Tom Avey

The annual conference of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches will focus on iGo and will get you pumped about telling people about Jesus.

Held July 27-31, 2008 at Innisbrook Golf Resort near Tampa, Fla., the sessions will be targeted to the various aspects of the iGo theme. Moderator Jim Brown has a unique passion for the Fellowship and for its evangelistic mission. Special speaker Mark Cahill and our own Grace Brethren pastors will challenge your heart.

Remember, 1.8 people enter eternity every second! We must tell everyone we can about Jesus.

iGo08 is also a celebration to remember the promises and the blessings of God. It’s a big party to mark all that God is doing through Grace Brethren worldwide. There is much to tell!

In addition to challenging sessions, the week will provide a great, refreshing get-away for everyone.

Stay in a beautiful golf villa that includes a full kitchen and much more!

Swim in one of six pools, including the multi-million dollar Loch Ness Pool with water slides and its own beach. Enjoy complementary shuttles to access any location in the resort or nearby Honeymoon Island.

Trust your kids to our full child care (infants through Kindergarten) and Kids Konference (grades 1-6) during scheduled sessions.

Feast at sponsored banquets or some of the many affordable restaurants nearby.

And much more!

Like to golf? There are four championship courses. Like the beach? Visit Honeymoon Island or Clearwater Beach. Like good food? Each day special banquets are planned with great food and a great story of God’s blessing. Need a break from the kids? Full child care is provided.

Bring your family, cousins, uncles, grandkids. Bring your church. Bring your friends. Go to www.igo08.com for more information and to register online.
 

FGBC World is an all-Fellowship, all-Grace Brethren newspaper that is published six times a year. We’d like to know what is happening in your church.

Do you have a unique ministry? How are you effectively reaching your community? Have you just hired someone to work with the youth, lead worship, or be senior pastor? We’d like to know.

Send your news to Liz Cutler Gates, managing editor, via e-mail ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

Events of general interest among Grace Brethren Churches. Details and registration information are available from the sponsoring organizations or at www.fgbc.org.

January 2-7 – Youth Ministry Module at Norton, Ohio (GC&S)
January 7 – Day Away, North of 55, Sebring, Florida (CE)
January 8 – Day Away, North of 55, Port Richie, Florida (CE); Second Semester begins (GC&S) January 21 – VIP Campus Visit Day (GC&S)
January 27 – Southern California Celebration (CE)
January 28-30 – Southwest Focus Retreat, Rancho Capistrano, Calif. (FGBC)
February 15-16 – Discipleship Conference, Grace Brethren Church of Columbus (www.gracebrethren.org)
February 25-27 – South Focus Retreat, Florida FFA Retreat Center, Haines City, Fla. (FGBC)
March 1-9 – Spring Break (GC&S)
March 13-15 –Board of Trustees meetings (GC&S)
March 28 – VIP Campus Visit Day (GC&S)

CE = CE National
FGBC = Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches
GBIM = Grace Brethren International Missions
GC&S = Grace College and Seminary
WGUSA = Women of Grace USA

Do you seek peace with God and a personal relationship with Him?

In How to Start a Kingdom Conversation, published by BMH Books (www.bmhbooks.com), author Duke Heller shows the “Romans Road” explanation to peace with God. It’s named that because all the essential verses are from one book in the Bible—the book of Romans, which is the sixth book in the New Testament.

Romans 3:23 points out that all have sinned and fall short. All.

Romans 5:8 explains how God, in His great love for us, sent his Son to die that we might have forgiveness for our sins.

Romans 6:23 warns that the wages of sin is [eternal] death, but the free gift of God is eternal life. It is ours for the asking.

Romans 10:9-10 instructs that if we confess with our mouth and believe in our hearts in Jesus Christ, we shall be saved.

If you have not already done so, read these verses as prayers to God, committing your life to Him. Then find a good Bible-teaching church (perhaps the church from which you obtained this paper) and get instruction from God’s Word on what to do next.

The Romans Road is old, but it still leads to life everlasting and peace with God!
 

Fifteen Years Ago – 1993
- The January Brethren Missionary Herald reported on a November 1992 meeting of missions representatives from 17 districts of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches. Called Coalition Task Force II, the meeting was sponsored by Grace Brethren North American Missions and led by Larry Chamberlain, Bill Snell, and Dave Marksbury.
- The appointment of Jeff Carroll as the new publisher and general manager of the Brethren Missionary Herald Company was announced. Jeff will succeeds Charles Turner, who is scheduled to retire on July 1.

Twenty Years Ago – 1988
- Six Northern Atlantic churches participated in a service last fall at the Telford, Pa., Penn Valley Grace Brethren Church: Lehigh Valley Grace Brethren Church, Bethlehem; Philadelphia First Brethren and Third Brethren churches; Tri-County Grace Brethren Church; and Penn Valley. Ed Lewis brought the challenge.
- Pastor Roy Glass resigned at Troy, Ohio, to become associate pastor at the Huber Heights Grace Brethren Church in Dayton, Ohio. Roy Glass III became pastor at Troy, after having served as youth pastor for three years.

Twenty-five Years Ago – 1983
- Robert MacMillan was approved for ordination by the Southern California-Arizona district examining board.
- Kent Good was ordained at the Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) Grace Brethren Church.

Thirty Years Ago – 1978
- The Brethren Encyclopedia board was established to publish a three-volume encyclopedia of the Brethren Church.
- Mike Volovski became the pastor of the Altoona (Pa.) First Brethren Church.
- The Hagerstown (Md.) Grace Brethren Church ordained to the ministry its youth pastor, Jeff Dunkle.
- Bernie Simmons, pastor of the Sterling (Ohio) Grace Brethren Church was honored by the community with the “Special Person’s Award.”

Thirty-five Years Ago – 1973
- Earl “Buck” Summers was ordained at the Waynesboro (Pa.) Grace Brethren Church. He was the director of youth ministries for the Christian Education Department of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches.
- Three pastors were given trips to the Holy Land or cash for such a trip by their congregations: Charles Ashman, Winona Lake (Ind.) Grace Brethren Church; G. Forrest Jackson, Dayton (Ohio) First Brethren Church; and Warren Tamkin, Elizabethtown (Pa.) Grace Brethren Church.
- The St. Petersburg (Fla.) Grace Brethren Church achieved self-support status. William Tweeddale was the pastor.
- Plans were announced for the construction of the first phase of Grace Village retirement complex in Winona Lake, Ind., to consist of 28 units.

Forty Years Ago – 1968
- Ed Lewis was among six students listed in “Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities” at Grace College, Winona Lake, Ind. for the 1967-68 school year.
- Ed Jackson was named “Man of the Year” at the Northern Ohio District Father-Son Banquet at which a “tool shower” was given to George Peters, missionary to the Central African Republic.
- The Long Beach (Calif.) Grace Brethren Church moved into its new facilities on January 21.

Forty-five Years Ago – 1963
- Russ Ogden accepted an invitation to be come president of the Akron Bible Institute in Ohio.
- Charles Thornton became the pastor of the First Brethren Church of Buena Vista, Va.
- The Grace Brethren Church of San Diego (Calif.) became self-supporting at the beginning of the year.
- Roger Peugh, Grace College student, was part of a ministry team to Germany that reported about their work to his home church in Harrah, Wash.
- Wendell Kent was installed as pastor of the Washington Heights Brethren Church in Roanoke, Va.
- Jim Custer, Grace Seminary senior, was called to pastor the Dallas Center (Iowa) Grace Brethren Church.
- The Patterson Memorial Grace Brethren Church (Roanoke, Va.) dedicated its new sanctuary on December 2.
- Alva Conner became the pastor at the Galion (Ohio) Grace Brethren Church.
- John Schumacher, a Grace Seminary senior who hoped for a ministry in the military chaplaincy, was ordained to the ministry at the Osceola (Ind.) Grace Brethren Church.

Fifty Years Ago – 1958
- R. Wayne Snider was ordained to the ministry in the Martinsburg (Pa) Grace Brethren Church.
- Ralph Hall became the new pastor at Meyersdale (Pa.) Brethren Church on December 22.
- Mason Cooper accepted the call to pastor the Covington (Va.) Grace Brethren Church.

Sixty Years Ago – 1948
- The Winchester (Va.) First Brethren Church achieved self-supporting status January 1.
- The Fairlawn Brethren Church, Radford, Va., used their new building for the first time on February 1.