By A.D. Beacham, Jr. Presiding Officer
It was an honor to attend and preside over the Tennessee Valley Conference (TVC) Friday afternoon, August 3, 2018, at Compassion Church in Germantown, Tennessee.
Bishop Manuel Pate began the session by leading in a communion service. Following the communion service, I presented the IPHC core value emphasis for 2018, We Prayerfully Value All Generations.
When I stood to speak, I noticed that the attendance was the best I have seen at the conference since I began presiding 17 years ago. I was overjoyed to see the faithful men and women who have been with the conference for many years as well as the larger group of younger men and women, most in their twenties and thirties.
The Credentials Committee presented the following:
Local Church Minister’s License: Svetlana Krioutchkov, Aleksandr Volosevich, and Greg Pearl. On a special note, Svetlana and Aleksandr are a part of Living Israel, a ministry partner with IPHC World Missions Ministries which has a branch in Brooklyn, New York, and Scranton, Pennsylvania. The USA connection of local ministry occurs through a relationship with the Tennessee Valley Conference. We are thankful for the close relationship of this ministry with an established IPHC USA conference. Living Israel focuses much of its ministry in Israel, the USA, and other nations on Russian speaking Jews.
Minister’s License: Scott Worley, Bill Lotz, Henry Rivera, Jimmy Mattio
Rev. Harry Turner was reinstated as an ordained minister.
Bishop Pate’s State of the Conference report showed how the Holy Spirit has blessed TVC over the past years. Currently, the conference has 39 ordained ministers, 11 licensed, and 15 local church minister’s licenses for a total of 65 ministers. In 2017, the churches reported 2,461 people born again, 344 baptized in water, 37 who experienced sanctification, and 41 who received the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Compassion IPHC churches have experienced significant growth over the past several years. Compassion in Dickson, Tennessee, is now over 1000 in attendance; Compassion Waverly runs 504; Mission 615 in Nashville has 460. Iglesia El Gran Yo Soy in Nashville, one of three Hispanic congregations in the conference, reports 161. There are 12 Hope Centers providing restoration to men and women. Eight are in Tennessee, three in Texas, and one in Virginia.
The conference continues to be a strong supporter of IPHC World Missions Ministries (WMM). Total WMM giving in 2017 was $203,797. Members of the conference are active in South Sudan (Hope for Sudan), Ireland, Wales (Lemuel and Toby Turner), Canada, and Living Israel (noted above).
The conference elected the following to serve for the next four years:
Bishop Manuel Pate, re-elected by acclamation
Rev. Jamie Grisham, Assistant Superintendent
Rev. Josh Hannah, Rev. Frank Worthington, and Rev. Randy Brigman; Conference Executive Council
The conference session closed with the Memoirs Report. The following were remembered as having passed away since the last annual conference: Jerry Summers, A.E. Stanley, and Joseph Hooper.
