It’s Monday Again
Ten churches began a six-month cohort journey this week with Jon Wiest to prepare for the launch at District Ministerial in January to Renew Discipleship Pathways in at least 80% of our churches during the fall of 2020. An overview of this initial focus in the values-driven vision of our 2025 Horizon Storyline was introduced in the DS Report at District Conference.
The Caton’s Island Session of the Camp Board convened this week for its semi-annual meeting and was Chaired by Brian Murray. Recent reports of spiritual decisions by campers and registrations at new record levels were high points of the day. In addition, the board had opportunity to inspect the work on the Choate Dining Hall Expansion now fully funded for phase one and on schedule to be completed mid-September.
Thank you for your faithful prayers for Joanne Ozon (Hope) as she underwent surgery on August 6th. The 11 cm stage one cancerous tumour was removed from her spine and the medical team is very optimistic about her full recovery without any need for chemo or radiation – PTL! Joanne wrote this beautiful note of appreciation to our district family. Her faith has been so strong and she shares, “Always be thankful for every storm you are faced with, and use that storm to learn, grow and find strength in the power of our Almighty God!”
Anton Topilnycknj (Miramichi) was installed yesterday morning as Lead Pastor. He and Louise have received a very warm welcome by this church family following the interim ministry of Carl & Evelyn Brewer. More than 20 attended a 5-hour workshop on Saturday entitled, “Healthy Conflict in the Local Church.”
Blacks Harbour (Dr. HC) celebrated their VBS closing yesterday morning (above left) with 90 in attendance with outdoor fun complete with a bouncy castle.
The Reach (Andy Phillips) had 41 kids and 20 staff involved in their VBS this week with 129 in attendance (above right) at the closing program on Friday night.
Moncton (Joel Gorveatte) staff attended the Global Leadership Summit this week with more than 400K leaders around the world. Their recent All Nations Sunday was a feature article in Wesleyan News.
Kevin Myers (Brazil Lake) shared this exciting report yesterday, “Today was an exceptional day! 94 in church / a baptism / and two baby dedications… and a potluck on the lake to top it all off! Ministry can be rough some days… then there is other days it feels like the the best job in the world. Praise God – it was a good day!”
Havelock (Shawn Craven) celebrated two baptisms yesterday!
Each quarter I have the privilege of joining what our General Superintendent Wayne Schmidt has termed the “Y Team” to collaborate with key denominational leaders on best practices to influence Kingdom movement through The Wesleyan Church to close the Gospel Gap. It is so encouraging to serve the vision and intentionality of our GS as we pursue next steps together.
Sign up or email Joel Liechty for a Zoom overview of an LBA training resource on Wednesday, September 25th at 2:30 pm (Atlantic). Linchpin Leadership is an enhanced online, interactive learning journey for pastors and local church board leaders. This experience will guide the local church board through training designed to help the board flourish in its role of spiritual leadership.
Linchpin Leadership was developed by Chris Conrad (District Superintendent of the Great Lakes District) and Dan Reiland/Kevin Myers (Executive Pastor/Senior Pastor of 12Stone Church) and has been developed to resource local churches to fulfill their mission. This experience is powered by Multipliciter which provides free resources for churches.
World Hope International (Canada) is offering a short-term mission trip opportunity to minister in Ukraine. This Vision Trip for Pastors and Lay Leaders will take place in Odessa during November 22-29 this fall. Full details are available HERE. Team leader Ben Last (Southgate) offers some excellent advice HERE for those considering participation on this mission.
Wiest Discipleship THOTS:
- Jesus’ love was not just organic but it was strategic. What if the number one metric was not attendance but how many disciple makers are in our church? (Jon Wiest)
- Building a relationship with people (go) and helping them to trust (baptize) and follow Jesus (teach to obey) = discipleship. (Jon Wiest)
- What if you thought of your church less in terms of a holding tank for connection and discipleship, and more in terms of being a training center for disciple-makers?
Rev. Dr. Joanne Solis-Walker is an ordained minister of The Wesleyan Church. She has a Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership and Development with an emphasis on Ecclesial Leadership.
Her entrepreneurial experience covers a wide range of innovative opportunities in a variety of professional fields. Joanne is one of the Founders of CaminoRoad, a development company focused on leadership, culture, and praxis.
She is a certified Coach and an advocate for education equity and accessibility. Dr. Solis-Walker previously served as Assistant Dean of Global Theological Education at Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University and Director of Education for Latin@s.
She teaches Leadership courses at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary and travels extensively speaking in Spanish and English, throughout the United States and internationally. She is married to Rev. Dan Walker and they have a miracle daughter, Adriana Nicole and a Boxer dog named Kahlua Faith.
Rev. Mick Veach has served as a Global Partners’ Area Director for Central Asia and the Middle East, he has presented the Gospel in more than 75 countries, been the Lead Pastor of a large thriving suburban church and currently is pastoring a church plant in the heart of Detroit, Mosaic Midtown.
Whether smuggling Bibles, feeding lepers or working/living amongst a Muslim people group as a Humanitarian Pastor, Mick Veach’s commitment to share the love of God with the lost has taken him to the ends of the earth.
Mick’s desire is and always has been to see God’s truth compel others to Great Commission action and to foster healthy local churches that engage in evangelism and discipleship. He and his wife, Melanie, have three children and love living in the historic Bostin-Edison Neighborhood of Detroit.