For many years, the late Roy Snyder produced a regular newsletter for retired missionaries. Aptly titled, Missionary Veterans of Foreign Wars, he kept those who had served with Encompass World Partners (formerly Grace Brethren International Missions) connected with timely thoughts and news, prayer requests, and his wry sense of humor. Just days before his home-going earlier this month, he completed what would […][...]
CE National is pleased to announce the 2015 Roger Ward Memorial Award is presented to Pastor Joseph Nass from Berne, Ind. Joe is the pastor of the Bethel Brethren Church in Berne. His church hosted Team Ohio during this summer’s Operation Barnabas tour. Team Ohio administrative leader, Shawn Mason, had this to say about why Pastor Joe was chosen as our […][...]
WINONA LAKE, Ind. — A new era begins this August for Grace College’s volleyball team. First-year head coach Katie Van Hofwegen is poised to imprint her unique style onto the Lady Lancers in 2015. Van Hofwegen inherits a program that has racked up 106 wins over the past four seasons. Grace has advanced to the NCCAA National Semifinals twice since 2011, including […][...]
A story about a southern Indiana school district re-opening under a new charter school relationship with Grace College was reported this week by WTHI-News 10, Terre Haute, Ind. Dugger Union Schools, Dugger, Ind., are now operating under a charter through the Winona Lake, Ind., school. A portion of the story, along with the video story, appears below. Click here to read the complete […][...]
Each celebration at Flinch Conference opened with a video that introduced someone in the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches who had taken a risk. GraceConnect.us will be posting those videos over the next several weeks. Today’s video introduces The Risk of Immigration: the Story of Jose and Migdala Marquez. Flinch Conference was the 2015 national conference of the FGBC and […][...]
A Grace Brethren pastor is mentioned (and quoted) by his father, who writes a column in the Cape May County Herald, Cape May, N.J. Rudy Sheptock Jr., who is senior pastor at the Lighthouse Christian and Missionary Alliance Church in Cape May Court House, N.J., used his regular column today to wish a happy birthday to his son, Rudy III, […][...]
Women’s Spectrum, the annual magazine produced by Women of Grace USA, is now available for purchase. The magazine focuses on “Stand Firm,” and includes a call to stability and maturity no matter how one’s circumstances change. It tells the stories of how God’s people are finding ways to stand firm through hard times, including times of persecution. Readers will be inspired and encouraged […][...]
Melissa Spoelstra’s new study “Joseph: The Journey to Forgiveness” (Abingdon Press), hit the shelves this week. In the book, Melissa, the wife of Grace Brethren pastor, Sean Spoelstra (Encounter Church, Dublin, Ohio), takes a look at Joseph and his dreams, his betrayers, his dysfunctional family, his struggle to forgive, and his journey toward reconciliation. “All of us know what it’s like to be […][...]
Erik Brunk has been commissioned by Suntree Grace Brethren Church, Melbourne, Fla. (Jason Brown, pastor) to serve in any capacity needed at Brooksville, Fla., Grace Brethren Church. The Brooksville congregation has been searching for a pastor since the retirement of Pastor Bill Smith earlier this year. Erik is currently a student at the Antioch School of Church Planting and Leadership Development and […][...]
CE National has announced the Olszewski Award recipients for 2015. Jase Gentry from Team Ohio and Abbigail Floom from Team Indiana will each receive $100 scholarships to be used for ministry opportunities as a result of demonstrating the spirit of servanthood through their summer on Operation Barnabas! The award is named for Walter and Pearl Olszewski, who were volunteers at CE National by doing anything that […][...]
Funeral services for Roy B. Snyder, long-time missionary to the Central African Republic, will be at 10 a.m., Wednesday, August 12, at the Winona Lake, Ind., Grace Brethren Church, and will be led by Pastor Tom Miller. Visitation will be held on Tuesday, August 11, 2015, from 4:00 -7:00 p.m. at Redpath-Fruth Funeral Home, 225 Argonne Road, Warsaw, Ind. His obituary […][...]
Phil and Jen Hill didn’t know what to expect in 2012 when they uprooted and moved to help create Movement Church in Hilliard, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus. Mark Artrip, church planter and pastor at Movement Church, wanted to create a launch team as soon as possible to get the ministry underway. Phil and Jen felt led to be a part of […][...]
Roy Snyder, former missionary to the Central African Republic, died Wednesday afternoon, August 5, at Grace Village Health Care, Winona Lake, Ind. He was 93. Arrangements are pending with Redpath-Fruth Funeral Home, 225 Argonne Road, Warsaw, Ind.[...]
GBCanada has announced that Wade and Anna Rininger are joining the church-planting team in Canada. “While we were praying for God to direct us, we received a call from Nathan Bryant, asking us to consider coming to Canada to help start a church,” recounted Wade. He and his wife Anna are excited for the opportunity to start something new in Canada. Starting […][...]
Randy Weekley, pastor of the Grace Brethren Church of Pinellas Park, Fla. (St. Petersburg area), underwent surgery on Monday to have his left leg removed after suffering from villonodular synovitis. Below is a report from his son-in-law, Wade Rininger: The doctors are still working on pain management, he is still under a lot of pain and they are trying to […][...]
A recent post on the news site, Ink Free News, noted the success of Grace College nursing students, as 100 percent of Grace associate degree students passed the board exam required for nurses in Indiana. A portion of the story appears below. Click here for the complete article. GRACE COLLEGE NURSING PROGRAM GARNERS 100 PERCENT BOARD PASS RATE WINONA LAKE […][...]
Prayer is requested for Randy Weekley, pastor of the Grace Brethren Church in Pinellas Park, Fla. He will have surgery on Monday. Today, he asked for prayer on his Facebook page. It is shared here with his permission: I have been struggling with my pride on whether or not to put this on Facebook. But I cannot do this alone […][...]
The Grace Brethren Church of West Kittanning, Pa. (Larry Edwards, pastor) is celebrating its 100th anniversary this weekend beginning with a hog roast at White’s Pond this afternoon. Tomorrow’s services will feature Don Farner and Larry McCall, both whom have deep roots in the church. The schedule is as follows, according to the church’s Facebook page: We are very excited to […][...]
When Aaron Scantlen and several others started Empty Hands Bible Church in 2013, it was because they didn’t want to do church the way it had been done, “but to say, I’m coming in [to worship] with empty hands.” he notes, The young congregation has attracted individuals from a variety of cultures – some permanent residents of the Warsaw-Winona Lake, […][...]
Keep Me in Stitches, a group that meets weekly at Grace Community Church, a Grace Brethren church in Virginia Beach, Va. (Fred Devan, pastor), to crochet, knit or loom hats for charity, was featured last week in the Virginian-Pilot. As of June 15, the group had delivered 3,519 hats, 55 baby blanket sets, 80 hat and scarf sets and 39 lap […][...]