Church News (July/August)

Christian Fellowship Church

Winnipeg, Manitoba
​Timothy Harris, Pastor
​cfc-wpg.org

 “So we being many are all one body in Christ, and everyone members of one another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given us, let us use them…”

- Romans 12:5-6b

We intentionally celebrated Pentecost this Spring with two Sundays dedicated to teaching on the Holy Spirit. A beautiful painting by a congregant, and a short, animated movie as a Children’s feature were good learning tools.
Pastor Tim has been preaching through the gospel of John, and will transition to “Summer in the Psalms”. To open up the summer season we joined with several churches in our area for an outdoor service in the park on June 30. 

We are focusing more intentionally on fellowship. In April our women joined for a Spring tea after church. A summer retreat is planned for the women. Recently the men enjoyed a pulled pork supper hosted at the home of one of our congregants. 

Linda Edwards, Correspondent

Cornerstone Bible Church

Mountain Lake, Minnesota
Herms Banico, Pastor
cornerstoneml.com

The Cornerstone Family is truly blessed beyond measure; can you believe it? The faithfulness of God shines bright in the fulfillment of His promises, bestowing us His abundant blessings for His glory and honor! James, the brother of Jesus, proclaims, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." - James 1:17 (NKJV). We stand in awe, lifting our voices in praise for the remarkable works of our gracious God.

While God is doing some construction in the lives of the Cornerstone people, the Cornerstone people are doing some construction to serve the congregants better. With the leadership of the trustees, we are on a mission to fix the leaking problem of the church building, repaving and putting new steps in front of the building. New pavement at the entrance, new steps, and new landscaping soon! What are the highlights? The people of God are working together as a team to lift the Name of Jesus in this construction project.

It was such a great time working together for God’s glory! Was it hot? Yes, it was! Was it fulfilling? Absolutely! It's very fulfilling to get things done when we come together as people of God! Thanks to everyone who got involved. Join us, as construction is not over yet!
​Another highlight to praise the Lord about is our new Sunday School group, which caters to newcomers and those not yet involved in a Sunday School group. This year, the Lord blessed us with new people at church, and we want them to grow in their walk with Jesus! At the end of our last Sunday meeting, we celebrated it with a joint lunch in the basement. I know there was no Filipino food served to the Filipino pastor. Oh well, I enjoyed the meal anyway! Thanks to my co-teachers, Joel and Bernice Penner. You guys are highly appreciated. Thank you for stepping up in your leadership.

Look at those happy, smiling faces of people who have been redeemed! We had such a wonderful time together!

 We also praise the Lord for those souls dedicated to publicly proclaiming their faith in Jesus. On June 30, we had a Baptism by Voss Park Lake in Butterfield, MN. Nine souls were baptized. A potluck to celebrate with the baptism candidates followed. Glory and honor to the Lord! 

One of the baptismal classes - we had multiple sessions for the baptism candidates due to a time conflict. I am thankful to the Lord for these dedicated souls making their faith known before people and God. What an encouragement!

Please join us in prayer as we carry out our construction project, disciple more people, and faithfully preach the Gospel of Jesus. Pray for more individuals to come to know the Lord through our ministries here and for the congregation to be inspired to become disciples of Jesus intentionally.

Herms Banico, Pastor

Countryside Bible Church

Meade, Kansas
​Jonathan Dale, Pastor
countrysidebiblechurch.net

"Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word."

- 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

May the Lord indeed be comforting and strengthening your hearts as you seek to glorify Him in your various work and ministries. 
The Lord has certainly been good and faithful, and we thank God for the many exciting opportunities we at Countryside Bible Church have to be encouraged and equipped in God's Word and to serve Him, glorify Him, and make Him known to others. It is also always a joy to be able to fellowship with other brothers and sisters in Christ, both near and far.
There are a number of other things that have gone on in the past several months. In January, several men from CBC were able to go to the Ironmen's Summit, which is held in Emporia, Kansas each year. Then in February, Pastor Jonathan & Nora and Taylor & Abigail (pastor & wife at our church plant, Redeemer Bible Church) had the opportunity to attend the Biblical Counseling Conference in Lafayette and came back strengthened and encouraged. Several students and leaders from the high school group were also able to be equipped through the Ignite Conference in February. Then in mid-April, a few of the men from CBC were able to go to Honduras on a missions scouting trip to visit the seminary and churches there and to see about potential short term missions trips opportunities for our church family. Please pray for wisdom and discernment as the elders are continuing to look into this. We are very excited to see how the Lord might open up doors to be able to partner with brothers and sisters in Honduras!
Family Vacation Bible School was held May 21-23. It was a really unique VBS with the whole family involved in learning more about our identity in Christ through table games, Bible trivia, crafts, and the teaching of God's Word by Pastor Jonathan and Jaden Friesen.
This spring, the men's and women's Bible studies went through the book of 1 Corinthians. Pastor Jonathan has diligently put together thoughtful and applicable questions for each lesson, and we are encouraged to be working towards having a right awareness of God, right thinking, right practice, and right praying.
The Lord has continued to bless the families of our church with little ones. What a joy for so many children to be born into Godly homes, and we do pray that each of these little ones will be taught and trained according to God's Word and that many of them might come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus at an early age. 

"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all."

- 2 Thessalonians 3:17

Abigail Bartel, Correspondent

Crosspoint Bible Church

Omaha, Nebraska
Hayden Norris, Pastor
crosspointbible.org

The last several months have been full of service and fellowship, for which we are incredibly grateful!
In March, Hearts for the Harvest raised more than $10,000 for Keith and Jeannette Shubert’s ministry with Cru in Singapore. Pastors Hayden Norris and James Richardson were able to visit Singapore to preach and teach and learn more about the Shuberts’ ministry. Also in March, the Crosspoint women enjoyed a retreat with local speaker Tara Rye on the theme “Joy in the Journey”
Our global partners visited in the spring, including Jesse and Monica Pauly (Italy) and Rene and Anja Gaona (Paraguay). We give God glory for the work these faithful servants are doing in other countries. Also in the spring, we had a church praise and prayer night, featuring the high school worship band.
We celebrated the baptisms of Penny Burton, Pete Reitano, Jared Doherty, Iliana Faries, Harlan Means, Marc Ruby, and Noah Richardson. We are humbly grateful for the work the Lord is doing in their lives!
Crosspoint kids have been active, including Awana Awards Night Cookout and Ceremony in April and VBS earlier this summer. More than 145 kids and 80 volunteers went on “The Great Jungle Journey,” exploring the 7 Cs of History: Creation, Corruption, Catastrophe, Confusion, Christ, Cross, and Consummation.
About 20 volunteers participated in a workday at Assure Women’s Center. Our junior high youth helped at Assure, as well as at Sozo Coffee House and in a prayer walk around downtown Omaha. They also had a day of fabulous fun at Adventureland in Des Moines. The high school youth attended Camp Ascend in Colorado in June.
Our Iron Sharpeners men’s group partnered with Sleep in Heavenly Peace to construct beds for children in need in Omaha. At the end of June, several Crosspoint members came together at the church for an annual workday of cleaning inside and out and completing minor repairs.
We give God all the glory for the many ways He is working in us and through us at Crosspoint! 

Julie Sibert, Correspondent

Dalmeny Bible Church

Dalmeny, Saskatchewan
Dennis Friesen, Pastor
dalmenybiblechurch.ca

We joined forces together with the Community Church during the Easter break to have VBS called Stellar which was a space theme. The main session was at the Community Church and then the grades 3-6 walked over to our church for games, snack, imagination station, and a Bible Story.
One of our Global Partners, Greg Benson with One Hope, shared about Ranger Lake Bible Camp which many of our children attend during the summer.
The Ladies enjoyed a Fondue/Games Night and another evening of planting flowers led by Ashley Neufeld.
The senior youth spent a weekend at Heritage House at the end of May for their Youth Retreat
We have been working to improve the physical aspects of our church by renovating the south entrance and will be done just in time to host Connect24. Our Fall future plans are to replace the outside wooden doors at the main and south entrances with glass doors.
Together with the Community Church we hosted a Breakfast in the Park on the Sunday morning of Dalmeny Days. We also had a time of prayer and worshiped together in singing.
We recently honoured our 134 volunteers at an appreciation. It was good to hear why some of them do take the time to volunteer in their various roles. They are very much appreciated!!
Summer is upon us so our Clubs, Youth, Bible Discovery, Men’s Breakfasts have all ended and will resume in the Fall.
We celebrate the addition of four new members to our church congregation. 

Marilyn Harder, Correspondent 

Evangelical Bible Church

Dallas, Oregon
Troy Bassham, Pastor
ebcdallas.org

This spring we have welcomed 10 new members to our church family. We are thrilled to have them join us. Pastor Troy is continuing his sermon series through the book of Mark. We wrapped up our Awana year at the end of April with about 100 kids finishing the year with us. May finished up the year for other ministries and studies for summer break.
This summer we have a small group traveling to Mae Sot Thailand for a mission trip with Children to Love International.

Youth Pastor Andrew Wheeler, Madison Johnson, Lori Bassham, Garrett Bassham, Tyler Basey

We are looking forward to our annual family camping trip at Triangle Lake later that month as well. ​

Alison Johnson, Correspondent

Faith Evangelical Bible Church

Henderson, Nebraska
Bryan Conrad, Pastor
faithebc.net

This June we hosted Vacation Bible School with the focus that God’s Truth Never Changes (Romans 12:2). We had about 100 kids sign up and come! During the week they brought offerings to go towards translating bibles. Ten dollars translated one bible… the kids ended up tithing $700 which will be translating 70 bibles! It was such a fun week where students learned that the Truth comes from God, His plan is best, Jesus is the only way, and Everyone needs Jesus.

Alice Decker, Correspondent

Grunthal Evangelical Bible Church

Grunthal, Manitoba
​Jared Fast, Pastor
www.grunthalebc.ca.com

Much has happened at GEBC in the past few months. Recently, we celebrated five new baptism candidates, and 13 new membership candidates!
Not only is our congregation in a time of growth, but it’s also currently in a time of transition. Our church name has officially changed from Grunthal Evangelical Mennonite Brethren Church, to Grunthal Evangelical Bible Church. This new name change has kept our church office busy, with a new website, new email addresses, and new “Weekly”, which is a weekly newsletter via email about: all the upcoming events, child’s memory verses, “families of the week” to pray for, “missions spotlight” about what to pray for our missionaries, and even a little encouraging blurb written by Pastor Jared.
Other exciting updates and developments - 

• A semi-load of potatoes had been donated to our church so that we would bag them into 15 lb bags and sell them to raise money for our new church building fund. We did it! We sold ALL 30,000 lbs of potatoes!
  
• There’s been a beautiful piece of land in town that has been sold to our church for a generous price, the property owner has been so kind. We have put a deposit on that land and now if the Lord wills it, we can build our new church building there in the coming years! 
  
• In June we had our annual Sunday School Picnic, where we celebrated and showed our appreciation for all the hard work the Christian Education Committee has devoted towards Sunday School. Sunday school is for all ages, beginning at age 2! Memorizing verses is very encouraged here and this year the kids did amazing. In total we had 52 kids memorize verses, the number of verses memorized was 2,333. And the highest amount of verses memorized by one child was 168. Praise God! 
  
• In July, the town of Grunthal is preparing for VBS (Vacation Bible School) for kids ages kindergarten-grade 6. Pray for an amazing turn out of both kids and volunteers and that lives will be impacted for Jesus Christ. About 250 children normally attend! The Theme this year is “Keepers of the Kingdom”.
  

Jennifer Preston, Correspondent

Hodgson Bible Church

Hodgson, Manitoba
Hans Elgby, Pastor
hodgsonbiblechurch.org

We are continuing to search for a pastor while enjoying visiting speakers as well as hearing some of our own church members share what The Lord has been speaking to them about.
We started our summer programs with Sunday School Picnic. Despite the cool weather, the children and adults had a great time.
During the summer months we are not having regular Sunday School, instead the younger children take part in Children’s Church downstairs while adults enjoy fellowship and teaching upstairs.
The Fisher Bay Bible Camp season will begin with Family camp weekend. The spring banquet and the fundraising walkathon raised enough funds to complete the renovations to the chapel. We are so grateful for all who donated.

The youth camps held during the winter months had a waiting list for attending, as space was limited. The summer camps will accommodate up to 52 campers at a time. We are still praying for a couple of male counselors.
The VBS will be held again at the end of July.
The camps and VBS are our main focus in the summer months. Our desire is to sow the seed of The Word into young lives so that they will grow in their desire to know Christ better and to accept Him as their Lord and Saviour.
We continue to ask for your prayers as we search for a new pastor.

Maritta Sinisalo, Correspondent

Jansen Bible Church

Jansen, Nebraska
Paul Carpenter, Pastor
jansenbiblechurch.org

A men’s Breakfast and Bible Study has been meeting on Saturday mornings at 8A. They meet in member’s homes with first Saturdays of the month meetings in the church fellowship hall.
We hosted Vacation Bible School, June 10-14, from nine to noon, for ages 3 years through grade 6 and had 35 kids in attendance. Missionaries this year were the Matthew and Sarah Bates family serving in Denmark. The offering of $2,413.37 covered the expenses for them to serve at a Christian Bible camp in Denmark and the purchase of needed Sunday school materials.
The Washington County, Kansas Rodeo food concessions were again covered by the JBC ladies on June 14 & 15. They were happy to have sold all their food supplies just before rain poured down on Saturday night.
Our annual JBC Women’s Retreat is July 19 & 20 at the Leadership Center in Aurora NE.

Tena Dick, Correspondent

Kenora Bible Church

Kenora, Ontario
Caleb Symons, Pastor
​kenorabiblechurch.ca

Our kids’ Sunday school classes have been growing! This summer we will renovate our basement to use our space more efficiently and make bigger classrooms.
In August we plan to hold our church service and picnic lunch in the park.
We will be appointing deacons in our church for the first time in fall as part of our new leadership structure.

Stephanie McMillan

Langham Evangelical Bible Church

Langham, Saskatchewan
​Greg Guarnett, Pastor
​langhambiblechurch.homestead.com

​Here are some exciting highlights and upcoming events from our church family:

• Pastor Matthew Oliver's Ordination Celebrations: We are thrilled to announce that Pastor Matthew Oliver successfully completed his ordination council on April 23rd, and we joyously celebrated his ordination service on June 23rd. Below are some wonderful pictures capturing the memorable moments of this blessed occasion.
  

• Church Picnic: Our recent church picnic, hosted by a young family at their beautiful farm, was a tremendous success! We enjoyed a fantastic turnout and were blessed with perfect weather as we gathered in fellowship and shared in the joy of community.
• High School Graduation Ceremony: For the first time in our church's history, we had the honor of hosting a high school graduation ceremony. It was a touching event filled with pride and hope for our graduating seniors as they embark on new journeys.
• Upcoming Vacation Bible School: Looking ahead, we are eagerly preparing to host a thrilling camping-themed Vacation Bible School in July. We are excited to welcome 30 children from our community for a week of fun, learning, and growing in faith together.

As we continue to serve and worship together, let us remain steadfast in our commitment to God's work in our lives and in our community.

Marilyn Friesen, Correspondent 

Martensville Mission Church

Martensville, Saskatchewan
Justin Klassen, Pastor
facebook.com/martensvillemissionchurch

Summer is here and things have begun to slow down. Our programming is on summer hiatus giving all those involved the opportunity for some much-needed rest and rejuvenation. Over the summer months we look forward to what the Lord has in store for us as Pastor Justin leads us on a journey through Philippians. 
One of the first things that comes to mind when someone says “summer” is camping! A first annual church camping weekend is being planned for August out at Pike Lake, SK which we hope will create fellowship across multiple generations. Several families have signed up and are looking forward to a fun time of fellowship in the great outdoors! 
Over the past several months, the MMC Elders have been searching for an associate pastor, and we were excited to have a young man candidate in our church recently. During the week of June 23 - 30, the congregation has had several opportunities to meet and interact with both him and his wife through testimonies during the Sunday morning service, Sunday School, and Bible study along with a meal together.  We pray for wisdom and discernment for all concerned in the decision to be made in the very near future.

Brenda Quirt, Correspondent

Randville Bible Church

Iron Mountain, Michigan
Jim Janofski, Pastor
facebook.com/RandvilleBibleChurch

As Randville Bible Church approaches 90 years of ministry in Michigan's Upper Peninsula we continue to rejoice to see God's hand at work in our midst. And we are grateful for the faithfulness and love for the Lord and His Word shown by our church family.
As always, at Randville Bible Church, we have continued to center our services on the beloved Word of God. This takes many forms - 
 

• The culmination of a recent sermon series from the Old Testament minor prophet Habakkuk: “Finding Joy in Tough Times". This very practical glimpse at a prophet's prayer life, (i.e. the format of a “prayer diary”,) has been very relevant to the times in which we live. Many practical lessons touched our hearts from our own experiences in prayers Habakkuk's Prayer for the nation of Judah, but wonders at God's seeming lack of response to his fervent prayers.

The closing verses of chapter 3: 17-19 show a refreshing and exemplary attitude as Habakkuk's response reflects his embracing of the truths of Habakkuk 2:4. “The just shall live by his faith.” (This key verse is also quoted three times in the New Testament; once each in Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews) .
Habakkuk's concluding expression of faith from the end of chapter 3: “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat, the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls;Yes will I rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation, The Lord is my strength and He will make my feet like hinds' feet and He will make me to walk upon mine high places.”

• We also are in the final chapters of Revelation in our short morning group Bible study. What a glorious picture of our Savior as the Triumphant Lamb of God, the Victor, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! The next study will center on the book of Romans.
• A recent emphasis has been a short study entitled “Portraits of Jesus in the Old Tabernacle.” It has been a joy to see the Old Testament “types” of our Savior and His perfect sacrifices as foreshadowed by God's design and commands relating to the Tabernacle.
• Our current sermon series is the book of Galatians, “The Heart of the Gospel.” A future series is planned from Titus, “Everyday Life in the Local Church.”
• Our "Randville Chapter Challenge'' continues as we add together the cumulative chapters read each week by our church family. And while this calculation is done in a low-key manner it does encourage each of us to be faithful in God's Word daily and people have joyfully participated.

Last year's total read was nearly 6,000 chapters—a JOY to a pastor's heart. ( Thus far our subtotal for February through half of June is nearing 4,000 chapters).

• The summer will feature our annual church picnic under the big tent—this is a great outreach activity for our rural community and filled with good food, fellowship, bluegrass Gospel music and games.

May the Lord continue to bless each of the churches of our fellowship for His glory and the edification of His people! To God be the glory; great things He has done!

Pastor Jim Janofski

Rock Valley Chapel

Beloit, Wisconsin
​Tim Johnson, Pastor
​rockvalleychapel.org

We celebrated Great Commission Sunday in May with time during our service to hear from the six missionaries that we support via Zoom and video interviews. After the service we had an “ethnic” potluck, with families bringing favorite food items from their heritage. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and hearing how the gospel is being shared throughout the world!
We welcomed five new members in June. Praise God for bringing these people to Rock Valley Chapel! We look forward to growing together in faith and fellowship.
On June 1, we had a combined Women’s & Men’s Saturday morning breakfast and Bible study, to celebrate a wonderful season of fellowship and study in the Bible over the past year.

We will be having a booth at the local Rock County 4-H Fair in July. This is the second year in a row that we have been at the fair. We give the opportunity for fairgoers to write down their personal prayer requests, and we have various gospel tracts for both children and adults who are interested. Pray for these continued opportunities to share the gospel with fairgoers, to talk with, and pray for, those who stop by our fair booth.

After a yearlong project, we are excited to announce that we have a new logo for Rock Valley Chapel. We continue to work to integrate this into all our materials and into updating our website. One of the aspects of the project was to purchase journal notebooks and pens with our new logo. 

We handed these new journal notebooks to all our attendees and will also be using these as gifts to those who come to visit our church. Although most of the logo work has been completed, there is still some work to complete on our website – watch for changes over the summer!

We held Vacation Bible School from June 23 - 27, with the theme of The Great jungle Journey – journeying through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Of the 20+ children that attended, half of the children were from the community. Pray that these lives were touched by the gospel message that was given out.

Karen Broekhuis, Correspondent

Salem Church

Waldheim, Saskatchewan
James VanderVeen, Pastor
​salemchurch.ca

This year marks Salem’s 125th anniversary. We have also reached the one-year anniversary of the “big storm” that took out our sanctuary roof. Our weekly services remain in our Fellowship Hall, as construction continues to progress inside our sanctuary. We hope to move our services back to the sanctuary before the end of the year.

We recently celebrated Waldheim School 2024 graduates who attend our senior youth events and Sunday services. The service was led by several Salem youth, under the direction of Pastor Ryan. Each graduate received either a study or journal Bible and a Bible handbook. A few parents and students shared devotions and prayed over the future plans of the graduates.
The Waldheim Missions Conference takes place July 21-24 with Charles Price as the main speaker. For over 70 years, this conference has featured nightly messages and missionary reports. A men’s breakfast, ladies tea, and children’s and youth programming have been added in recent years. The conference always kicks-off with a joint community church service in the town park.
Our weekly ministries – including Junior and Senior youth, Young at Heart, Men’s Prayer, Grandma’s Who Pray, Small Groups, Brigade, GEMS and Sunday School – are pausing for the summer months. Please pray for those who participate in these ministries to continue to be encouraged over the summer.

Kendra Albak, Interim Correspondent

Saron Mennonite Church

Fairview, Oklahoma
Arnold Curby, Pastor

This spring, Pastor Arnold and Grace were privileged to be able to visit some of our retired Avant missionaries, John and Jan Lohrenz and Rosalie Stucky, at their respective homes in Texas. It was good to catch up with their news and present ministries.
We also were able to host our missionary Mary Epp, widow of Reg Epp, when she came to Oklahoma for the 50th reunion of Reg’s high school graduating class. Mary will soon retire from serving nearly forty years with MAF. Our daughter and former Avant missionary, Hannah Curby, has also spent time with us this spring as she wrapped up her ministry in Sicily and prepared for her June wedding.
In June we had our annual Children’s Day church service at the local Gloss Mountain State Park. Pastor Arnold’s message about sowing seeds of kindness was followed by a potluck picnic lunch and climbing the 150-foot trail to the top of the mesa called Cathedral Mountain.

Grace Curby, Correspondent 

Stuartburn Gospel Chapel

Stuartburn, Manitoba
Mark Funk, Pastor

We celebrated six baptisms on June 23, both young and old candidates. It was a well-attended outdoor service. The testimonies were enjoyed by many. We journeyed over to the riverside for the baptism, and then back to the church yard for potluck and fellowship outdoors.

Summer is here! We have plans to do a Child Evangelism Fellowship-5 Day Club. We will host this at our church from August 19 - 23, for ages 5-12. 
Stuartburn Gospel Chapel aims to bring God great glory by living and sharing the good news of Jesus.

Eileina Niessan, Correspondent