On June 30th, 2023, 171 delegates and 315 registered attendees gathered for the SonShine Network Ministries (SNM) Quadrennial Conference Session which was hosted in conjunction with their annual summer C3 Celebration which stands for Come, Connect & Celebrate. The celebration has been hosted at the Orlando Marriott Lake Mary Hotel in Lake Mary, Florida, for several years now, and the hotel has proven to be the perfect venue for this very upbeat celebration.
I was honored to recognize and honor former Conference Superintendent, Bishop Clifton Smith. In 1978, Clifton and his wife Marion, became the IPHC’s first missionaries to Europe – I noted that the Kingdom imprint of Clifton and Marion Smith on the missionary fabric of the IPHC in Europe and London, England, in particular, is still visible today. This allows us to be always cognizant of the fact that we are building on the foundation that others laid at great sacrifice.
IPHC missionary extraordinaire to Peru, Dr. David Deaton, Ray and Becky Brewster, former Assistant Director of WMM and former Missionaries to LAMCAR and Asia, Bishop Randell and Michelle Drake (New Horizons Ministries) and C3 Celebration evening guest speaker were all in attendance.
We were especially honored to be joined by one of my personal heroes, Bishop Valery Reshetinsky, President/Presiding Bishop of the Ukrainian Missionary Church – which functions as the IPHC in the Ukraine, and senior pastor of the influential Christian Hope Church, in Kiev, Ukraine. Since the mid-1990s, over 220 churches have been established in the Ukraine as a part of Bishop Valery Reshetinsky’s vision and church planting efforts. Bishop Reshetinsky was present to witness the ordination of several Ukrainian pastors who have recently become members of SNM.
Thank you to Bishop Willis for being so proactive in making this happen the way it should. It has ignited something in SNM that will bear fruit in the future.
The Conference also welcomed and recognized representatives from IPHC’s Extension Loan Fund: Rev. Stephen Hanscom, Vice-President for Lending Services, Emmanuel College, Rev. Brian James, Vice-President for Advancement, and Rev. Karelys Pereira, Director of Royal Home Ministries and Falcon Children’s Home.
Clergy Credentials were issued/approved as follows:
Certificate of Ordination (6) – Rev. Valentyn Kravchenko, Rev. Nataliya Petrovets, Rev. Paul Petrovets, Rev. Viktor Nagirynak, Rev. Lyudmila Nagirynak and Grover Samuel Andrews.
Minister’s License (2) – Rev. Tammy Wilcox, and Rev. William Matthews.
The much-beloved Pastor Hayward Miller led the Conference in memorializing and honoring the lives and ministry legacies of the following Conference ministers in the Memoirs Report:
- Peggy Lynne Peddie
- James l. Gosnell
- Hazel Marie Haas
- Rhul J. Edenfield
On the General Conference-mandated ‘majority vote’ to determine the SonShine Network Ministries’ position regarding term limits for all Conference Executive Council members, one-hundred and twenty-six votes (76%) were cast opposing/ending term limits and forty votes (24%) were cast in favor of term limits.
SonShine Network Ministries has followed a nomination process for the election of their three Conference Officers: Conference Superintendent, Assistant Conference Superintendent and Conference Secretary/Treasurer for several terms now. Bishop Ray Willis was re-elected as Conference Superintendent; Rev. Dave Ragan was re-elected as the Assistant Conference Superintendent, and Rev. Elizabeth Martin was elected to serve as the Conference Secretary/Treasurer: an exceptional ministry team!
Executive Officers, SonShine Network Ministries L-R: Conference Superintendent, Bishop Ray Willis, Conference Secretary/Treasurer, Rev. Elizabeth Martin, and Assistant Conference Superintendent, Rev. Dave Ragan.
Bishop Ray and Peggy Willis are transformational leaders. The trajectory in SonShine Network Ministries is headed in the right direction.
It is always an honor to serve this part of our faith family, and we believe that the ‘best is still to come’ for SonShine Network Ministries.
-Tal-
