Lonaconing Pastor Retires

Twenty-six years ago Rev. George R. Loar was asked by Superintendent Bill Mayo if he would go to the Bethel Holiness Church in Lonaconing to "help out" for six weeks. In September 2009, Pastor Loar retired from the pastorate at Lonaconing with many accomplishments for the Kingdom of God. When he went there the church was down in attendance to approximately 20-25 people, mostly relatives of Pastor Loar.

Attendance soon began to grow and more people from the community became involved in helping to grow the church. For much of the 26 years, George worked full-time in the local coal mines and witnessed to his co-workers and won many of them to the Lord and to the church. He has a tremendous ministry in the area and is frequently called on to conduct weddings and funerals for people in the area, many of whom don't belong to the church.

In 1994 his ministry took on a new dimension when he became involved in the IPHC overseas church planting program in Russia, Ukraine and Romania. As Conference Missions Director at the time, I told George about the church planting program and encouraged him to go to Russia with me to plant a church. George's first response was, "Oh, no, I couldn't do that, brother," but he promised to pray about it. Some days later he called and told me the "check is in the mail." I wasn't sure what check he was talking about, so he explained, "The check for the trip to Russia." The church board had voted to take some of the money from their building fund to sponsor George's trip. As it turned out the Missions Department had assigned him to go to Ukraine instead of Russia, but that did not upset George. He had been studying Ukraine and found that most of the people in the area of Kiev were coal miners and he felt he could identify with those folks. Not only did he go in 1994, but he and a team from his church continued to go every year until 2007. When the local paper wrote a full-page article with pictures from his trips, many Ukrainian families in the area whom he did not know would come to him and give him money for his trips. A lot of the money for his trips came from people outside Bethel church.

To make a long story short, since 1994 the Lonaconing church has given over one million dollars to missions and working with Pastor Valery Reshetinsky has helped to plant over 70 churches in Ukraine and 2 in Romania. The church has continued to grow and finances also grew to support not only the local church but many missions projects. They have been the leader in the GO offering for many years and continue sending $2,-$3,000 monthly to support
missionaries and overseas projects. Sunday morning attendance now averages 175-200 in a community where many people have had to relocate to find work.

I call this story "The Lonaconing Miracle." God took one man who said, "Oh, no, I couldn't do that, brother," and turned his life into a new and productive ministry that he never imagined. God can do anything and we can too, as He
gives us the power to do it. Needless to say, the church is very sad to see their pastor retire, but they know that he has certainly earned it. At 72, Pastor George is still very much involved in witnessing to and helping people he has
known all his life in the Frostburg/ Lonaconing area where he lives. I believe that God will continue to use him even though his full-time work as pastor has ended.

On Sunday, January 31, the church will honor Pastor Loar and Shirley with a special service and dinner
to thank them for their many years of faithful service.

Fountain of Living Water Dedicates

“The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.” Psalm126:3 On October 23, 2009, Fountain of Living Water Church opened the doors to its new location, located at 32 B Germay Drive, Wilmington DE 19804. Attending the celebration were Rev. Keith Marvel, Rev. Abel Palomo, the members of Fountain of Living Water Church and the church Pastors, Dr. Suzette and Rev. Eliseo Guzman.

Dr. Suzette and Rev. Eliseo Guzman began their ministry on April 8, 2007 planting a church to reach out to the Hispanic community within the Wilmington area. During the first year, the church began to grow and expand not only the kingdom heaven with salvations, but also to serve the com- munity by offering completely bilingual services, resources to help families and programs that would benefit the community. March 31, 2009, the construction of the new location began and was completed in less than six months. God’s favor and faithfulness was seen throughout all the process, touching people’s hearts to donate their labor, time, material, and above all working in unity to achieve God’s vision for this ministry.

Special thanks to Bishop Wesley Russ, Pastor Keith Marvel and Family Life Church, Pastor Abel Palomo and House of Prayer Maranatha who all spent time helping to meet an inspection deadline. Our conference friends and congregation worked together to accomplish great things for the Lord. We are com- mitted to sharing the love of Christ, strengthening families and serving in the community.

The Lord gave this word for the new location: “You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age- old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.” Isaiah 58:11-12.

Women’s Ministries 

Mrs. Joan Wilson, MAC W.M. Director 

With all the cold weather in most of the country these last few months, most of us are looking forward to Spring! April 17 is the date for our annual Women's Ministries conven- tion. Please mark the date on your calendar now so that you will be able to join us for this i mportant ti me to- gether. Tentative plans are to have our newly elected general Women's Ministries Director, Mrs. Tame Lambert, to be with us. I will send out a letter when plans have been finalized to give more details about the speaker and location in Hagerstown. This is the year to elect a new confer- ence director and board for the coming four years. I will not be serving another term as director.

The W.M. Board will appoint a Nominating Committee to pre- sent a slate of names for Direc- tor, Assistant Director, Secretary -Treasurer, and two board mem- bers. Please make this a matter of prayer and if you have a nomination to suggest, please send your recommendations to Mrs. Janice Russ, 4100 Kenny Street, Beltsville, MD 20705. I have asked Janice to serve as Chairman of the Nominating Committee.

Thank you for your cooperation and inspiration during the last quadrennium. I look forward to working with the new board in the future to continue to pro- mote Women's Ministries in the Mid-Atlantic Conference. “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Romans 12:12 (NIV)

Discipleship Ministries

Rev. Tom Brackett, DM Director

Two of the best things about the Discipleship Ministries (formerly C.E. Ministries) department are the Winter Retreat and the Summer Camp!

Retreat is just around the corner, Feb. 12-14. The main speaker is an excellent youth pastor, fun-loving, and Holy Spirit-filled. Lisa Correlli will be teaching our youth about developing a stronger relationship with God, using the theme: "It's ALL about YOU!" Registrations are due February 5th. Come prepared for indoor and outdoor activities (Snow?) Please note that the retreat is only cancelled due to weather IF the State Police close down Route 70.

Our warmer camp is scheduled for the first full week in August and our National Youth Pastor, Rev. Charles Boyd, is designated to be our speaker.

Would you like to bless four Discipleship Ministries workers in your church with $1000 each? That's right! Check out the process to nominate someone at the www.iphc.org website. Just follow the links to Church Education / Sunday School / Teacher of the Year. You can nominate a deserving Youth Pastor, Children's Worker, Royal Rangers' Commander, and Sunday School teacher. The win- ners receive special national recognition along with a check for $1000. Don't Delay! Deadline to nominate someone is the ides of March (15th).

Entries and all other inquiries can go to Discipleship Ministries Director, Rev. Tom Brackett through email: tombrackett208@gmail.com Rev. Tom Backett

Announcements

Condolences: Mrs. Helen Coffman, 92, widow of the late Rev. Rex Coffman who served as pastor at Corinth PHC in West Virginia, went to be with the Lord on Sunday, January 3, 2010. Mrs. Coffman is the mother of Joyce Lyons and grandmother of one of our MAC min- isters, Rev. Charles R. Lyons. A memorial service was held at Bethel Holiness Church in Lonaconing on Sunday, June 10. We extend our prayers and deep sympathy to the entire Coffman family.

Donations for Haiti: The IPHC has 37 churches in Haiti and feeds 3,000 children every day through the People to People program. If you would like to help, please send donations to the conference office designated "People to People -- Haiti." 

Pastor Khan plans Israel trip on October 11-20, 2010.  If you are interested and would like to learn more about this trip, please contact Ptr. Jamil Khan at jamil@maranathaiphc.com or call 301-742-1070.