The Kerusso – October | 2024
Looking
Ahead
We have entered the time of year when the Conference Superintendents are nearly constantly on the move all across the country, celebrating with churches and pastors as they host their Annual Church Conferences. Indeed, these meetings are for conducting the business of the church - - approving budgets, electing officers, and working through other agenda items, but they are also for GIVING THANKS for the great ways in which the Lord has used the people and ministries of the church over the previous year. So as you gather for your ACC, please know that we rejoice with you that the Gospel has been preached, families have been shepherded, marriages, baptisms, and babies have been celebrated, and people have come to a life-changing commitment to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
November 24-30 – THANKSGIVING WEEK. The Thanksgiving season has long been a time when we encourage all of our people and churches to contribute to a special global mission offering The need in our Global Conferences has never been greater. The vision of our partners is tremendous - - planting churches, founding pastor’s schools, establishing new missional outreach areas, and winning souls with and for our Lord and Savior. Pastors, please pick a date to receive a special free-will offering. 100% of it will be shared with our global partners.
The dates and locations for our annual regional meetings are set for 2025. It is always such a blessing to gather with our pastors, credential holders, church people. All of the EMC Superintendents will be at each meeting, and we are working now to set the programming that will include something of interest to both credential holders and lay people alike.
Most will be able to drive to these meetings, and we very much want to see nearly 100% participation! Dr. Matt Friedeman has agreed to be our guest speaker at all of our Journey meetings! Dr. Friedeman has been a professor at Wesley Biblical Seminary since 1987 where he currently chairs the Evangelism and Discipleship Department. He has authored several books and has written a regular newspaper column, in addition to being a talk-show host on American Family Radio.
We could not be more excited about having Dr. Friedeman speak to us!
The overall theme of the Journey meetings will be “GOD ALONE.” We will enjoy some special seasons of worship, and walking in God’s Word as we listen to what the Holy Spirit will be saying to the EMC.
Kerusso (Greek): “To publish, proclaim openly: something which has been done.”
Turning the Clocks Back on More Than Just Daylight
Max Edwards
Daylight Savings Time is set to end in 2024 in the USA in the early morning hours of Sunday, November 10th. I don’t particularly like the time changing back and forth, but then again, I don’t remember being asked my opinion! �� But there is one thing I’ve been thinking a great deal about lately that I would like to turn back the clocks on, and that is planned EMC Missions giving at our District (or Journey) meetings.
It wasn’t all that long ago (2010 and prior) that at least two districts in the EMC traditionally received 10’s of thousands of dollars each year for missions at District Conference. “Wow - how did that happen?,” you might ask. It happened simply because our people and our churches came to the meeting with planned contributions of significant amounts.
2025
Missions Giving A New Plan
(Really, an Old Plan)
I am asking that we return to that kind of plan for Journeys moving forward.
How exciting will it be as each church and many individuals come to the Journey sessions with a check or pledge in hand?!
In the old EMC Atlantic District it wasn’t unusual for our annual missions offering to exceed twenty-five, or thirty thousand dollars. You heard that right - $25,000 - $30,000. Many of you remember those days. I didn’t pastor in the Mid-States District, but I’m told by those who did that this same kind of thing was a fixture there as well.
Our people are givers! They know how far dollars can stretch in other parts of the world, especially when God’s hand of blessing is on them.
So here is what I’m proposing:
Let’s come to our Journey Meetings in 2025 in these four locations with designated mission offerings:
Salem, Virginia; Marshfield, Missouri; Eloy, Arizona; and Nampa, Idaho.
We will total them all together and announce the grand total after our fourth Journey meeting in Nampa, Idaho.
If each EMC Church will send just $500, we would easily crest $40,000, and I know that many churches will do better than that. Some could easily send $1000 from their local missions budget. Some could send two or three times that much, and several could make it $5000 or more. So, here’s a goal for us to shoot for - - let’s make every effort to receive $45,000
100% of these dollars will go into our mission programs. Our five Global Conference Partners will put these funds to amazing use for education, pastoral support, mission field outreaches, Bibles for new believers, church planting, youth camps, and more!
I will be writing about this again … look for “JOURNEY MISSIONS.”
GBWM South Africa Report
Submitted by Bill & Lisa Walker, GBWM Co-Chairs
When Lisa was a teenager, she told God she did not want to be a missionary, and under no circumstances did she EVER want to go to Africa! God has a sense of humor when we tell him what we don’t want to do. Can you relate? He also changes our hearts as we learn to trust and give our lives completely to Him.
Bill and Lisa are always up for the next trip, but in August of this year, Lisa was especially excited. They were going to the one place she had said she’d never go AFRICA! Affiliated as a Global Conference in 2022, South Africa EMC is focused on helping lost people become disciples of Jesus.
A 16-hr flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg, an overnight layover, a short hop to East London, and a 2-hr drive to Mceula brought us to our first visit. They received us as well as IGS Max Edwards and his wife, Judy with a parade, and the sanctuary was already filled when we arrived. What a welcome! We have never experienced anything like that. Before the evening was over, we were symbolically inducted into different clans.
We also visited ministry sites near Port Elizabeth in the area known as Mother Well. This is a new area of ministry with only two societies. Road tripping around this region known as the Eastern Cape, or Transkei, enabled us to see and experience the real South Africa. One of the extra benefits is that Bishop Nyangane, Lay Leader Tukwayo, and others accompanied us on these road trips. The constant interaction with these brothers was enriching and gave ample opportunity to get to know them personally and understand the ministry and the country at a deeper level.
The trip culminated in Lusikisiki, where the Conference headquarters is located the HQ complex is known as LUMEC Mission Centre and presently has a large church building, and a house/office combination, and will soon include a pre-school building.
The stated purpose of the trip to South Africa was to help the Conference start its own pastor’s school. We are glad to report the South Africa Evangelical School of Ministry will begin its first intensive module in February 2025. The SA-ESOM will be hosted at LUMEC, and they hope to build a dormitory in the coming years. Click this link to view it in Google Earth (You must have Google Earth installed on your computer) LUMEC Mission Center.kmz. Download and doubleclick the KMZ file.
As always, we returned home with full hearts, a vision of possibilities, and great hopes for the future. We have tentatively planned a Mission Exposure trip to South Africa in June 2026, per their request. This trip will focus on a youth and children’s camp at LUMEC Mission Centre near Lusikisiki and will be open to a limited number of EMC’ers from the USA. Now is the time to begin to pray about joining us.
Family Camp 2024 - Volcano, CA
Submitted by, USA Conference Superintendent, Wes Mackey
“UpholdmeaccordingtoYourWord,thatImaylive;Anddonotletmebeashamedof myhope.” Psalm119:115NKJV
On August 30 – September 1, several of our Northwest EMC churches attended the “Journey to Hope Road Trip” Family Camp at Golden Valley Camp in Volcano, California.
It was a great privilege for me to attend with some of our current, as well as former, pastors and leaders. Some of those pastors shared that the Lord called them to ministry at this very camp.
An amazing time was had by all in attendance as we gathered around God’s Word, prayed together and encouraged one another.
I look forward to seeing this event grow as we continue to plant and revitalize churches in the Southwest and Northwest regions of the US. I love each of you and thank God for the opportunity to minister alongside of you. Wes
RogerBurns–NorthCarolina
We trust you are encouraged each month by the excerpts we pull from the Ministry Reports submitted by credential holders early in the calendar year. It’s exciting and unifying to read about what is happening in other churches in our EMC Family. If you are a credential holder, please submit your report as required so we can include some of your activity! Also understand that the information is from the prior year’s activities, not the current year. (Disclaimer: We do not have space to include every report but attempt to use all we can starting with those that come in earliest.)
Excerpts from Pastor Roger’s 2023 Ministry Report
It is an honor and privilege to be the pastor of the wonderful church body at Raeford Evangelical Methodist Church. I am thankful for my board members and committee members that served the church this past year. The Holy Spirit is alive and active in these church walls – this church is known to the community as a place of prayer and ministry.
The focus of 2023 was on missions and outreach. Philippians 2 says we should not look on our own interests but on the interests of others. I am thankful this church puts their focus on people outside of the church to bring them in. Our motto is the acronym of REM which is, Reaching, Evangelizing, and Making disciples one heart at a time.
My heart is to continue to cultivate a ministry through Crumplers Funeral Home. This past year I’ve done seventeen funerals in hopes to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because of that ministry, we have won families back to the church. My prayer for this church and always is that God will bring new blood to the church.
In 2024 our focus is twofold:
1. Must be on Souls (Luke 15:4-6) Our Motto is ‘One More Soul’ 2. Church Fellowship (Acts 2:42) I know 2024 will bring new challenges, twists and turns, but also many new opportunities for ministry. My focus is for ministry opportunities. We are called to make a difference and to and Make Disciples,
MarkBailey– Indiana
Excerpts from Pastor Mark’s 2023 Ministry Report
It’s hard to believe that another year has come and gone already. I have been reminded as time seems to fly, that we need to make our days count. This past year we have done many things in our community to try to spread the Good News - needs have been met in the community through Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets, shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child, socks given at the Back to School Blitz, and our food pantry has helped many families throughout the year. We continue to broadcast our gatherings on Facebook with many positive interactions coming from those videos and we have been watching “The Chosen” on Sunday nights recently giving us some new insights into the life of Christ and his disciples.
This year we need to renew our love for prayer and listening for the thin whisper of the Holy Spirit. Let us boldly do what the Spirit tells us and follow wherever God leads. God often uses the ones that everyone would least expect, but they have to be willing to do what he calls on them to do - that could be you this year or our church, but we have to be willing to respond and do what he is calling us to do. There will be resistance, as the enemy will fight against it, but if God has called you to it, he will lead you through it. I am excited to see what God has for each of you and for our church this coming year.
TerryMcDowell–Pennsylvania
Excerpts from Deaconess Terry’s 2023 Ministry Report
I started a monthly Women's Fellowship at my home in January 2023 that continues. I was able to facilitate and lead a Women's Event in March 2023 on ‘Hearing God's voice’, with 50 women from different denominations attending. I am praying for another women's event in May that I feel God calling me to organize. I have spoken on Sunday morning a few times through the year, at the women's event, and when asked for other spiritual gatherings. In October 2023, I organized and am leading a group for people grieving the death of their spouse called GPS: God Provides Support. This group meets monthly, and I have been very blessed to meet with and pray with several pastors from the community for this group. Along with the group, I meet with individuals who are grieving.