Team Wisconsin Update 3-18-08

High Point

I had a good day with Pastor Channing and Esther last Sunday. They are working with a developing church in Rice Lake, with a vision to turn the ministry around. There was a good spirit in the service and the facilities looked very clean and well-kept. There are some new couples who have begun to connect with the ministry there. Pray for Channing as he continues to lead this refocusing effort.

John Clarke

Remember to pray for Erma Clarke and family. A long time pastor and friend of the Wisconsin District, John Clarke, passed away last week in La Crosse. He continued to serve at the Sand Lake Church as long as he was physically able. The viewing will be Sunday evening, 6:00-8:00 p.m. and the funeral service will be Monday, March 17 at 11:00 a.m., both at the Sand Lake Wesleyan Church.

Easter Offering

We want to again encourage our churches to take an offering for church planting in the springtime, sometime around Easter. It doesn’t have to be on Easter Sunday. These monies are an important resource for the Evangelism and Church Growth Department to continue to encourage and push the church planting efforts of the denomination. The Wisconsin District, along with others, benefits from these resources, as we plant new congregations.

Nicaragua Partnership

This winter’s medical team, the 14th team to go from Wisconsin, was made up of support members Marcy Keup, Todd Keup, Carole Malinoski, Neal Moss, Cindy Terry, Katie Toraason, and RN’s Kathy Dettle, Laura Pulda, Leah Herstad Schmitz, Kim Striber, Gail Thielman, Suzie Ulmer, and Medical Dr. David Taylor. They were joined by the missionaries Eckhardts and Knoxes, Nicaraguan medical students and translators, Dr. Arauz and the local Wesleyan pastors. Dr. Bob Christie, a dentist, also worked with the team in Malacatoya. Nicaraguan church members assisted by organizing, packing medicine, entertaining children and preparing a noon meal for the workers. Six days of clinics were held and over 1,900 people were treated with health consultations that included medication and health education. Every family received a copy of the gospel of John and the children received Bible story cards. A lot of prayer takes place before, during and after the clinics. Through conversations and invitations throughout the day, people are invited to accept Jesus Christ into their lives. District Superintendent Enrique Montenegro reported that several people accepted Christ and a number of people have been invited to church. Huge kudos to everyone who helped make the trip a life-changing week for many people and for the kingdom.

Focus Tour

Last week about 30 pastors and staff participated in a wonderful day of learning and encouragement with presenters Jim Dunn and Phil Stevenson. The day consisted of pastoral and leadership spiritual formation issues along with challenges to strategically move ahead with expanding the kingdom through church multiplication. Our leaders went away with new ideas and new motivation to be proactive in caring for themselves as leaders and starting new churches. Jim Dunn and Phil Stevenson are general directors of the Spiritual Formation and Evangelism and Church Growth Departments of the Wesleyan Church.

Calendar

March

15-16 Mt. Pisgah Visit

17-20 DS Institute, GBA

23 Easter Sunday

25—4/1 Vacation (our son’s wedding)

Team Wisconsin Update 3-4-08

I was privileged to be with Lead Pastor Craig Cooper, his staff and congregation this past weekend. They have three services - one on Saturday and two on Sunday. Everyone has their role and does their part well throughout the weekend. Pastor Todd Arneson oversees the missions, connections and congregational care. Pastor Jeff Semple leads worship and takes care of the creative arts. Pastor Heather Semple oversees all spiritual formation. Pastor Brandon Willis works in student ministries and also shares some of the teaching and discipleship classes. Reenie and I were privileged to connect with each of them sometime over the weekend. There is an excitement about the future. People are coming to Christ. There is a group of youth preparing to go with the Nicaragua youth missions team this summer. Pastor Craig continues to give good leadership, along with his staff, to moving Red Cedar into the future. Pray for them as they do their major outreach at Easter at the High school auditorium and as they determine their future needs for facilities and additional space.

Nicaragua

Here are some things you can celebrate and pray about that are happening in Nicaragua:

• The medical team returned from Nicaragua last week and you’ll be hearing an update next week.

• The Nicaragua Bible Institute has begun its new year of classes. Jim Eckhardt is teaching a class on

Pastoral Ethics and Mike Knox is teaching the Introduction to the New Testament.

• The Amigos del Rey church in Tipitapa is holding services in Matagalpa. The church is averaging 70 people and there are 5 new believers.

• A work team from the New Life Wesleyan Church in Gillette, WY was in Nicaragua last month to work on the church in Malacatoya.

• Pray for our three grade schools in Mount Horeb, Las Colinas and Los Amiguitor del Rey. Together there are several hundred students.

• Pray for the new district board, elected in January, and remember District Superintendent Enrique Montenegro as he leads.

• Pray for the Mount Horeb Church and a work group from Sheridan, WY who will be building a kitchen in order to host a feeding program in the future.

Focus Tour

This Thursday, Phil Stevenson and Jim Dunn will be coming to Wisconsin and teaching on how to have spiritual, leadership, principle and outward focus. Pray with us that it will be an encouraging and challenging day.

Easter Offering

Every year around the Easter season we are encouraged and challenged to thinking missionally by giving the people in our churches opportunity to give to assist in church planting. A significant part of our vision as a district and a denomination
is to plant new congregations. The Easter offering is a significant way that we can invest in planting, training, coaching and resourcing. I encourage you to do what you can for church planting. Every pastor has received information and promotional material.

Calendar

March 4 ................................................. Dialogues

5 ............... Nicaragua Partnership Meeting

6 ............................... Focus Tour (Pastors)

8 ................................... Casa de Dios LBA

9 ........................................ High Point Visit

10 ......................................... The River LBA

11 ................................................. Dialogues

12 ........................................ Lakeshore LBA

13 .................................... Darrow Road LBA

15-16 ........................................ Mt. Pisgah Visit

17-20 .................................... DS Institute, GBA

23 ......................................... Easter Sunday

25—4/1 .................. Vacation (our son’s wedding)

Team Wisconsin Updat 2-26-08

This past Sunday southwestern Wisconsin had the sun shining, there was no major snow storm and the temperature was actually close to freezing – a welcome relief from around 90 inches of snow and cold temperatures, much of which seemed to fall on the weekends. We had a good day with Pastor Dennis and Sela Jones and the Beulah Wesleyan Church. Pastor Dennis played his guitar and sang. He did a great job. I didn’t know it, but he came from a very musical family and was close to launching a musical career before the Lord steered him toward full-time ministry. Another interesting thing that many don’t know is that they also have two Great Danes – and they’re BIG! After lunch and my annual dialogue with Dennis, Reenie and I headed to Minnesota to visit with some good friends and give Reenie a chance to do some shopping before the wedding.

Transformation City

Jason Butler and the new north Milwaukee church plant had their first service back in the Rosebud Theater last Sunday. In addition to the launch team and others, they had 8 people there for the first time. They didn’t reach their numerical goal, but they were encouraged by the response and the fresh start at their new location. One of the things that has happened through the past several months of wrangling with the city fathers is that it has opened doors to communicate the vision and dream with the community and leaders. It has also served to unite and encourage the entire faith community to work together to reach the community with the gospel.

Baraboo

Saturday about a dozen men got helped Pastor Josh refurbish the Jubilee Wesleyan Church in Baraboo. Pastor Josh and Jamie had led the congregation in redoing a lot of the interior and exterior of the building which had fallen into disrepair and was in desperate need of upgrading. An office and nursery have been added upstairs and the entire main level is being insulated and dry-walled, with new windows, lights, and sound system. With the help of Pastor Dwayne and some men from Eau Claire, Pastor Roger Miller, a local carpenter and his son, and a couple of men from the church, the entire ceiling was insulated and sheet rocked. A local reporter even came out, took some pictures and interviewed Josh. The story was on the front page of the paper.


Iglesia Cristiana Wesleyana, Casa de Restauracion

I’ve had two meetings with Pastor Juan Morillo and Pastor Daniel Munoz in the past week to discuss the exact location for this new church plant. Waukesha County has the fastest growing Hispanic population in the state of Wisconsin and will soon surpass the total in Milwaukee County and we are feeling this is where we need to move into. Please pray as we look for housing in the Waukesha area and work out a location for the new congregation to meet. They are presently meeting in one of the family’s homes on Saturdays.

Focus Tour

Pastors and staff will be coming from all over Wisconsin next Thursday, March 6 to spend a day with Phil Stevenson and Jim Dunn. The focus will be on the pastors themselves and on being missional churches and a missional district. Please pray that the Lord would speak through and empower the presenters to encourage and challenge us.

Calendar

February

26 Red Cedar LBA

27 Dialogues

March

1-2 Red Cedar Visit

4 Dialogues

5 Nicaragua Partnership Meeting

6 Focus Tour (Pastors)

8 Casa de Dios LBA

9 High Point Visit

10 The River LBA

15-16 Mt. Pisgah Visit

17-20 DS Institute, GBA

23 Easter Sunday

25—4/1 Vacation (our son’s wedding)

Team Wisconsin Update 2-20-08

Hayward
I was privileged to speak at Hayward Wesleyan Church last weekend. Hayward is in north central Wisconsin where, when you stay overnight in a hotel on the weekend there are as many snowmobiles in the parking lot as there are cars. Pastor Mark and his family were in Ohio where he was speaking in his home church, ministering to his family who just recently lost a loved one in a tragic car accident. It was a great opportunity to connect with the staff of the largest church in the Wisconsin District. Pastors Ben, Loretta, Tim, Heath and Jeremy, along with Pastor Mark, are doing a great job leading the church to continued growth. Just a little over a year ago they gave birth to a daughter church in Minong. Their baby church has grown to two services. We are working on property issues because they are already outgrowing the facilities they are renting. Interestingly, as The River church was launched, other churches have contributed people and resources – Spooner, Gull Lake, and Darrow Road. Hayward continues to make an impact in their local community, in Wisconsin, and around the world.

Dialogues & Church LBA’s

This past week I had a good meeting with the Valley and Woodland LBA’s, as well as some good dialogues with pastors. It is exciting to see light bulbs come on and churches catching a vision for what a missional vs. maintenance church looks like.

Special Prayer Items for This Week

1. Transformation City and Jason Butler

Jason and the team are preparing for their Grand Opening Sunday, February 24 at the Rosebud Theatre. Please pray that:

· People who have heard about Transformation City and are not connected to a community of faith will feel compelled to come

· People will hear the message of the Gospel both this Sunday and next

· God would remove obstacles and distractions for people to come and hear the message

· God would surround every aspect of the church

2. Nicaragua Medical Team

Please pray that these last three days would be filled with hope and promise for the hundreds of Nicaraguan who will receive medical attention as well as an opportunity to connect with Christ and the Wesleyan church in Nicaragua.

3. The River Church and Ben Kidder

Please pray that God would give wisdom and direction to this new congregation and the DBA as we work on property and space issues. We need to purchase something, upgrade and expand facilities for the short term, then plan for future property acquisition.

Calendar

February 20 Dialogues

21 Our Saviors’ LBA

23 Baraboo Jubilee Construction

24 Beulah visit, Dialogue

26 Red Cedar LBA

27 Dialogues

Team Wisconsin Update 2-15-08

Last Sunday I was privileged to be at Lakeshore, the church that was restarted about 8 years ago in the Madison area.  Since the original restart in Middleton, the congregation has moved to the southern part of the Madison area.  They are now meeting in Chavez Elementary school and have purchased another home in a growing neighborhood for Pastor David Treloar and his family.  It was another cold and winter storm morning – par for the course here in southern Wisconsin this year.  We had a great time worshipping with the congregation. This has been a year of transition for the Treloars.  After moving to a new home, David’s father and mother came to live in Madison because of the discovery of his Dad’s cancer.  David and Lisa have helped them through the surgery and subsequent therapy.  Reenie and I had the opportunity to share a meal with the family on Saturday evening to catch up with their journey.  Pray especially for them as their LBA meets this weekend to work on vision and strategy for their future.
Sunday evening I went from an extreme winter in Wisconsin to an extremely nice winter in Florida.  The Indiana Wesleyan University Board met for three days to dream, plan and prepare for the future we feel God has for IWU.  The President and cabinet worked together to help develop some strategic initiatives and plans to help the institution fulfill its mission to the Wesleyan Church and impact the world for Christ.  We feel extremely blessed by the Lord for the way He is using this institution to raise up young men and women who are truly becoming world-changers. 
The Nicaragua medical team is there his week, distributing hundreds of pounds of medicine and assisting several thousand patients.  Please pray for this team’s strength and wisdom, that people would see Christ and want to enter into a relationship with Him, and that positive connections would be made with the Wesleyan pastors and churches.  The Wesleyan church in Nicaragua continues to grow.  In the past two years there have been 5 new congregations and preaching points established.  There are now 3 Christian schools.  Mike and Amy Knox and the Eckhardts are giving good leadership to the work there.

Calendar

February 13-21 Nicaragua Medical Team Trip
17 Hayward visit
18 Dialogue, Woodland LBA
19 Hales Corners LBA
20 Dialogues
21 Our Saviors’ LBA
23 Baraboo Jubilee Construction
24 Beulah visit, Dialogue
26 Red Cedar LBA
27 Dialogues

Team Wisconsin Update 2-8-08

Over There
Thank you for praying for the Pastor’s training trip this year in Nicaragua. This was our 8th trip to invest in leadership training for the pastors and leaders in the local churches and schools there. A great team included Richard & Jan Concklin, Mark Holmes, Brandon Willis and Cindy Terry from Wisconsin and Jim Eckhardt and Mike Knox from the field. We had the opportunity to travel to Matagalpa and see the area where one of the four new churches is being planted. We also toured the school that World Hope and Hillside Wesleyan church have established and built.

There are presently 14 churches and preaching points, along with 3 schools operating in Nicaragua. The Tipitapa church and district are preparing to begin churches in three different areas, along with another school, this next year. We are still working on and praying for the right land and facility to house the district ministry center for office and training.

Please remember to pray especially for the medical ministry team that is heading to Nicaragua February 13-21. We are fulfilling the command of Jesus to minister to those who are sick through these medical teams. We are also beginning to see some fruit through changed lives as a result of this faithful service.


Over Here

The Wisconsin pastors and spouses got together for the annual “Getaway”. It was a wonderful time for everyone and David Holdren, the presenter, did a great job speaking truth into all of our lives. We left refreshed and excited to jump back into ministry.

Eau Claire was my destination last weekend. Pastor Dwayne and his staff – Matt, Chris, and Kathy – continue to give good leadership to the ministry there. It is always a delight for me to stop in where I pastored for 10 years. I saw a lot of friends and new faces. Eau Claire has played a significant role in missions, particularly in Nicaragua. Kent and Hannah Peterson lead two of our ministry teams each year to Nicaragua and there are many people that have gone as team members or assisted in packing meds for the medical team outreach. Thanks, Eau Claire, for your investment in the kingdom both locally and around the world.

Calendar

February 7 Spooner LBA

9 Janesville LBA

10 Lakeshore visit

10-13 IWU Board Retreat

13-21 Nicaragua Medical Team Trip

16 Hales Corner LBA

17 Hayward visit

18, 20 Dialogues, Woodland LBA

21 Our Saviors’ LBA

24 Beulah visit

26 Red Cedar LBA

27 Dialogues

Team Wisconsin Update 1-9-08

Hillsboro, along with about every other church in southwestern Wisconsin, got majorly snowed out on Christmas Sunday, December 23. So, they did their special Christmas musical presentation on January 6. They did a great job. They even let me preach. It was a very good day with Pastor Roger and Cathy Miller, Pastor Russell and Margaret Wooten and the congregation. I also had the privilege of meeting with their board on Saturday evening. Pastor Miller has been at Hillsboro for 18 years now and has given good leadership to the congregation. About 5 years ago the local high school principal, a board member, started a new ministry to the community. The Wesleyan church was the primary sponsor. They began to serve a free community dinner at Christmas. The first years were held at the church, but it has grown from 100 to 450 and they are now using the local high school. Churches and businesses have gotten involved, donating turkeys and other food. Kudos to Pastor Miller and the congregation.

Thank you

I want to say a big thank you to all of the individuals and local churches that have given to provide scholarships for the annual Pastor’s Training week in Nicaragua. Also, scholarships for the ongoing Theological Education of pastors and leaders continues to come in. One special thanks this year goes to one of our newest church plants, Northern Lakes, who is providing money for four students. What is really cool is that a Hispanic church that meets at Northern Lakes donated $300 to help provide education to pastors in Nicaragua. Thanks Kevin O’Connor and congregations.

Connections

As you know, you’ve not received this for a couple of weeks. The Bickels spent several days together over the holidays, both in Indiana and Wisconsin. Two special people are becoming part of us. Brittany Wilson, Brice’s fiancée, was able to spend Christmas in Wisconsin. She got to experience over two feet of snow on the ground and 0 degree weather. Brice and Brittany will be married the end of March. Jackson Daniel arrived on the scene in June to our son Brent and Laura. We had a wonderful time with everyone. One special moment was having a five generation picture with little Jackson Daniel, father Brent, grandma Reenie, great grandpa Edwin Hoover, and great-great grandma Juanita Hoover.

Prayer

We would appreciate your continuing prayers for the search teams of Janesville and Sand Lake churches, vice-chairs Phil and Rudy, and interim pastors Gary and Richard.

Pray for the pastoral training team that will be teaching in Nicaragua next week, January 14-21. Team members include team leader Mark Holmes, Richard and Jan Concklin, Brandon Willis, Dan Bickel and translator Cindy Terry. This team will join with missionaries Mike and Amy Knox, Jim and Julie Eckhardt and Nicaraguan Superintendent Enrique Montenegro.

Calender

January 8………………………….. Dialogues

Safe Harbor Board

Janaury 9……………………………Dialogues

High Point Leadership

January 10………………………….Dialogues

Janaury 13………………………….Pardeeville visit

January 14-21………………………Nicaragua

Pastor’s Training Trip

January 24………………………….Dialogues

Janaury 26……………………………….DBA

January 27-29…………………………..The Getaway

(for all Wisconsin pastors and spouses)