With the Lord
Marjorie Foote, known in the Fellowship as a prayer warrior and as the mother of Pastor Robert Foote of the Huber Heights Grace Community Church in Ohio, passed away in her sleep during the early morning hours Thursday, March 23, 2006, at her home in Winona Lake, IN. Services were held at the Winona Lake Grace Brethren Church.
Pastoral Changes
John Teevan, who has been senior pastor of the Winona Lake (IN) Grace Brethren church for the past 16 years, announced to his congregation recently that he will be concluding his ministry at WLGBC on Sunday, May 28. Teevan has accepted a position with Grace College as director of the prison extension program, which currently has about 260 for-credit students enrolled in four different prisons. Teevan, who was moderator of the FGBC two years ago, previously served as pastor of the Ashland, Ohio, Grace Brethren Church before coming to Winona Lake. He has also been a long-time member of the board of Grace Brethren International Missions.
Randy Todd, founding pastor of DayStar Grace Brethren Church in Union City, OH, recently told the Tri-State District Conference an amazing story of changed lives and the formation of a new church in that city on the border of Indiana and Ohio. Pastor and Dena Todd have completed their ministry at DayStar and were given a special servant’s award from the district.
Dan Pierce, who has been pastoring the Greenville, OH, Grace Brethren Church, is shifting to a focus on outreach and church planting. Pastor Danny Wright, formerly the youth pastor of Greenville GBC, will transition into the senior pastor role there. The Tri-State district is paying a portion of Pierce’s salary so he can pursue his and the district’s deep passion to mentor church planters for a church multiplication movement in the Tri-State area.
Dan Thornton, after having served 20 years as senior pastor at Peninsula Grace Brethren Church of Soldotna, Alaska, is taking a one-year sabbatical leave, beginning May 1, to work on his doctorate. Peninsula’s associate pastor, Keith Randall, will serve as interim pastor during the coming year. Thornton is also completing his service as chairman of the board of Brethren Missionary Herald Co. and will be succeeded in that role by BMH board vice chair Todd Scoles of Northwest Chapel in Dublin, Ohio.
Matt Strader will become youth pastor at the Greenville, OH, Grace Brethren Church upon graduating from Grace College on May 6, 2006. Strader will marry Isabel Hutchins on June 3, 2006.
Roger Myers will become senior pastor of the Vicksburg, PA, Grace Brethren Church beginning July 2. Vicksburg elder Tim Miller says, “We would like to thank pastoral connections for providing this service of obtaining resumes and posting jobs. We would most of all like to thank and praise the Lord for giving all parties wisdom, and the insight to find His perfect will in this matter.” Myers is completing his ministry at the Wayneboro, PA, Grace Brethren Church.
Grace Theologians Participate
The Midwestern meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society met in Grand Rapids, MI, recently, and attending from Grace College and Seminary were professors Herb Bateman, Skip Forbes, and Brent Sandy, and students Dawn Modlin, Jonathan Potter, and Jeremy Wike. The theme of the conference was “Going Beyond the Bible Biblically: The Hermeneutical Issues of Moving from Scripture to Theology.” Professors Forbes and Sandy co-authored a paper, and Jeremy Wike presented a paper. Next year the ETS regional meeting will be held in Winona Lake, Indiana, March 16-17, 2007.
This Issue Brought to You by GBIF
The entire pre-press, printing and distribution of this issue of FGBC World is being funded through a generous gift from the Grace Brethren Investment Foundation of Winona Lake, Indiana. BMH expresses its appreciation to Ken Seyfert, Larry Chamberlain, and the other employees and board members of GBIF for their generosity.
Pro-Life Group Names Columbus “Church of the Year”
The Grace Brethren Church of Columbus, OH, (Jim Custer, pastor) has been named “Church of the Year” for 2005 by the Pregnancy Decision Health Centers of Columbus. This is the 20th year the church has partnered with the pro-life group, providing volunteers, board members, distributing literature, hosting fundraising banquets, and more. In its citation the group said, “Thank you, Pastor Jim, elders, staff, members, and attenders of Grace Brethren Church of Columbus for showing the community what it means to be ‘in the world but not of it.'”
Grace’s Coach Kessler Honored
Grace College men’s basketball coach Jim Kessler was presented with the coveted Guardian of the Game Award Sunday, April 2, during the Cingular/NABC Guardians of the Game Award Show at the Murat Theater in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Guardian Awards are presented in four categories which represent the four coaching pillars – education, advocacy, leadership and service. Former winners include UCLA’s John Wooden, Oklahoma State’s Eddie Sutton, and Wisconsin’s Bo Ryan.
“It’s humbling,” Kessler said, on being given an award that people like Wooden have received before him. “It’s an honor to be recognized by your peers, but it’s not something that I set out to do. My goal is to be faithful to the Lord and to give young people the chance to use their knowledge to teach others about basketball and the Lord.”
Kessler has coached at Grace for 29 years and won his 500th career game in 2005. He has been named NCCAA National Coach of the Year twice and NAIA National Coach of the Year once, following a national championship during the 1991-92 season. His teams have won eight Mid-Central Conference Championships as well. Kessler was named the NAIA’s inaugural Coach of Character in 2005.
‘Walking Like Jesus Day’ at Kittanning
The Grace Brethren Church of West Kittanning, PA (Mark Cornwell, pastor) is planning a “Walking Like Jesus Did” day on Sunday, June 11. Larry McCall, author of the recent BMH Books release Walking Like Jesus Did: Studies in the Character of Christ, is originally from the Kittanning church, as is his wife Gladine, and also BMH Books publisher Terry White.
On June 11 McCall will speak in the 10:45 a.m. morning worship service on the subject of the book, and Terry and Sharon White will provide special music. At 2 p.m. in the church’s social hall there will be an informal reception and autograph-signing with short addresses by McCall, his wife, and White. Pastor Mark Cornwell invites all to participate in this day of celebrating and extending the ministry of BMH Books and the Kittanning church.
African Pastors Say ‘Thanks’
Pastor Steve Peters of the Community Grace Brethren Church in West Milton, OH, along with his companion Woody Curtis, recently spent several weeks in the Central African Republic sharing strategy of reaching into new fields. Several dozen African pastors sent a signed thank-you letter from the Union of Grace Brethren Churches in CAR, District of East in which they said, “We want to tell you thanks so much for allowing our brothers Pastor Stephen Paul Peters and Woody Curtis for coming among us here. We would like to let you know we received more spiritual blessings through their teachings.”
The letter continued, “We tell thanks a lot to their families
