Tim Hodge
Tim Hodge has been selected to fill the role of Fellowship Coordinator for the Charis Fellowship when Tom Avey steps down. The transition, which will take place over the next year, was announced Tuesday evening during the online business session for the Charis Fellowship, the assumed name of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches, Inc.
Tim is currently the senior pastor at Grace Family Church, a Charis Fellowship congregation in New Holland, Pa. He has also served as assistant executive director of the Charis Fellowship for the past year, a position he will be leaving as he assumes the Fellowship Coordinator role.
Andrew Saunders, pastor of shepherding and campus leadership team coordinator at Penn Valley Network in Telford, Pa., will be stepping into the assistant executive director position, filling the remaining two years of the elected term. The move was approved by the delegates at Tuesday’s meeting.
Three new members for the Fellowship Council were approved. Each will serve a five-year term. They include:
- Tim Sprankle, pastor of Grace Church, Leesburg, Ind., representing Region A (Arctic, Hawaii, Mountain Plains, NorCal, Pacific-Northwest, Southern California Arizona, Iowa Midlands, and Heartland districts);
- Wade Rininger, Mayfield West campus pastor, Renew Church, Mississauga, Ontario, representing Region B (Northcentral Ohio, Northeastern Ohio, Northwest Ohio, Tri-State, Allegheny and Western Pennsylvania districts); and
- Laban Reeves, pastor of New Generation Community Church, New York, N.Y., representing Region C (Blue Ridge, Chesapeake, Mid Atlantic, Northern Atlantic, Florida, and Southern districts).
In addition, eight congregations were welcomed into the Fellowship. They include Roseville Bible Church, Roseville, Mich.; Alexia Manor Church, Greenwich, Ohio; Windy Acres Church, Ashland, Ohio; Ocean View Fellowship, Indialantic, Fla. (Bill Tweedale, pastor); Grace Church, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. (Eric Durso, pastor); Journey Church, Warrington, Pa. (Adam Johnson, pastor); Grace Church of West Shore, Saint Leonard, Md. (Jay G. McKinley, pastor); and Household of Faith, Grandview, Wash. (Dwight Cover, pastor). Roseville Bible Church, Alexia Manor Church, and Windy Acres Church are all the result of the SEEDnet church-planting ministry. Elders Andy Shank, Larry White, and Nathan Wells provide oversight for these churches.
Resolutions that express the convictions of the Charis Fellowship on certain contemporary social issues, as recommended by the Social Concerns Committee, were approved. Adopted for a year at a time, they are non-binding and intended to be advisory and of teaching value. This year’s resolutions include a new statement on Covid-19, as well as a reaffirmation of positions on Human life – It’s Dignity and Duties; Governmental Responsibility; Religious Freedom; and Immigration Reform.
Changes to the Manual of Procedure were approved as recommended by the Fellowship Council. Most dealt with updating the name to Charis Fellowship, following the “doing business as” name change in 2018. Two articles were added under the Miscellaneous heading that related to the ordination of pastors by the local church and the responsibility of the Fellowship Council to appoint and oversee the chaplain endorsing agent on behalf of the Fellowship.
This first-ever online meeting was held via Zoom. There were 246 delegates seated from 61 churches.
The meeting closed with delegates being broken into “rooms” of four or five for prayer.
