Team Wisconsin Update 6-20-08

Janesville

Last Sunday I had the privilege of being with the Janesville congregation to install and welcome Pastor Paul Wilczek and his family. They arrived about three weeks ago from Western New York and are excited to start leading in Janesville. Paul and Tammy have three children living at home with them. They are returning to New York this week for their daughter’s dance recital and to work on the sale of their home. Richard and Jan Concklin have been serving as an interim pastor there since the past left last fall. The congregation had an appreciation dinner last month for them and presented them with a beautiful album full of pictures, letters and memories of their time there. I have high appreciation and regard for Richard and Jan for their willingness to love and serve congregations in times of transition. Welcome, Paul and Tammy.

Activities and Events

This past week I’ve met with two other boards who are in transition. We would appreciate your prayers as they begin working through the transitional issues as leaders.

I also had the privilege of spending Monday with Pastors Juan Morillo and Jorge Valle, along with their sons, as we traveled north to the middle school camp and to meet with Enrique Montenegro in Hayward. It was a great opportunity to get to know Pastor Jorge, who is wanting to affiliate with the Wesleyan church. Pastor Juan’s two sons, Zee and Daniel, attended the middle school camp this week – their first one in the United States for them. Monday evening we were hosted by the Hayward Wesleyan church for a fiesta and a service. David and the worship band led the music and Enrique shared a little about the country and the work there in Nicaragua. It was a good connection for he and the pastors from Milwaukee. Also, on our way up north we made a quick stop and met with Pastor Todd and the leader of the Hispanic work being done in Rice Lake out of the Red Cedar church. The Red Cedar church has fixed up a house behind the church to be used for Bible studies and English as a second language classes.

Also, on Saturday, Reenie and I spend the day in Milwaukee in meetings with pastors. We met with Pastor Jason and Alya Butler from the Transformation City church, along with their new intern from Bethany and the new couple that has moved to Milwaukee to work along side of the Butlers to help plant the new church. They now have 25-30 people meeting regularly with them and they are gearing up for their ‘official’ launch this fall. Tim and Sommer Nelson have felt led for almost a year to come to Milwaukee to be part of the leadership. Tim is a graduate of Fuller and Sommer is an attorney. We also met with Pastor Don and Andrea Towle that afternoon.

Prayer

Please pray for the District Conference this week – Thursday and Friday.

Please pray for the Woodland church and Mary Coolidge. Due to health issues, she is stepping out of ministry for a while.

Please pray for Eastman as they begin the search for a new pastor after the retirement of Fred Whyte.

Please continue to pray for Sand Lake and Northern Lakes as they continue their search for a pastor.

Please pray for Chopper Brown and the staff as they prepare for the Senior High Camp that starts Sunday, June 29.

Calendar

June 22 Baker St.

June 25 DBA

June 26-7 Dist. Conference

June 29-July 4 High School Camp, Riverside Camp

July 7-14 Youth Nicaragua Trip

July 13 Westbrooke Visit

Casa de Restauracion Launch Sunday, 3 PM

July 14-21 Youth Honduras Trip



Dan Bickel

Wisconsin District Superintendent

Our Saviors
Last Sunday I spent a good part of the day with Pastor Gerry Krupp and the congregation at Our Saviors. They have two services, but will combine them during the summer. Wenda Krupp is their worship leader, but, due to illness, Pastor Gerry and the team stepped in and did a good job leading the music. Neal Moss shared some words of appreciation about the pastors and Pastor Stevan and Pastor Gerry both received a check to express gratitude and appreciation from the congregation for their leadership. For dinner I had the opportunity to share a meal with Gerry and his newest staff person, Karen Scheel and her husband Dan. Karen has come on staff to do pastoral care and counseling as well as giving leadership to other areas, including the women’s ministry. Dan is a business man who also is the president of a missions organization that helps provide training to pastors and leaders in India.

Kevin O’Connor

Kevin and Carol O’Connor will be leaving for Asheville, NC after Father’s Day Sunday, June 15th. Kevin has felt directed to move there to start a new congregation. He and Carol have done a wonderful job these last 6 years to carve out a new beachhead for the kingdom in Cumberland, WI. Northern Lakes was a daughter church from Rice Lake Red Cedar, who supplied them with one of their worship teams as the group to help start the ministry. We wish Kevin and Carol the very best in their ministry as they follow the dream God has given them.

Fred Whyte

As many of you know, Fred Whyte, pastor at Eastman, had a heart attack several weeks ago. He is recovering very well, but will be retiring from full-time ministry, beginning this summer. Fred and Sandy have been at Eastman for three years and have served this congregation faithfully. Pray for them as they begin the transition to a new home and a new chapter in their lives. Also pray for the Eastman congregation as they begin a pastoral search.

Please Pray For

· Churches in transition – Sand Lake, Northern Lakes, and Eastman.

· General Conference—June 6-11. The church delegates and leaders will gather to choose leaders and make future-impacting decisions for the church at large.

· Kids Camp, which will be held next week. Pray for Jeremy Mavis, his staff and all the children that it will be a life-changing week.

· Middle School and High School Camps taking place later this month.

· District Conference—June 26-27. Pray that God will be present to encourage and inspire us to fulfill the vision He has given us to grow and expand the kingdom.

Calendar

June
7-11 General Conference
9-13 North & South Kids Camps
15 Janesville—Paul Wilczek Installation
15-20 Middle School Camp
22 Baker Street Annual Visit
26-27 District Conference
29—July 4 Senior High Camp

July
7-14 Nicaragua Youth Missions Trip
14-21 Honduras Youth Missions Trip

Williston
Yes, the town is in another district and another state – North Dakota – at least 14 hours away, but that is where we were last Sunday.  We traveled there to continue building a relationship with a potential future IWU alumnus – our grandson, Jackson.  Before celebrating his first birthday party, we worked on and completed several projects around the home and enjoyed spending time with our son Brent, his wife, Laura and, of course, Jackson.  We enjoyed attending church at New Hope where Brent is the Family Life pastor.
 
Church Planting
The last day and a half was spent with the General Director of Evangelism and Church Growth, Phil Stevenson, and a specially appointed committee to work on strategic planning for planting churches in our district.  Craig Cooper, our district E & CG Director, worked to set up this very productive meeting.  I so appreciate his leadership in this area. We rejoiced over the new congregations the Lord has helped us to establish and the ones that are in the process right now.  Part of our dream continues to be to plant at least 20 new churches by 2020.
 
I recently met with Juan and Daniel where they introduced me to another potential church planting pastor from El Salvador, who has moved to Wisconsin.  Please continue to pray for our Spanish-speaking church plants.

Thank you for your continuing financial support and prayers for expanding the kingdom through new congregations.
 
Welcome
Paul Wilczek—Paul and his family recently arrived in Janesville where Paul will be pasturing the church.
Tim Nelson—Tim and his wife have moved to Milwaukee to work with Jason and Alya Butler in the planting of Transformation City. 

We welcome you to the Wisconsin District!

Nicaragua
We have some sad news from Nicaragua.  Pastor Reina of the Rosa de Saron (Rose of Sharon) church in Los Laureles, lost her husband, Cesar Gaitan, to a stroke.  Cesar provided for his family through farming and, in addition to their grieving his loss, this will be a blow to the family financially.  They have a daughter, son and 16-month old granddaughter.  Please pray for Pastor Reina, her family and the church.
 
Also, continue to remember Mike and Amy Knox as they and their three children prepare to leave Nicaragua and return to Wisconsin for this year.  They will be back in the states next month.
 
New Baby
We can all celebrate with Ben and Ingrid Kidder, pastor of The River Church in Minong.  They have a baby boy, Blaise Barnabas Kidder, born last Wednesday. He entered the world at a whopping 10# 11 oz. and extended the tape measure to 22 inches.  Congratulations to Ben and Ingrid.  That made for quite a memorable memorial day weekend.
 
Prayer
Please continue to remember the special events coming in June – General Conference, District Conference, and our children, middle school and high school camps.

Calendar

June
1 Our Savior’s Annual Visit
7-11 General Conference
9-13 North & South Kids Camps
15 Janesville—Paul Wilczek Installation
15-20 Middle School Camp
22 Baker Street Annual Visit
26 Westbrooke Annual Visit
26 Casa de Restauracion Visit
26-27 District Conference
29—July 4 Senior High Camp

July
7-14 Nicaragua Youth Missions Trip
14-21 Honduras Youth Missions Trip

Leading a great team—Your Servant, Dan Bickel, Wisconsin District Superintendent 



 
   


 
   

Team Wisconsin Update 5-14-08

Lakeshore

It was a wonderful Mother’s Day as I had the privilege of dropping in at the home church to worship with Pastor David Treloar and the Lakeshore church family.  Pastor David preached a good message, as he always does.  He is in a series on the Home entitled “Housework.”  This week was on the Office; he spoke on finances, giving some good Biblical foundation and sharing John Wesley’s three principles on money – “Earn all you can, Save all you can, Give all you can.”  I also had the opportunity to hear Jeff Lennberg for the first time leading worship at Lakeshore.  Jeff and his family have felt led to begin ministry preparation with the Wesleyan church and to begin worshipping and working with Lakeshore.  He does a good job and it was a delight to visit with he and his family.

A special treat for us was to have our son and his family here.  Brent, Laura and Jackson stopped in on their way to Indiana where Brent is taking his last master’s class at Indiana Wesleyan University. 
 
Congratulations to Pastor Russell and Margaret Wooten! They have welcomed their 18th grandchild, Judah Reagan Clipner, into the world this past week. Mom and Dad (their daughter and son-in-law Kenny & Michelle), and all five brothers and sisters are doing great.  Grandma and Grandpa Wooten are pretty excited, too.
 
Nica News

The Knoxes and Eckhardts had a special time of retreat in Matagalpa recently.  The Knox family will be returning to the United States next month for a year of travel and connecting with churches and supporters.

The work team from Sheridan, WY was a huge blessing to the construction project at Mount Horeb.  The project is about 50% complete.  Mount Horeb is the location of one of three schools we have in Nicaragua and there is a church there as well.  Three people from the Mount Horeb church were baptized last weekend

The newly planted church at Matagalpa in northern Nicaragua has been given the use of a house to hold services.  This is a huge praise because the rainy season starts soon and they have been meeting on top of a ridge in the great outdoors.  There were over 80 people there in attendance last week.
 
Please pray for:

Sand Lake and Northern Lakes Churches in the pastoral search process.

General Conference and District Conference in June.

The summer camps (two Children’s, Middle School and Senior High).

Mary Coolidge, who remains in the hospital in Superior.

Debbie Hoover, Projects Director of World Hope, and wife of Chesapeake Dist. Supt.

Stan Hoover (and also Dan and Reenie’s sister-in-law) who will be having surgery on Friday.

Shelley Berry, wife of South Coastal Dist. Supt. Dan Berry as she continues to recover from the serious automobile accident. You can read of her progress and specific requests at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/danshelleyberry. 
 
Calendar

May
14 Nicaraguan Partnership Committee
17 DBMD Meeting
18 Woodland Visit
19-25 Vacation
28 Church Planting Strategic Planning

Summer Camps & Conferences

June
7-11 General Conference
9-13 North & South Kids Camps
15-20 Middle School Camp 26-27 District Conference
29—July 4 Senior High Camp

Eastman is a small town in the southwestern part of Wisconsin. The beautiful brick church sits along the main drag and is one of three churches in the town. I had the privilege of speaking on Sunday, then sharing a meal with the congregation and meeting with their LBA. Pastor Fred and Sandy were called there three years ago and have worked faithfully and hard to build the congregation. The congregation is unique in that almost all of the church is made up of those in the farming industry and almost all families home school their children. They have an active children’s, youth and young adult ministry that meets weekly. It was good to catch up with Fred and see that he is recovering very well from the heart attack he had just a short time ago. He reports that there appears to be minimal damage and he expects an almost full recovery in a few weeks. That is a remarkable thing, considering his heart stopped and he almost died twice. Thank the Lord for His touch and grace on Pastor Fred.

Year End Deadlines!

· May 10 (postmark) USF payments for the past fiscal year.

· May 15 all Annual Service Reports.

· May 31 all other reports (statistical, delegates, leaders, etc.)

Promptness in reporting is not only required; it is greatly appreciated.


Prayer Requests

Please pray for:

· Pastor Mary Coolidge who was rushed to the hospital to stabilize her because of problems with her medication

· Pastor Fred Whyte as he continues to heal from the heart attack.

· Northern Lakes Church and Sand Lake Church in the continuing search for a pastor.

· The upcoming General Conference in June.

· Our annual District Conference.

· Our children’s camps, middle school camp, and high school camp coming in June.

Calendar

May 11 Drop-in Visit (Mother’s Day)
14 Nicaraguan Partnership Committee
17 DBMD Meeting
18 Woodland Visit
19-25 Vacation
28 Church Planting Strategic Planning

Summer Camps and Conferences

June 7-11 General Conference
9-13 North & South Kids Camps
15-20 Middle School Camp
26-27 District Conference
29—July 4 Senior High Camp

Team Wisconsin Update 5-2-08

The past two weeks we connected with West Allis in southern Wisconsin & Stone Lake in northern Wisconsin. 

West Allis
West Allis has combined their two services and blended the elements and style into one.  Pastor Peter and Peggy have been at West Allis for 19 years now, having raised their two children there, and helping to raise foster children in recent years.  While Peter pastors the church, Peggy works in a local school system as a physical therapist.  A number of people have been called into vocational ministry under their leadership. 

Stone Lake
Stone Lake continues to be led by supply pastor Don Berry, now in his 9th year there.  Don and Bea Berry, who live in Rice Lake, have led the congregation in beginning a Monday evening kids’ ministry and completing a beautiful education/fellowship addition to the original church.  They just recently took in 13 members with a few more to be added soon.  I had the privilege of meeting with the leadership team there and talking about their vision for the future.


Spiritual Formation
Heath Davis, our adult spiritual formation director, along with Jeremy and Chopper, have a blogspot and I would encourage you to check it out regularly at www.wispiritualformation.blogspot.com. Heath is the main writer/contributor and I’m sure you’ll find his thoughts interesting and encouraging.  There are also several links to information and resources that can be helpful in your work to help grow and mature the Christ-followers in your care.
 
Congratulations to the Tripps
Pastor Alan Tripp writes, “Just want you to know that we have another blessing in our family.  Sarah Beth made her debut on April 27th weighing in at 9 lbs. 3 oz. and 21 inches long.  She arrived by c-section, but mom and baby are doing good.  Ruth is enthralled with her little sister and will be more help than mom needs.  It would help if Ruth understood what the term "gentle" means.”  Sarah Beth is Alan and Irene Tripp’s granddaughter, the daughter of their son Steven and his wife Tori.  Steven has just recently become a professor at Indiana Wesleyan University.
 
District Board of Administration
The DBA met a couple of weeks ago and dealt mainly with missional issues such as developing churches, church planting and how to provide the financial support for a missional vision.  As we prepare for our annual conference, we are praying and planning for a wonderful time together. 
 
Camps and Conferences
Also, as we begin the required reporting process for the past year of ministry, and continue to look to the future, please pray for the camps and conferences:

General Conference June 7-11
North and South Kids camps June 9-13
Middle School camp June 15-20
District Conference June 26-27
Senior High camp June 29-July 4

District Calendar

May

4 Eastman Visit & LBA
6 Nominating Committee Meeting
11 Drop-in Visit (Mother’s Day)
14 Nicaraguan Partnership Committee
17 DBMD Meeting
18 Woodland Visit
19-25 Vacation
28 Church Planting Strategic Planning

Leading a great team—Your Servant, Dan Bickel, Wisconsin District Superintendent 


 

Team Wisconsin Update 4-16-08

Valton

It took me three years to find Valton without making a phone call ahead of time. This small town in southwestern Wisconsin, under the good leadership of Pastor Terry Woirol, continues to grow and make an impact on their community. I had the privilege of speaking in their worship service last Sunday. The sanctuary was nearly packed and it was a good time of worship with the congregation. Valton continues to oversee a significant ministry to help those in need in their community. They are very active in missions. This year they will give 10% of the church’s income to church planting in the district! Every month they have an ecumenical men’s breakfast with several churches in the area. The church has expanded and upgraded their facilities several times to create more ministry space. They are just beginning to talk about where to add or build larger worship space. Pastor Terry and Lori have been there for 14 years. They have three children – one married, one engaged and one in high school. And, they are proud grandparents, too. In the afternoon I met with the Valton LBA and had a dialogue time with Pastor Terry.

Mt. Pisgah

I met with the Mt. Pisgah LBA Sunday evening and caught up on their exciting news. Mt. Pisgah hit over 200 last Sunday with their new Saturday evening and their Sunday morning service.


End of Year Reports & Plans for New District Year

Earlier in the week I spent several hours with our wonderful district treasurer, Vernon Woods, to go over that fun stuff called “budget”. Sharon, his wife, was a wonderful hostess, as always, and fed me well! We have a wonderful and committed district treasurer, who sacrificially gives a lot of time to serve our district.

It’s hard to believe we are coming to the close of another conference year and all of the wonderful things that come along with it – like year-end reports. Pastors, district leaders and delegates will soon be receiving information about the district conference, ordination, and reports deadlines.

Prayer

Continue to remember Sand Lake and Northern Lakes in the pastoral search process.

Pray for Gary Maness, interim pastor at Sand Lake. His father is very ill and he has flown to St. Louis to be with him.

Continue to pray for Erma Clarke, who lost her husband, John, recently.

Calendar

April

19 DBA

20 West Allis Visit

25-26 Minnesota Men’s Retreat

27 Stone Lake Visit, LBA


Leading a great team—Your Servant, Dan Bickel, Wisconsin District Superintendent