The Greater Houston Multiplication Center (GHX) has begun to do what we've dreamed the Lord wanted to have happen in Houston. Rev. Charles Smith has announced that Parkway Fellowship (where GHX was birthed as a vision) welcomed Pastor Chris Carroll and his family this past Sunday morning as the new church planting pastor at Sienna Plantation in Southwest Houston. He is originally from Lufkin, Texas. The Sienna Plantation initial group has been running about fourteen (14) before the arrival of Pastor Chris. Let's join the metro Houston Alliance churches in praying for this new congregation. Continue to pray for Charles Smith and the GHX board of directors as they work on establishing other multiplying churches in the metro area. Also continue to pray for Pastor Unity Tira in Pearland as he leads another GHX church plant among Filipinos. They are growing, holding 2 services at Holiday Inn each Sunday to accommodate the growth.
Superintendent's Update:
This past Sunday we were with Hope Fellowship in Longview, TX where Miss Summer Hartzler was installed as Discipleship Ministries Director under Rev. Ben Andrus. The church has recently been able to buy some adjacent property in order to add on to their Christian Education space and they are positioning themselves to grow.
Summer has her Masters degree from Wheaton and is a C&MA Missions Candidate. All Missions Candidates with the C&MA must complete two years home service prior to being sent out. Summer and Hope Fellowship are part of our district initiative to place Missions Candidates in a congregation that is growing or poised to grow that can assume the majority of the burden of their financial need (salary, housing, etc.).
To increase the number of missionaries who are from our district and improve the health of our churches the District is willing to help get a Missionary Candidate into a church and provide a minimal subsidy for two years. We are excited to have Summer as part of our district and look forward to partnering with her in ministry.
Hurricane Gustav Updates:
Hurricane Gustav made landfall in Southern Louisiana, near Centerville where one of our district churches is located. Another of our churches is in Port Allen (across the river from Baton Rouge). Our third district church is in Sulphur. The following is our latest news and update concerning the status of each.
1) Centerville - near landfall for Gustav; Pastor Curtis Pace said that his brother inspected the buildings - the parsonage is missing some shingles and the church seemed to be fine. One of the families from the church lost part of their roof and some of the siding. Curtis will be traveling back into the area once the evacuation order is lifted. We will know more then about specific damages.
2) Sulphur - District Superintendent Mark Searing spoke to Fred Stark (head elder). The evacuation order had been lifted and they were headed home. Seems to be very minimal impact and minimal damages (perhaps none at all). Everyone was reported safe from the congregation.
3) Port Allen (right across the river from Baton Rouge) - Mark also spoke to Pastor Willie Kennedy (Actually lives on the East side of the river). He reports that the Port Allen area was hit by very damaging winds. He said that the buildings appear to be intact and the radio station tower is still up so he was encouraged. He did say that they still had no electricity but no one was hurt. He does not know of any damages as yet since has not been able to receive many phone calls (Mark's was the first to come in). This may be the hardest hit area we have in our district so there may be damages that we don't know about yet. It does appear that everyone is safe.
4) Rev. Gene Vincent - District evangelist, is out of the area with his wife so they were in no danger.
5) Rev. Paul Northcut, a police chaplain who is part of District family, has his own emergency vehicle and trailer for hauling supplies (he's worked with the Billy Graham Assoc. and FEMA and other agencies) headed South Tuesday afternoon. CLICK to read his update.
We want to thank Rev. Ben Andrus and Rev. Charles Smith for stepping up to the plate and getting announcements out about preparing to receive evacuees if it was necessary. Both Hope Fellowship of Longview and Parkway Fellowship of Houston were ready to pitch in if necessary. The willingness was much appreciated.
Continue to pray for each of the members of these congregations as they head home.