is WCG pastor Glen Weber.

The Mission Spokane vision is to serve, unify and mobilize the Church of Greater Spokane to transform our community by the gospel and love of Jesus Christ.

Zorn works with Truth Ministry, a homeless outreach of the Mending Fences Fellowship, a church in Spokane.

Zorn has worked with Truth Ministries from its beginning because 25 percent of the homeless people in America are veterans, and Zorn, himself, is a Vietnam veteran.

“We have a list of 170 or so different ministries and pastors,” Zorn said. “When there is a need, it is sent out on email to the list,” and networking begins.

MLN meets once a month to feature one of the ministries. They share what God is doing in that ministry as well as prayer needs and in some cases, how that ministry began.

Out of the MLN have grown what are called hubs of ministry. These include Linking Arms, Network of Abstinence Educators, Spokane Dream Center, ACTS Ministries and others. These are all places where God is working to develop relationships in the Body of Christ.

Benjamin Warren
releases new album

ORLANDO, Florida—Resident composer and orchestrator Benjamin Warren (Schantz) serves with the worship team at New Beginnings Christian Fellowship in Orlando.

He performs his original instrumental music for church on a regular basis. He combines piano melodies with the sound of symphonic orchestration.

When asked what motivates his music, Ben replied: “Music is an incredibly powerful language—it speaks directly to the heart. Music comes to me as piano themes that speak of thoughts, feelings and words that will never be spoken. Orchestration enlivens and emboldens the message captured in each melody so it can’t be ignored or forgotten.”

 Ben graduated from the University of Central Florida in December with a degree in Business Administration/Entrepreneurship. He received the university’s highest honor, the Order of Pegasus. His third album, For the Journey, was released in November. For more information go online to benjaminwarren.com or cdbaby.com.

Summer camp for young adults in Estonia

 LANGHUS, Norway—A summer program for young adults will take place in Estonia, Aug. 4 to 14. 

The first two days will be spent sightseeing in the capital city, Tallinn. The rest of the time participants will be in Kallaste, a town on the shores of Lake Peipsi. Kallaste has 1,300 residents, mostly Russians from the old Russian Orthodox Church.

Camp purposes

The following are purposes of the camp:

*To arrange a free summer school for local young people and other activities requested by the mayor. The subjects the town council has asked us to teach are English, computer programs, geography and American football. Thirty pupils are expected.

* To encourage WCG members in Tartu, Estonia.

* To get to know Estonian culture.

* To take part in Bible studies.

* To clean the town, forest and shores of Lake Peipsi of litter.

* To bond with WCG young adults in Europe.

Participants

The camp is for those between the ages of 18 and 25. It is basically for singles, but married couples may also participate. The participants must be able to speak English and follow the guidelines for the camp.

The deadline for application is Jan. 25.

The following are needed:

Several who can teach English without being able to communicate in the student’s mother tongue.

Several who can teach computer class with advanced knowledge of Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

A cook.

A doctor or nurse.

At least one sports instructor to teach American football

One person who can speak Russian or Estonian to be a translator.

Several people who could clean the shores of the lake for litter.

We need people with a good sense of humor and willingness to serve those who are less fortunate than ourselves.

The number of participants is limited to 15.

The accommodations will be basic. We are offered indoor accommodation at an old school dormitory. Everyone needs to bring his or her own sleeping bag.

All participants must arrange their own travel and health insurance. The church is not responsible for personal loss or damages.

Easy Jet and Estonian Air fly to Tallinn from several major cities in Europe.

For more information please contact Carl Fredrik Aas, WCG pastor for Scandinavia and Estonia, by telephone at 011 00 47 64 86 93 30 or by email at cfaas@online.no

Copyright © Grace Communion International, 2006