Community Reached with Dr. Seuss and Marriage Courses

A great article by our missionaries in New Zealand using different tools to reach the people of their community. Thanks Chad and Diane Davenport for sharing.

Auckland, New Zealand—The new creative arts team has been busy the past few months. Recently, we’ve presented some special outreach Sunday services that would connect with young unchurched families, including Dr. Seuss Visits Westside Christian Fellowship (WCF).
Our first “family service” was titled “The Mythbusters’ Challenge.” Children were given the opportunity to pose questions to a panel of somewhat-dubious “experts.” After hearing the answers, the children were then asked to pick the right answer. Although there were plenty of humorous moments, this helped to crack some common misconceptions about Christianity, even among some of the visiting adults who do not attend church.

Last month, the team produced a dramatic show called “The Gospel (According to ‘Horton Hears a Who’),” complete with puppets, a Who hunt, and a Who feast. Using scenes from the book and movie, the puppets explained how we can all be friends with God even when we can’t see, hear. or touch him. The youth group led the worship time.

Both these family services have helped to draw larger attendances of fifty to eighty people. Increasingly, WCF feels like it is starting to take shape as church of the community. We often find that our new visitors already know several members of the congregation as a result of just living in the area.

The Marriage Course: We are nearly finished with our third season of hosting the Marriage Course. This has been an effective tool in getting to know couples in the community and sharing Bible-based principles that promote healthy marriages. Because of our wonderful leaders and the great content, we already have people in the community wanting to participate in the next course in February.

One of the greatest transitions happened in the lives of a separated couple that had almost given up. On the opening night, we watched the wife practically drag her atheist husband in the door. On the second week, he smiled a lot more and engaged with others around the dinner table. As the weeks passed by, he began to put his arm around his wife and take much greater interest in the teaching.

While we are on the topic of marriage, Chad has had the opportunity to officiate three weddings this year. Being involved with the weddings has sparked some deeper conversations with couples and guests about God. The most recent wedding was particularly encouraging as we also see the wife taking conscious steps toward Christ. We pray that God will continue working miracles among couples like these.

Special assignment missionaries like Chad and Diane Davenport, extend the ministry reach of the local church to touch people for Christ in far away places like Auckland, New Zealand. “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Act 1:8 niv). The generous gifts from local congregations and caring individuals supporting the collective ministries of the church reach people for Christ in a variety of ways, sometimes using Dr. Seuss or marriage courses.

To learn more about the ministry of Chad and Diane Davenport, click here.

JoAnn Tate, Special Assignment Missionary Unexpectedly Dies

It is with a very heavy heart that we inform you of the death of JoAnn Tate, Special Assignment Missionary to Trinidad.

JoAnn’s untimely death occurred December 20th at the Arima Hospital in Port of Spain, Trinidad shortly after returning there from overseas travel. The cause of her death is unknown at this time.

JoAnn and her husband Bob have served faithfully for nearly two years in Trinidad and Tobago. JoAnn worked as a teacher in the West Indies Theological College (WITC) and Bob used his expertise and knowledge of agriculture to assist the people there.

“The Tates have made a tremendous impact at the West Indies Theological College,” said Bob Edwards, coordinator for Global Missions at Church of God Ministries. “Their personal efforts have made significant enhancements in both the academics and the development of the physical plant for the school during these difficult and financially challenging times. During a phone conversation with President Clinton Providence of the West Indies Theological College, he told me they don't know what they will do without JoAnn; ‘this is a great loss to the students and school.’”

Earlier in their ministry career, the Bob and JoAnn served for ten years as para-missionaries in Peru.

JoAnn is survived by her husband – Bob; six children with their’ spouses and children; and JoAnn’s parents – Tom and Lois Shields.

While we grieve for the loss of JoAnn, we can rejoice knowing she will be there in heaven with the Messiah as we here on Earth celebrate his birth this Advent Season.

Please pray for comfort and peace for the Tate family during this difficult time.

CGM Calls for Days of Prayer and Fasting

Let me applaud the leadership of General Director Ron Duncan for taking action by requesting the employees of Church of God Ministries participate in a dedicated time of prayer and fasting to take our petitions concerning the economy to the Lord. Thank you for the leadership. I hope our pastors and congregations will also join in and support this effort.

CGM News Release:

Days of Prayer and Fasting for Economy

The headlines scream recession, layoffs, plant closures, bailouts, record unemployment, failing economies. What is a Christian to do? What is the church to do? Church of God Ministries is taking action by bringing the concern to the Lord.

Beginning January 21 and continuing for the next five months, the staff of Church of God Ministries (CGM) will have a dedicated day of prayer and fasting to lift up the financial crisis facing the United States and other countries of the world.

“We seek to rally the disciples of Jesus Christ and lift our petitions through prayer and fasting to the Lord,” said Dr. Ronald V. Duncan, general director of CGM. “Our staff will pray together and individually through out the day specifically for the financial crisis facing the people of the world.”

Duncan hopes others will join them on the third Wednesday of each month. “We invite people from our local community to join with us here in our offices,” said Duncan. “But we hope others from across the country and around the world will also join us in united prayer.”

To help those wishing to participate, CGM is producing a guide to assist individuals focus their prayer. The resource will be available for download off the CGM homepage.

The CGM employees will gather from 7:30–8:00 am (EST) and then again from 4:30–5:00 pm, all on company time, for a period of united and focused prayer. Throughout the day they will also have the opportunity for individual prayer in the chapel.

“People are hurting, lives are being affected, and we want to help, said Duncan. “Taking it to the Lord is one thing we can do. Please pray with us.”

To learn more about the Days of Prayer and Fasting click here or contact Church of God Ministries, e-mail dfarlow@chog.org or call 765-648-2182.

Transformation from Death to True Life, One Pastor’s Journey

This is a great story that talks about how one pastor, following the leadership of the Spirit, turned a congregation around and in to an effective ministry for the Lord. Enjoy and many thanks to Carl for the article.

By Carl Stagner,

It’s a scene all too familiar in many churches across the country: plenty of pew space but only a few occupants. New Beginnings Church of God in Meadville, Pennsylvania, was a church struggling to see Sunday morning attendance reach twenty. In the face of certain demise, God stepped in and showed he’s still active in the local church today. As is often the case, he used an unlikely character to lead a major turnaround at New Beginnings. Once a congregation on the brink of defeat, New Beginnings Church of God now sees regular attendance in excess of one thousand. Like a giant, the enemy was set to declare victory over this church; like David, Pastor Harold Ferraro obeyed God’s call and took a stand.

In March of 1993, the Church Growth Team of the Church of God in Western Pennsylvania asked Pastor Harold Ferraro to lead a revitalization effort at New Beginnings Church of God in Meadville. At first, Pastor Harold was reluctant—he said no three times. It became clear, however, that this was where God was leading.

The New Beginnings Church of God in Meadville was established in 1939. In recent years, the church had begun to experience significant decline. Pastor Harold explains that the church’s recent history is marked by not having full-time leadership—and only a fill-in pastor, who commuted on weekends from out of town. When Pastor Harold arrived, he recognized the effects of inconsistent leadership. He also observed a serious lack of purpose and an absence of community outreach. He remarks that the church needed change from the bottom up. “God’s Word doesn’t change, but methods have to,” he notes. He also observed a poisonous mindset among the small congregation: “Many churches expect pastors to do all the ministry,” he says. “My job is to equip the congregation to do the ministry.”

With the support of the Church Growth Team, Pastor Harold moved in and presented the church with a plan—one that would test the resolve and ultimate desire of the church. New Beginnings was dying and needed complete renewal. Pastor Harold explained to his new congregation that he would fill the pulpit and provide consistent leadership if the church would agree to give up control to the Church Growth Team. The church agreed. In order to start afresh, New Beginnings had to ensure there was no chance that the “we’ve-always-done-it-that-way” mindset would slow progress. They scrapped their bylaws and dissolved their boards. Pastor Harold describes his role as that of a “benevolent dictator,” yet accountable to God and the Church Growth Team. After three years of growth and a sense of freedom from the church’s history, the pastor’s steering committee would establish new and relevant bylaws.

Pastor Harold grew up in Meadville. When he returned to the pastorate at New Beginnings, local news publications ran headlines such as “Local boy comes home.” These articles, as well as advertisements and mailers announcing to the community that New Beginnings Church of God was having a grand re-opening, contributed to an immediate rise in Sunday morning attendance to fifty-four. The church experienced rapid growth from the start: the following year, attendance in services was averaging ninety-four people, and by the third, it had risen to several hundred.

Pastor Harold stresses the importance of clear communication with the local church. He says that during these years especially, changes were communicated well. Whether in print or via a regular “state of the church address,” the congregation was kept completely in the loop about what would be taking place. They set clear goals and were not surprised. For example, each year, they asserted, the attendance would average that of the previous Easter Sunday service.
Pastor Harold says that from the beginning, New Beginnings experienced rapid growth. When the size of the congregation exceeded the capacity of the original facility, the church began holding midweek services in a nearby retirement center. The retirement center allowed them to meet for no charge. For the first couple of years, the Church Growth Team’s budget took care of Pastor Harold’s salary. These were only a couple of the numerous ways in which God provided for the church’s ever-increasing financial needs.

After four years of meeting in the original facility, and with attendance averaging 385 with four weekly services, the church relocated to a new building. The church bought seventy-three acres only a mile away from the original site. In order to gain more press coverage and more awareness in the community, the congregation planned to make a mass exodus from the old facility to the new. That Sunday morning in 1998, police escorted the congregation as they walked the victorious mile to the new church. With much anticipation, they opened a new chapter in the history of New Beginnings Church of God.

Over the past sixteen years, Pastor Harold has seen his church grow and reach out deeper into the community. Nearly fifteen hundred people have been saved or restored. Pastor Harold says that more than 40 percent of the church’s growth has come through the counseling services the church provides to the community. Through Mercy House, which was founded along with the rebirth of the church, countless souls have received help for addictions, habits, and struggles. The growth promoted by the counseling center fueled additional growth in the church because, as Pastor Harold explains, the “greatest evangelists are new Christians.”

For Pastor Harold, things weren’t always so pleasant. For many years as pastor, Harold Ferraro worked long hours, dedicating much time and energy to the ministry. He found that he was taking care of his flock and family but not ensuring that his own health was up to par. Eight years ago, after a fierce struggle with cancer, which sent him into a deep depression, Pastor Harold discovered a need to take better care of himself. Doctors had given him little hope for survival, but today Pastor Harold is cancer free. He explains that this experience gave him a passion not to waste time with those things that are unimportant to God’s big picture. Pastor Harold had also suffered a car accident after which doctors also gave him little chance that he would walk again. Today, he’s walking just fine. Pastor Harold has seen God provide even in the darkest times. Now he wants to spend the additional time God has given to him building the Kingdom.

What can pastors and churches do to experience revitalization in their communities? Pastor Harold suggests that much of the problem among churches today is a lack of vision and little sense of purpose. He stresses the importance of strong leadership that seeks to please God first, ahead of the needs of the congregation. He emphasizes that contrary to popular opinion, the church is not a democracy; it’s a theocracy. Democracy in the church doesn’t necessarily lead to God’s ultimate plan. He says the church needs to be constantly casting vision while at the same time engaging in clear communication with the congregation. He asserts that people adjust to change much more smoothly if they aren’t surprised by it. He adds that “congregations have to be to the point where they’re willing to die before they can come alive again.” Let go, and let God lead.

Carl Stagner is a mass communications major at Anderson University

Russian Church Gives in Thanks to India

This story is a great example of how one church community can support another community, even if it is in another country.





Enjoy, Dave



By Dwayne & Kara Goldman

Chelyabinsk, Russia—Although Thanksgiving is a traditional American holiday, there is a Thanksgiving or harvest celebration that the church in Russia celebrates each year. Usually held the last week of September, everyone is invited to bring a representation of the bountiful harvest from their gardens. Apples, potatoes, carrots, beets, greens, gourds, and flowers decorate the front of the auditorium. With such a representation of the bounty God provides from nature, the day is very festive and full of rejoicing and praise.



This year, the Chelyabinsk church held a unity service with another church to celebrate Thanksgiving together. The Open Heaven Church is a small church of about thirty, full of many young people and families, and very solid in faith. The two groups planned the service together, and both brought from their harvests and shared in leading parts of the service. It was a wonderful day of worship, enriched by not just celebrating a harvest but experiencing the bounty of fellowship as the body of Christ with other believers.



Because of the joint service, the pastors made a decision that the offerings for that day should also be part of the Thanksgiving. The churches in Russia, as many around the world, have been praying for the believers in India who have been martyred, displaced, and persecuted. The Russian pastors and leadership chose to take the combined tithes and offerings from the Thanksgiving unity service and send it to the church in India, where lives, homes, and churches have been lost.



At the conclusion of the service, the ladies gathered to pray over the offering box, for the funds to be useful and multiplied, for the believers in persecution to remain strong, for God to uphold, bless, and keep them. The ladies pray every week over the offering box, but this week was very special because these funds will literally carry the prayers and blessing to those persecuted believers. The amazing part is that the offering totaled $800! People gave sacrificially because they knew the offering was going to India.



Is there a better way to celebrate Thanksgiving? Celebrate the blessings of provision and of fellowship with the body of Christ and then giving generously to those who are in need. These churches have need of that weekly offering, but they chose to sacrifice in praise to God. There are very real needs present at these two Russian churches, but they also have learned that God is faithful. Giving with willing and cheerful hearts, in view of God’s blessings, they fully trust him to provide for their needs. What a wonderful economy we have in the family of God!



As we now prepare for the American celebration of Thanksgiving, we are so thankful to be part of this church and witness such events. May our perspectives deepen and thanksgiving be enriched because of the difficulties surrounding us. The worship of the Russian believers was enhanced as they gave thanks for their freedoms even while remembering the sufferings of others. May it be for us all that as we give thanks, we are also challenged to do something practical to help those all around us in need. There are some very real difficulties in all our towns, states, and countries, but allow those to deepen your praise this Thanksgiving. The Lord is good; he will supply our every need, freeing us to give to those in need around us. In the current climate of fluctuating economies and political uncertainties, may such difficulties and instabilities only point our attention more to our never changing God. As this is done, our faith will deepen and our praise will be more joyous. Give thanks!



Learn more about the Goldmans, career missionaries to Russia, by clicking here.