The Fellowship Council, the leadership group of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches (FGBC), has officially nominated Bob Fetterhoff (pastor, Grace Brethren Church, Wooster, Ohio) to a two-year term as moderator of the FGBC. The action came as the board met January 26-28, 2011, in Simi Valley, Calif.
Fetterhoff is already completing the term of Tom Hocking (pastor, Bellflower, Calif., Brethren Church), who resigned as moderator in January in order to provide continuing leadership for the FGBC.
“By making this move now, Bob Fetterhoff and Tom Avey (the FGBC Fellowship Coordinator) will have increased latitude to shape the format of our conference in July of 2011–making it more of a vision-casting conference rather than an Equip conference,” Hocking said earlier this year as he announced his resignation. “Please begin praying with me now for that conference as delegates will consider a new future for the FGBC.”
In Simi Valley, Hocking led the Council meetings one last time. They reviewed applications for new churches and discussed plans for this summer’s annual conference at Wooster, Ohio. In other activities, the board:
- Reviewed the progress of the Enduring Visionary Leadership Community (EVLC) as appointed by Hocking during the 2010 conference. Teams within the EVLC are focused on church planting, leadership development, and integrated ministry.
- Endorsed Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Company as the preferred insurance provider for the FGBC. This will allow the Fellowship to receive donations from the company based on positive claims experiences by churches in the FGBC group.
- Recommended a budget that reflects a change in the way church fees are calculated for the Fellowship. The new budget recommends churches contribute $3.90 per average weekly attender in 2012.
- Approved a resolution in support of the Brethren Digital Archives project.
- Welcomed the executives of Grace Brethren national organizations who provided written or verbal reports about their various ministries.
- Reviewed applications of three congregations who would like to join the FGBC. They are Awaken Church, Virginia Beach, Va.; Sterling Grace Brethren Church, Mt. Sterling, Ohio; and Fuente de Vida Grace Bilingual Church, Elkhart, Ind. They will be presented for approval at national conference. (The deadline for applications to be considered at the 2011 conference is June 1.)