{"id":1646,"date":"2017-09-16T10:00:49","date_gmt":"2017-09-16T10:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/?p=1646"},"modified":"2017-09-15T23:31:40","modified_gmt":"2017-09-15T23:31:40","slug":"2017-mid-atlantic-annual-conference-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/2017\/09\/16\/2017-mid-atlantic-annual-conference-report\/","title":{"rendered":"2017 Mid-Atlantic Annual Conference Report"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Bishop J. Talmadge Gardner<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I was honored to serve Bishop Abel &amp; Trish Palomo and the members of the Mid-Atlantic Conference (MAC) as their presiding officer on Saturday, September 9, 2017.\u00a0 According to Bishop Palomo, this was MAC\u2019s sixty-eighth annual conference gathering.<\/p>\n<p>The conference was hosted at Kingsway Christian Center in Baltimore, Maryland.\u00a0 Kingsway Christian Center is pastored by Rev. Shawn and Bridgette Simon.\u00a0 The current Kingsway campus was developed by our former colleague and friend, Bishop Wesley and Peggie Potter during their seventeen-and-a-half-year pastorate there.\u00a0 What an impressive campus and ministry legacy!<\/p>\n<p>Bishop Palomo\u2019s <em>State of the Conference Report<\/em> provided attendees with an overview of the ministry progress of almost every church and minister in the MAC. It is very obvious that Abel knows his flock well and enjoys celebrating every success they have with them.\u00a0 He also expressed his appreciation to the church that he and Trish currently pastor, House of Prayer Maranatha. They have been exceptionally understanding in allowing him to \u201cfunction as bishop of the MAC in addition to serving them as their pastor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bishop Palomo concluded his remarks by sharing his three-fold vision for the MAC:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Churches that raise up leaders and successors in ministry and missions<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol>\n<li>This is the best way we can continue with the vision of the church<\/li>\n<li>With people who love their local home church<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>Churches that mother \u201cdaughter\u201d churches<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol>\n<li>This is the natural way and the most effective way<\/li>\n<li>Statistically, new churches grow faster<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>Churches and ministers who are faithful in their giving<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol>\n<li>This is the best way to finance the kingdom and the biblical way<\/li>\n<li>This is what every minister and church signed on their application<\/li>\n<li>We should be people of our word<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Clergy Credentials Were Issued as Follows:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Ordination (3)<\/em> &#8211;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Rev. Nelson Amaya<\/li>\n<li>Rev. Patrick Correlli, Sr.<\/li>\n<li>Rev. Mathew Alfred<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Minister&#8217;s License\/MAC Chaplain\u2019s License (2<\/em>) &#8211;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Rev. Philip Cheek<\/li>\n<li>Rev. Bill Detrick<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Local Church Minister\u2019s Certificate (9)<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Rev. Roslyn Chatman<\/li>\n<li>Rev. Alfred Gordon<\/li>\n<li>Rev. Melcy Chavez<\/li>\n<li>Rev. Santos Hernandez<\/li>\n<li>Rev. Abidail Cruz<\/li>\n<li>Rev. Nidia Guzman<\/li>\n<li>Rev. Olga Caballero<\/li>\n<li>Rev. Cristian Cuellar<\/li>\n<li>Rev. Obel Cruz<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Memoirs Report was presented by Rev. Correlli, Sr. His report memorialized the life and ministry legacy of Bishop James Wesley Potter using a eulogy that Bishop Wesley Russ had written for Bishop Potter\u2019s memorial service in South Carolina.\u00a0 Bishop Russ gave me permission to share his eulogy with you.<\/p>\n<p>Eulogy<\/p>\n<p>Bishop James Wesley Potter<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDeeply regret not being able to be present.<\/p>\n<p>Our friendship with Wes and Miss Peggie goes back nearly 40 years.\u00a0 Without question, the Potters came to the Mid-Atlantic Conference at the right time.\u00a0 Coming to Baltimore placed him in our strongest missions-supporting church.\u00a0 Not long after Wesley arrived, he discovered a problem that not only affected his church but the whole conference.\u00a0 Wes\u2019 leadership qualities were on full display as he quickly brought the problem to light and forged a solution that brought healing to the situation.\u00a0 It was no surprise to anyone that at the next conference, Wesley was elected to the conference board on which we served together for the rest of his tenure in the conference.<\/p>\n<p>Under his leadership, the Baltimore church experienced growth, and soon it was obvious that a larger facility was needed.\u00a0 Wesley led in the sale of the old property and the purchase of a new site to be known as Kingsway Christian Center.\u00a0 The transition from the sale to the start of building on the new property was supposed to take one year.\u00a0 Three years later, with a dwindling congregation and with Baltimore County throwing every roadblock in the book at them, they were still stuck in a school auditorium.\u00a0 Wes asked me to speak to his church family on a Sunday night.\u00a0 There may have been 60 people present &#8211; a far cry from the nearly 300 he left the old building with &#8211; and some of those wondered why they ever made such a bold move.\u00a0 Not so with Brother Wesley.\u00a0 He never looked back and today the Kingsway church is one of the finest facilities in the Mid-Atlantic Conference.\u00a0 Leadership counts, and Wesley Potter had that in abundance.<\/p>\n<p>It was no surprise when Wes was elected as conference bishop.\u00a0 Again, under his leadership, the conference experienced rapid growth.\u00a0 At first, he continued to serve as pastor at Kingsway as well as conference bishop for eight years.\u00a0 Talk about spinning plates!\u00a0\u00a0 Finally, the needs of the conference were such that a pastor was elected for the church and Wesley served the remaining six years of his tenure as full-time bishop.\u00a0 The MAC owes a great debt to the Potters for their 23 years of sacrificial service.<\/p>\n<p>Wesley loved people and was generous with his time to make each person feel special.\u00a0 As I visited churches in the conference, I was always asked about the Potters.<\/p>\n<p>The Potters treated us to many fellowship opportunities where pastoral couples could openly share the joys and challenges of ministry.\u00a0 We shared heart-to-heart and those meetings gave us the courage to press on.<\/p>\n<p>Brother Potter loved to laugh.\u00a0 He always had a story to tell.\u00a0 Sometimes the humor was at his own expense.\u00a0 He was preaching one Sunday and in his message he used the lines from the well-known song, \u201cHome on the Range.\u201d\u00a0 When he got to the line, \u201cWhere the deer and the antelope play,\u201d he said, \u201cWhere the deer and the <strong>cantaloupe<\/strong> play.\u201d\u00a0 The congregation burst out laughing.\u00a0 He looked at Miss Peggie and asked, \u201cWhy are they laughing?\u201d\u00a0 Miss Peggie said, \u201cWes, it\u2019s not where the <strong>cantaloupe<\/strong> play, it\u2019s where the <strong>antelope <\/strong>play.\u201d\u00a0 Wesley said, \u201cThat\u2019s what I said \u2013 where the deer and the <strong>cantaloupe<\/strong> play.\u201d\u00a0 The people laughed again and Wesley pressed on.<\/p>\n<p>There are way too many personal remembrances to recount \u2013 homecoming services, our 25<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary celebration with Janna singing our special song, revivals preached, camp meetings, IPHC meetings attended, family visits, phone visits after Wes stepped down as bishop and moved back to South Carolina and then on to Texas.<\/p>\n<p>As you know, Wesley struggled with his memory at the last, and we were not able to speak with him on the phone as before.\u00a0 Some weeks ago, Miss Peggie called and told me Wesley wanted to speak to me.\u00a0 He took the phone but then had problems remembering what he wanted to tell me.\u00a0 Miss Peggie reminded him as she knew the reason he wanted to call.\u00a0 He said, \u201cI love you, Wes.\u201d\u00a0 I knew that but it was sweet to my ears to hear him say it.<\/p>\n<p>Now that Wesley has moved into the Father\u2019s House, I know he\u2019ll save me a place at the table and we\u2019ll finish that conversation.<\/p>\n<p>To the family, let me tell you what you already know so well.\u00a0 Wesley loved you with all his heart\u2014it was a sacrificial love that kept on giving.\u00a0 As I say, I know you know that, but I pray it will be not only a sweet sound to your ears but a healing balm to your grieving hearts.<\/p>\n<p>Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. <sup>\u00a0<\/sup>All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time!\u00a0 Amen. Jude 1:24-25\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>It was an honor as the presiding officer to recognize the following conference attendees and guests:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Marysol Martinez, director, Royal Home Ministries, Falcon Children\u2019s Home<\/li>\n<li>David and Jessica Schoch, pastor of the Lonaconing PHC. Pastor Schoch just returned from a trip to the Ukraine and is continuing the church planting legacy of pastor George Loar in that he has planted five churches in the Ukraine in support of Bishop Reshetinsky and Bob Cave\u2019s goal of planting 50 churches there in 2017 and 2018.\u00a0 Thirty-three churches have been planted this year.\u00a0 Pastor George Loar planted a total of 83 churches.\u00a0 Pastor Schoch currently pastors a congregation of 65 people.\u00a0 Great faith on their part.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I honor Bishop Palomo and his family for their service to the Lord and the IPHC MAC.\u00a0 Trish and Abel have been married for 27 years.\u00a0 They have served together in ministry for 22 of those years and have planted 13 churches in this short time span.\u00a0 Together they have three gifted children who serve alongside them in ministry: Abel (23), Lidia (21), and Bethany (17).\u00a0 They led our worship time to begin our conference session.<\/p>\n<p>Mid-Atlantic has positioned itself to have a significant and continuing influence for the IPHC in the cultural \u201cmelting pot\u201d of the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>May God give Abel and Trish the desires of their hearts!<\/p>\n<p>I was honored to serve this part of our IPHC faith family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"excerpt","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[313,330,87,490,94,12],"class_list":{"0":"post-1646","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-general","8":"tag-313","9":"tag-annual-conference","10":"tag-conference-report","11":"tag-mid-atlantic","12":"tag-recap","13":"tag-september","14":"entry"},"title_es":"2017 Grace Bible Ministries Informe Anual de la Conferencia","content_es":"<strong>Por Dr. AD Beacham, Jr.<\/strong> Fue una alegr\u00eda asistir y presidir la Conferencia Anual de Grace Bible Ministries (Conferencia de Texas) el viernes y s\u00e1bado, 7-8 de julio. Esta fue una conferencia hist\u00f3rica, ya que hubo una transferencia de liderazgo de un superintendente de la conferencia a otro. A principios de este a\u00f1o, el obispo Ricky Walter habl\u00f3 conmigo acerca de renunciar como superintendente de la conferencia. Trabajando diligentemente para completar su doctorado en consejer\u00eda el pr\u00f3ximo a\u00f1o, el Obispo Walter no sent\u00eda que pudiera darle tiempo al trabajo de la conferencia que era necesario. Hace varios meses, el Obispo Walter, Superintendente Asistente David Salazar, y yo nos reunimos en San Benito, Texas, para discutir esta transferencia. Los tres de nosotros acordamos en el momento y que Rev. Walter asumir\u00eda la oficina vacante del superintendente asistente. Desde las elecciones de la conferencia cuatrienal ser\u00e1 el pr\u00f3ximo a\u00f1o, la conferencia estuvo de acuerdo con este sencillo paso. El viernes por la tarde tuve el honor de instalar al obispo David Salazar como superintendente de la conferencia. Su esposa Rosa estaba con \u00e9l. En el servicio de instalaci\u00f3n Rev. y la Sra. Walter se unieron a m\u00ed, as\u00ed como a otros dos miembros del consejo. Tuvimos el privilegio de tener con el obispo Scott Hampton de la Conferencia de Great Plains y se uni\u00f3 a m\u00ed para poner las manos sobre el obispo Salazar. El obispo Salazar estar\u00e1 presente para la reuni\u00f3n del Consejo de Obispos en Orlando, Florida, el lunes por la ma\u00f1ana, 24 de julio. Quiero tomar un momento y expresar mi aprecio por el Rev. Walter. Ha servido en el Consejo de Obispos durante unos cuatro a\u00f1os. Asumi\u00f3 el cargo durante tiempos turbulentos y trajo estabilidad a las iglesias y ministros. Es un m\u00fasico dotado con una gran unci\u00f3n en su ministerio. Tambi\u00e9n aport\u00f3 ideas importantes a la COB sobre diversos temas relacionados con el cuidado de los ministros en dificultades. Su experiencia de asesoramiento y antecedentes seguir\u00e1 siendo un gran recurso para la IPHC en los pr\u00f3ximos a\u00f1os. El viernes por la ma\u00f1ana de la conferencia, el obispo Scott Hampton trajo una excelente sesi\u00f3n de dos sesiones sobre las principales organizaciones. El superintendente de conferencias de servicio m\u00e1s joven en el Consejo de Obispos, la visi\u00f3n, la energ\u00eda y el liderazgo de Bishop Hampton est\u00e1n siendo reconocidos a trav\u00e9s del IPHC. El viernes por la noche, el Dr. Luis Avila, Director de Ministerios Hispanos de IPHC, habl\u00f3 en un servicio biling\u00fce. Orador dotado, el Dr. \u00c1vila abri\u00f3 la Palabra de Dios de una manera poderosa. Tambi\u00e9n comparti\u00f3 los \u00e9xitos del programa Ministerial del Instituto Nacional de Capacitaci\u00f3n (INCaM) en los Ministerios B\u00edblicos de Gracia. No hay duda de que esto llevar\u00e1 a una nueva generaci\u00f3n de hombres y mujeres entrenados en un ministerio efectivo. El viernes por la noche, el Obispo Beacham habl\u00f3 sobre \"Valoramos el Reino de Cristo con oraci\u00f3n\". Fue un honor contar con el ex congresista de la conferencia, Barry Boatright, para asistir a este servicio nocturno. Un querido amigo y un l\u00edder piadoso, se uni\u00f3 al Obispo Salazar, Rev. Walter, y yo en oraci\u00f3n por los muchos j\u00f3venes que estaban presentes. El s\u00e1bado por la ma\u00f1ana, el obispo Salazar comparti\u00f3 su visi\u00f3n y coraz\u00f3n para la conferencia. Es un l\u00edder inspirador y humilde. \u00c9l ha viajado a trav\u00e9s de la reuni\u00f3n de la conferencia con los pastores y las congregaciones que traen el est\u00edmulo. Carlos y Nuria Bolanos compartieron su coraz\u00f3n y su visi\u00f3n para el ministerio con Acts2Day en Hawai. He estado con esta pareja inspiradora en varios eventos y aprecio profundamente su ministerio. Est\u00e1n plantando iglesias con EVUSA en Maui. Muchos turistas no se dan cuenta de las profundidades de la desesperaci\u00f3n y depravaci\u00f3n que operan en Hawai. Hay grandes oportunidades dignas de nuestro apoyo financiero y orante. Estoy agradecido de que Susan y yo estamos apoyando a esta pareja y te animamos a hacer lo mismo. Una persona recibi\u00f3 la licencia del ministro y otra fue reintegrada. Dos personas tambi\u00e9n recibieron certificados del ministro de la iglesia local.","author_name":"","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2016\/05\/2016-Conference-Recap-Graphic-2.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb62Bx-qy","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}