Look up perseverance and you’ll find the word means a steady and continued existence or occurrence toward a purpose or course of action in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement. You’ll likely not find the name Phil Sparling or Auburn Grace Community Church as an example, but given their combined story, both, to God’s glory, are exemplars of a steady persistence. […][...]
*updates as of mid-afternoon, via Facebook… From his daughter, Megan Kunkler: Dad got his respirator out this morning and they’ve backed off the sedative. He’s waking up, communicating, recognizing us, squeezing hands, doing thumbs up, telling us where it hurts, and remembering…. Praise Jesus that he’s here with us! What a gift to see him hold mom’s hand and see her […][...]
The city of Cleveland, Ohio, according to church planter Nathan Wells, was “once a thriving industrial city, now desperate, desolate, dependent, and dangerous.” And that’s where Pastor Mark Ritzman decided to plant churches. Ritzman grew up attending Grace Church of Greater Akron, Ohio, Norton Campus (Dan Gregory, lead pastor), located south of Cleveland. He spent 11 years as pastor at Metro Grace, (an urban ministry […[...]
Ron Boehm, Grace Brethren pastor and church-planter coach with VisionOhio, continues to recover in a Cleveland hospital after surgery on Thursday night to repair an abdominal aneurysm and a second surgery yesterday to stop bleeding. He also fell and hit his head after passing out, causing a skull fracture. His daughter, Megan Kunkler, reports this morning that he went through […][...]
Prayer is requested for Ron Boehm, Grace Brethren pastor and church-planter coach who serves with VisionOhio. Jesús Muñoz, director of ethnic church planting for Encompass World Partners, reports that they were together when Ron experienced abdominal pain so he took Ron to an emergency room. There he was life-flighted to University Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, where an iliac aneurysm was repaired […][...]
Ted Rondeau, executive administrator and missions and outreach director at Grace Community Church, Goshen, Ind. (Jim Brown, pastor), reports that God is continuing to work in Iraq following a September visit by a team from the church. He recently spoke with Malath (pastor of Alliance Church of Erbil) and Insaf (Iraqi m-worker with International Teams Canada, and Malath’s mother-in-law). “It was great to […][...]
The Grace Brethren Church of Brooksville, Fla., will be celebrating their 40th anniversary as an organized church on Sunday, November 16, according to Pastor Bill Smith. The Homecoming-Anniversary celebration will be held from 10 a.m. to Noon, followed by a Thanksgiving meal. “Keven and Ruthie in Concert” will be the feature for the day. The church is located at 6259 […][...]
More than 2,000 students attended this year’s Momentum Youth Conference, held July 22 – 27 at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill. The event featured dynamic speakers such as Kyle Idleman, Sean McDowell, Afshin Ziafat, Jeff Bogue, Greg Stier, and Clayton King, speaking on this year’s theme, “Not a Fan.” Students from dozens of churches from across the U.S. were welcomed at […][...]
More than 60 pastors from states along the Atlantic coast are gathered this week in Ocean City, Md., for the East Focus Retreat. They have gathered at the Holiday Inn and Suites and are meeting at a nearby church. Dr. Dave Guiles, executive director of Encompass World Partners, is leading the 48-hour retreat, which like others held this fall, is […][...]
Virginia Lee Sproule, widow of Dr. John Sproule, died October 20 in Birmingham, Ala. Arrangements are under the direction of Southern Heritage Funeral Home, 475 Cahaba Valley Road, Pelham, Ala. 35124. Visitation will be held 1 p.m. – 2 p.m., Thursday, October 23, 2014, followed by the service at 2 p.m. Dr. Sproule, a former faculty member at Grace Theological Seminary, died […][...]
Sophia Baer, daughter of Sam and Betty Ann Baer, long-time pastor of the Victory Mountain Grace Brethren Chapel in Hyden, Ky., had pictured herself doing foreign missions work ever since she was five years old. So when her sister, Bambie, called her in the year 2000 and asked her to come to Benton Harbor, Mich., to work with children on the migrant […][...]
A review for the BMH Book, Loving Your Wife as Christ Loves the Church by Larry McCall, was posted today on Books at a Glance. A portion of the review appears below. Click here to read the complete review. McCall, a graduate of Grace College and Grace Theological Seminary, is available to speak to churches or groups of churches in teaching […][...]
Tuesday marked a historic milestone for Grace College’s women’s soccer team. The Lady Lancers were ranked No. 22 in the NAIA Coaches’ Top 25 Poll, marking Grace’s first ranking in the program’s 19-year history. Grace is receiving 192 votes in the poll thanks to an 8-3-2 record this fall. The Lady Lancers beat then-No. 21 Mt. Vernon Nazarene and nearly […][...]
Ezra Wimberly, lead pastor of creative arts at Grace Church, Bath Campus, a Grace Brethren church in Akron, Ohio (Jeff Bogue, senior pastor), was interviewed on Fox and Friends this morning regarding the Ebola scare in Akron, Ohio. He is the father of two children who attend the elementary school which was shut down this week after the mother of […][...]
Tim Robertson, who with his wife, Jessica, is working among the Cambodian arts community in Phnom Penh, is part of an art exhibit that begins this month in the Long Beach, Calif., area. “Roots and Branches” opens with a special reception on Saturday, October 25, at Greenly Art Space, 2698 Junipero, Ave Suite 113, Signal Hill, Calif. It features work by artists living […][...]
For a number of years, members of Southview Grace Brethren Church, Ashland, Ohio (Mark Abel, pastor), have traveled to Washington, D.C. to help with ministry at About My Father’s Business (AMFB), a Grace Brethren church in the inner city (Stephen Joyce, pastor). They have assisted at park programs, outreach events, and been an encouragement to the growing church. “We are reaching […][...]
Dr. Bill Katip, president of Grace College and Theological Seminary, was interviewed this morning by “Pete the Planner” from WIBC in Indianapolis about the college’s innovative financial initiatives. WIBC (93.1 FM) is Indiana’s largest talk radio channel. The interview will be aired at 4:00 p.m. (EDT) on Sunday, October 19. You may listen to it over the web on WIBC’s website. Click here, […[...]
David DeArmey, operations director at Water for Good, has received the top prize, a Raleigh Revenio Carbon 1, in the 2014 Aegis Citycard Cycles Challenge. He participated recently in a 100km ride with the Central African Republic’s national cycling team through the streets of Bangui. (Water for Good is a cooperating organization in the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches.) A portion of the story […][...]
Grace Christian School, a ministry of East Side Grace Brethren Church in Blacklick, Ohio (Chip Heim, pastor), decided to break out of their comfort zone and host Rend Collective, a folk worship band from Northern Ireland, at their school. They had an auditorium with 800 seats, so they thought it would garner a comfortably large attendance. They sold out a month before the concert. “We have not […][...]
The October e-newsletter for Women of Grace USA was released this morning. Designed especially for the women in the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches, it is full of good information that will challenge and encourage anyone! This month’s issue leads off with a “behind the scenes” story of how Melissa Spoelstra’s book, Jeremiah, Daring to Hope in an Unstable World […][...]