As we learned of last week’s death of veteran missionary, “Amazon Bill” Burk, the tributes to his ministry have poured in. Burk’s association with the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches, and Encompass World Partners (formerly Grace Brethren International Missions), with whom he ministered, was long and storied. For many of us who grew up in Grace Brethren churches in the […][...]
Mansfield, Ohio, television station, WMFD, shares the story of this year’s Wifflefest at Southview Grace Brethren Church in Ashland, Ohio (Mark Abel, pastor). A portion of the print story appears below. Click here to read the complete post. The 14th annual Wifflefest is coming up this week beginning on July 4th at 9am at Southview Grace Brethren Church in Ashland. […][...]
From April 10 to April 13, Grace College Varsity Mediation Team members Mary Wick, Jacob McCarthy, Drake Darrah, Young Sun Seong and Ashley Brewster attended the Victim-Offender Reconciliation Program (VORP) in Elkhart, Indiana. VORP is a mediation process that focuses on “restorative justice.” Instead of merely sentencing a criminal for the crime committed, the program brings together the victim and […][...]
Bruce Triplehorn, a missionary to Brazil with Encompass World Partners and author of the BMH book, Worship the Golden Thread, worked with the late Bill Burk from the moment the Triplehorns landed in the South American country in the 1990s. Upon hearing of Burk’s death on July 26, Bruce sent this tribute, which he had written in anticipation of Bill’s […][...]
Wanting to reach their community and help others in a tangible way, The Village Community Church, a Grace Brethren congregation in Milton, Ontario (Rob Stanley, pastor), launched a program last year called VillageHelps. According to Village Community Church elder Ted Adomanis, VillageHelps exists to meet needs in the community and within their own church. Their website, villagehelps.ca, stresses “We do […][...]
This message was submitted by Marcos Freitas of Brazil, who knew Bill and Imogene Burk. Bill, known by many as “Amazon Bill,” died Wednesday in Washington State after serving more than 50 years as a missionary in Brazil. I would like to give you a testimony about the missionaries Imogine and Bill Burk in Brazil. When I met them, in […][...]
Community Grace Brethren Church of Everett, Pa., is launching a long awaited building project this summer. They are building all new offices and nursery with classrooms below while renovating the worship center internally. “We strive to be a church that makes the Word of God easily applied in practical ways for daily life,” says Pastor Jeff Peeler. “We have full youth […][...]
The memorial service for Bill Burk will be held at 3 p.m., Friday, July 5 at the home of Cary and Lois (Burk) Green, 6824 137th Dr. NE, Lake Stevens, Washington, 98258. (Their home phone is 425-404-2023, should anyone need additional information.) Imogene asks that in lieu of sending flowers, people would contribute to a missionary offering that will be taken at […][...]
Dr. Roger Peugh, faculty member at Grace College and Theological Seminary, Winona Lake, Ind., will speak during the opening session of the Fifth Brethren World Assembly, which will be held next month in the Dayton, Ohio, area. Dr. Peugh, who is the co-author of the BMH book, Transformed in His Presence, will speak on prayer at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, July […][...]
An article on today’s Stacey Page Online news site reports on the experiences of Grace College basketball coach, Jim Kessler, as he worked with the 2013 USA Basketball Men’s World University Games Training Camp in Colorado Springs. A portion of the story appears below. Click here to read the complete article. Kessler Contributes To USA Basketball WINONA LAKE – Jim Kessler […][...]
“It’s so easy in church to get caught up in development planning – in the systems of things,” explains Jason Haymaker, pastor of Western Reserve Grace Church in Macedonia, Ohio. “The leader sets the culture as to whether the church will be a transformational church or just an organized church. If we are producing ‘safe’ leaders in fear of doing […][...]
From Encompass World Partners: “Amazon Bill” Burk slipped away this morning shortly after 2:00. His daughter, Lois Green, shares that, “It is just as he would have wanted, without any fuss or trauma. His tired old heart simply stopped beating in his sleep, and he woke up in Glory.” Bill and Imogene had been visiting family in Everett, Wash. They […][...]
Tim Sprankle, pastor of the Grace Brethren Church, Leesburg, Ind., is part of the team charged with encouraging leadership development within the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches. He recently shared how leadership could inspire a ministry with an example from his own experience. The ESL class at Leesburg Grace Brethren always ends the school year with a party. We break […][...]
City Life, sponsored by CE National, gives high school students the opportunity to learn and participate on a ministry trip that includes the cities and suburbs of Washington DC, Philadelphia, and New York City—three of the most exciting cities in the U.S. Beginning with orientation at Grace Church in Lititz, Pa., they spent a few days in metropolitan New York. This […][...]
Preparations are being made in Harrah, Wash., to demolish the original Grace Brethren Church building that has not been used by the congregation since they built a new facility in 1991. Most recently it was used by the Harrah Community Christian School, but it has sat vacant for a number of years. This image, of the construction of the building, […][...]
Dr. Robert D. Culver, the last remaining person who attended the celebrated prayer meeting in J. C. Beal’s home in Ashland, Ohio, that led directly to the founding of Grace Theological Seminary, recently spent a weekend in Winona Lake, Indiana, speaking and sharing his memories. Culver, 97, drove with his wife, Celeste, from their home in southeastern Minnesota. He began […][...]
GraceConnect eNews is published weekly and includes news of people, churches, and ministries that are affiliated with the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches. Click here to register for your free subscription. Merry Christmas! (No. 27, Week of December 23, 2013) Let the Be Light! (No. 26, Week of December 16, 2013) Walking With Jesus (No. 25, Week of December 9, […][...]
The city of Medicine Hat, Alberta, home of one of the newest congregations in the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches, Grasslands Church, is preparing for possible flooding that some have said could rival a serious flood in 1995. “The city is ‘bracing’ for a pretty serious rise of water in the South Saskatchewan river and tributaries. Low level areas (‘the […][...]
It’s vacation Bible school season. On the GraceConnect Facebook page, we’ve been sharing images and updates from VBS programs around the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches. It’s exciting to hear the reports of how God is working in the lives of young people around North America. This afternoon, our attention was drawn to this video from Grace Fellowship Church, a […][...]
Zach and Sarah, the son and daughter-in-law of Ron and Chery Boehm, Grace Brethren church-planter-coaches with VisionOhio, recently experienced a loss with the death of their newborn son, Samuel Cole, who was diagnosed with Trisomy 18 prior to his birth. Zach is a producer for the Wally Show, a syndicated radio program based in Franklin, Tenn. Earlier this week, he […][...]