By Presiding Bishop A.D. Beacham, Jr.
July 10, 2015
Memphis, Tennessee
The Tennessee Valley Conference met in its annual session Friday, July 10th. It was held at Compassion Church in Germantown, Tennessee (suburb of Memphis).
Bishop Manuel Pate welcomed the delegates in the morning session and introduced the presiding officer, Presiding Bishop A.D. Beacham, Jr. (Doug). During his opening remarks, Beacham spoke of the recent Global Assembly in Hong Kong, emphasized students attending our IPHC colleges, shared about Jewish Messianic congregations and IPHC through Toward Jerusalem Council II, referenced discipleship development through The Awakening and Discipleship Beyond, and addressed the IPHC stance regarding marriage.
Bishop Pate gave the State of the Conference report and presented the Financial Report. The conference now has three congregations around Nashville, including a new Hispanic congregation with a wide ministry, El Grand Yo Soy (The Great I Am). Bishop Pate indicated there are twenty-three full member congregations and one affiliate in the conference. If you count the additional churches that are part of Friendship World Outreach (Josh Hannah, leader), there are a total of 29 congregations comprising the conference.
In 2014 there are records of 1856 people being born again through these congregations and outreaches. There were 202 water baptisms and 68 recorded who were baptized in the Holy Spirit. The conference has 4,093 members and a total of 62 ministers.
Assistant Superintendent Josh Hannah read the Credentials report. Ashley Charlton received Local Church Minister’s License; Eric Anderson received Minister’s License; and Marvin Padilla received his ordination. Rev. Padilla is pastor of the Hispanic congregation in Nashville referenced above. Originally from Honduras, he has a strong radio ministry across Tennessee and Kentucky and a network of pastors who look to him for leadership. He has been working with Dr. Luis Avila, director of IPHC Hispanic Ministries and they are planning a DCPI church planting conference in the coming months.
Bishop Beacham presented the We Prayerfully Value Pentecost video to which the conference responded with thanksgiving and prayer (https://vimeo.com/126521127).
The morning session closed with presentations from various conference leaders. Talent Quest Director Ryndi Brigman spoke about getting more TVC teenagers involved in the Discipleship Ministries talent emphasis. Brittany Galavin, who is Bishop Pate’s administrative assistant, is also the Director of the TVC Next Level Discipleship & Teams. She spoke of the effectiveness of the small groups that are serving across the conference. She is also part of the IPHC Discipleship Ministries Student Ministries Advisory Team (https://iphc.org/discipleship/students/).
The afternoon session was led by Bishop Pate who spoke on the significance of our priestly ministry as servants of the Lord.
The night service was the Global Outreach service. As the pastors came forward to announce their offerings and pledges, the excitement grew. The GO Offering total for that night was over $19,700! That does not include funds that have already been sent to World Missions Ministries. Two videos were shown as part of that service. The first was the GO Video prepared by WMM (https://iphc.org/missions/go/) and the second was the video prepared by the Wing Kwong PHC recapping the Global Assembly (http:/iphc.org/gso/global-assembly-2015/).
The service concluded with a sermon by Presiding Bishop Beacham.