By Frank Lewandowski

About 240 current and former Dallas-area church members attended a Golden Anniversary celebration of the Dallas churches on August 27 at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Addison, TX. Grace Family Church (formerly known as the Dallas Central congregation) hosted the event, which was organized by Erlin Moya, Jemar Bahinting and numerous other members.

The brethren were treated to a "Back to the Future" slide show covering the entire 50 years, showing members enjoying fellowship with one another at weddings, Spokesman Clubs and other activities. Aaron Bennis created the slideshow. Pastor General Joseph Tkach sent videotaped greetings and some former ministers unable to attend also passed along their good wishes.

The congregation started on August 3, 1956 with 32 adults and four children. One member attending the 50th anniversary, Louise Wynette, began attending in 1956. Another, Wilbur Lewis, started in 1957. Jim Friddle, Dallas’ first pastor and a keynote speaker, recalled baptizing one of the first Dallas members. He spoke of the endless hours of driving in the days when our ministers pastored churches hundreds of miles apart.

Referring to the Old Testament Jubilee Year, he said: "Jubilee means ‘Shout for joy!’ We’ll be together for eternity, so we need to be close now." The day included a luncheon followed by worship services led by Dallas North member Doc Gibbs, at times accompanied vocally by his wife, Vera, and at other times by Crystal Cartwright.

Current Grace Family Pastor Bob Persky and his wife, Kay, honored Ted and Wylene Dusek, who just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Mrs. Persky presented them with a card and bouquet. The Duseks have been members for 37 years. He is an elder and his wife is a deaconess. Mr. Dusek compiled an extensive written history of the Dallas churches for the August 27 celebration.

"We need to celebrate together by making a big deal out of God," Mr. Persky said. "Let’s have 50 days of Jubilee and celebrate God." He urged the brethren to hold dinners and parties to get together and rejoice before the Lord, even suggesting celebrating the entire year. "Today, we’re celebrating freedom in Christ," Mr. Persky continued, hearkening back to ancient Israel’s Jubilee year, in which every 50 years all slaves were freed, all debts were cancelled and people reclaimed their ancestral lands. He said the Jubilee also points forward to eternal life with Christ.

Superintendent of Ministers Dan Rogers told the crowd: "No matter where your journey takes you, everything will turn out all right as long as you keep drinking from that same spiritual Rock."

In addition to Mr. Friddle, several other former Dallas pastors also spoke. The other keynote speaker, Randal Dick, referred to the Book of Nehemiah and how his contemporaries and he felt a spiritual burden to each do their part to rebuild the deteriorated wall of Jerusalem. "My prayer is that God gives us a big burden of something that’s important to Jesus Christ and the ability for our mind to be on our work," he said.

Ken Swisher recalled founding the first Spokesman Club. (Current Dallas North pastor Arnold Clausen had produced one of the old timing light boxes and has threatened to buzz any speaker who went overtime.) Mr. Swisher said of the Lord: "He has set us free. I’ve learned so much since 1994."

Allen Bullock recalled attending his first four services in Dallas before leaving for Ambassador College, never dreaming he’d someday pastor a church in Dallas. "When we came to Dallas, what stood out was the warmth and friendliness, the attitude of ‘we care.’ Keep that spirit up."

Jeff Molnar quoted Galatians 5:6 and said, "The only thing that matters is faith expressing itself in love." Lynn Hebert said, "When we first came here (to Dallas), we were welcomed with hugs in the parking lot." He said of his ministry, "I did most of the preaching, but my wife did most of the pastoring." He asked all the ministers’ wives to stand up while the congregation applauded them as well as ministers’ wives who have since passed away.

At the end of the special day, the first Dallas pastor, Mr. Friddle, and current Grace Family pastor, Mr. Persky, cut a 50th anniversary cake. The members ate the cake and continued to fellowship together.

The Dallas congregation is planning a 50th anniversary reunion party for the evening of Saturday, Nov. 4, at the Rowlett Community Center in Rowlett, TX. The evening will include a light dinner buffet, a running slide show, dancing and fellowship. The activity will be free, but donations will be gratefully accepted. RSVP to Dallas50thReunion@hotmail.com or c/o Jean Grunheid, P.O. Box 460551, Garland, TX 75046-0551.

By Angie Kelley

The Ambassador College Big Sandy class of 1976 held a 30-year reunion August 4–6 in Winter Park, CO. Forty-three classmates and family members (all on varying religious paths) spent a beautiful, peaceful, fun-filled weekend at the Vintage Resort re-connecting and reminiscing.

A welcome reception on Friday evening, hosted by Tim and Angie Kelley of Hawkins, TX, kicked off the weekend. Attendees enjoyed wine and snacks while looking over pictures, memorabilia and copies of the Portfolio from their college years.

Brunch Saturday morning began with a welcome from members of the organizing committee: Scott and Connie Ashley of Arvada, CO, Jennifer (Agee) Halprin of Irvine, CA, Paula (Crim) Frazee of Independence, MO, Angie (Mohler) Kelley of Hawkins, TX, and Jolinda (Jenkins) Schreiber of Albert Lea, MN. Tony Hill of Haxton, CO, also was a member of the committee and was responsible for locating and making arrangements with the resort, but was unable to attend the reunion due to work commitments in Kuwait. After brunch, the men bested the women in memory power during a game of Ambassador Jeopardy. This was followed by a video put together by Scott Ashley and Jamie Schreiber containing sights and sounds of the college campus, student body, faculty and activities from 1972 to 1976.

In church services, Mark Gully of Georgetown, TX, gave a short talk on "Thankfulness" and Scott Ashley spoke to the class on "The Threat of Islam." Lenny Cacchio of Lee’s Summit, MO, led songs accompanied by Murdock Gibbs of Coppell, TX, who later accompanied the chorale led by Larry Maxwell of Farmers Branch, TX, under the organization and direction of Rex Sexton from Gig Harbor, WA.

At 3:00 snacks were served and a special time was set aside to connect with classmates who were unable to attend. Bob and Kay (Duke) Overstreet of Mendham, NJ, read messages from classmates who could not attend and called others by telephone who could then talk to the class through the sound system. All those who attended were able to hear over the microphone the voices of Mike Hale, Ross Jutsum, Curtis and Melba (Jenison) Borman and others.

A buffet dinner began at 7:00, which was organized and decorated by Nate and Jennifer Halprin. Following dinner, Jacque and Charles Melear of Fort Collins, CO, led everyone in a hilarious game of "Who Dun It?" This was followed by musical entertainment by several members of the class, including Rex Sexton, Patty (Bogol) Gaugler of Selinsgrove, PA, Vera Gibbs and Murdock Gibbs. Murdock Gibbs then acted as DJ for a dance that consisted of songs from the 1970s.

A group picture was taken Sunday morning before a buffet brunch organized by Faye Hull of Pasadena, CA, Jim and Faith (Hull) Rivers of Sandy Hook, VA, and Scott and Connie Ashley. Entertainment after brunch was a discussion of various things learned and enjoyed from the years spent at Ambassador College along with a variety of table topics placed on each table for further discussion. Various prizes were given out—who had the most grandchildren, who had come the furthest, etc. The success of the reunion was shown by the fact that the weekend ended with a discussion led by Scott Ashley on ideas and locations for the next reunion, which is being planned five years from now.

Richmond Grace Fellowship thinks so. We are working hard to make the atmosphere of family fun a reality in our service. After finishing the book The Parable of the Dancing God, by C. Baxter Kruger, our pastor decided that perhaps God is truly pleased when he sees his children playing together in his presence. So we have begun to dream up ways to make church more fun. While we always celebrate with meaningful worship music and reverently dine out together on the Word of God, we feel that church should be a lot more enjoyable than it tends to be.

So on Sunday, Sept. 17, we set up tables in the sanctuary area of our hall and served a breakfast during church—complete with pancakes, sausage, eggs, fresh fruit, pastries, and all manner of breakfast beverages. We began our service when we thanked God for our fabulous meal and for the loving hands that prepared it. We ate our breakfast during our intercessory prayer time. We then sang praises to God and, after praise and worship time, took communion together.

We then heard a message about the reversal of the fall of humanity in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. A new visitor remarked that it was nice to come to a church that was as relaxed and friendly as Richmond Grace.

We enjoyed this so much that we are planning to do it again, and looking for additional ways to have more joy in church. If you have a creative way your church makes the worship service more like a party than a funeral service, let us know. Bill.Winn@gci.org

Vacation Bible School

Valerie Smart leads the children in the treasure hunt game time.

Edgehill Community Church in Cleveland Heights, OH, held Vacation Bible School for the third year in a row. Each year it gets better, bigger and more blessed. Classes were held for four evenings the week of July 31 from 6:30-9:00 p.m. This year dinner was served for the children and their parents, thanks to local church funding.

Each day 22 children from ages 4 to 15 went on a treasure hunt in “Treasure Cove.” Participants discovered that “Jesus is Our Greatest Treasure.” Guided by our teen junior guides, our group would be led in rotation from group opening, Bible stories, gem games, snack shack, crafts, Bible memory and group closing. In each area the children would receive and write down clues from the teacher guide. Those clues would lead to the gem of the day. By the end of the week, a diamond, sapphire, emerald, ruby and amethyst were added to Chester the Treasure Chest. The children and the teachers had a great time.

Each year VBS has been an outreach for children in church families and the community. Many of the children attend Edgehill Children’s Church every Sunday. We are looking forward to 2007. David Kaiser