Faith News Network

The Church of God Chaplains Commission, in cooperation with the Pentecostal Theological Seminary will offer a new Community Service Chaplaincy training format in June.

I first became aware of the value of a local missions representative (LMR) in the local church when I pastored the Troy, Michigan Church of God in the 1970s. In our church was a lovely lady, Violet Slaght, who had a passion for missions and missionaries.

This year has been a notable year for five state Ministerial Internship Program (MIP) coordinators. Coordinators lead the MIP efforts in those states/regions in cooperation with the Church of God Division of Education.

Wade Miller, coordinator for the Ministry to the Military sector of MIP, completes five years as the coordinator. According to Dr. Don Bennett with the Church of God Division of Education,
Miller has the distinguished opportunity to provide the MIP seminar through video conferences in several countries around the world.

Bennett went on to say that Johnny Sawyer, MIP coordinator for Western North Carolina, completes ten years as coordinator in that region. Eddie Allen, coordinator in South Carolina, and Thomas Mitchell, coordinator in the Heartlands Region, complete 15 years as coordinators.

David Hagee, the coordinator in Virginia, completes 25 years as coordinator and is one of th longest-serving leaders for MIP. During his tenure, 238 applicants completed Calling and Ministry Studies (CAMS), 788 candidates completed the Ministerial Internship Program, and he has worked with 101 different supervising pastors.

“His supervising pastors and ministerial students compliment Bishop Hagee very highly, saying that he helped them acquire knowledge and develop skills to be effective in ministry,” Bennett stated. “Many commented that they would not be where they are without the mentoring of Bishop Hagee.”

This year’s annual MIP Commissioning ceremonies will take place on May 19-20 in Cleveland, Tennessee. During this time, MIP candidates who have completed the rigorous educational training are recognized and “commissioned” for service into the ministry by Church of God leaders.

Cleveland, TN—Lee University will conduct spring commencement ceremonies this weekend, May 5 and 6 on the Lee campus. Lee alumna and president of Austin Peay State University, Dr. Alisa White, will deliver the address during the commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 6, at 9:30 a.m. EST on the lawn of the Science and Math Complex (SMC).

LeaderLabs Skill #8 session entitled, “Organizational Culture: The Water You Swim In, the Role of Values, Mission, and Purpose,” will be offered live via the Church of God’s Facebook page located at Facebook.com/COGHQ. The lab will feature two sessions of the popular course, beginning at 9:00 a.m. EST on Tuesday, May 9. It is scheduled to conclude at noon EST.

The Pentecostal Theological Seminary is offering a special one-day seminar entitled, “Freed To Be Me: Developing the Keys to Effective Leadership and Spiritual Transformation,” to be held on Thursday, May 18 from 9:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m. on the campus of Pentecostal Theological Seminary.