Grace Brethren churches in the Columbus, Ohio, area are graciously offering free and comfortable housing for this summer’s Equip09 conference. Folks from churches in the area have provided extra bedrooms for you and your family to help make Equip09 a very affordable conference.

Go to www.equip09.com to request this free housing. Local hotel options are also listed on the equip09 web site (www.equip09.com).

The Sunday service at the York, Pa., Grace Brethren Church took a little different turn on October 19 as Pastor Dan White suspended part of the regular worship to perform the wedding ceremony of Tracy E. Garrod and David L. Thomas.

With the blessing of the church leadership and regular morning worship attenders, Pastor Dan modified the schedule, including extending the time about 15 minutes.

“I preached a sermon from Colossians 3:12-17 – Relationships That Will Stand the Test of Time. After several songs, we transitioned into the wedding service with the couple and me,” he recalls.

The worship service included favorite songs of the bride, who is a member of the church, and the groom, who is completing the membership process. “The two-song/hymn set before the wedding was Holy, Holy, Holy followed by Amazed.”

By the end of the songs, the couple was standing before the pastor. “I transitioned into the wedding section by saying that one of the most amazing things is that a holy God would love us,” he says. “But, right up there is that two imperfect people would be willing to choose to love each other. Yet it can be done, as evidenced by the section of the Scriptures from which I had just preached.”

The normal Sunday School/Adult Bible Fellowship hour was eliminated so a reception could be held. “As can be expected, it was not an elaborate spread like reception meals have become,” says the pastor. “It was just cake, drinks, condiments, salties, etc.,” he adds. “The congregation assembled downstairs to begin while the wedding party took pictures upstairs.”

Pastor Dan reports that their attendance was up for the day, attributing it to the fact that family and friends came to support the couple.

“It went well,” he reports. “It is not something that you do every week; but I do not think our church will forget it any too soon.”

Send a strategic message of support for our troops, veterans, and chaplains on the Sunday before Veterans Day, November 9, by using a bulletin insert provided by the Eagle Commission and Grace Brethren Investment Foundation. PDF files have been provided, either color or black and white in a format, for printing as bulletin inserts.

The Eagle Commission provides support and encouragement throughout the year for our Grace Brethren Chaplains, their families, and the brave men and women in the U.S. Armed Forces who wear our nation’s uniform, often in harm’s way. Consider becoming an official “sponsoring church” of the Eagle Commission by donating a suggested amount of $500 or more to the Eagle Commission. Receive monthly letters of news and prayer requests from our Grace Brethren Chaplains. Each sponsoring church will receive a poster for display throughout this next year that demonstrates the congregation’s support for our troops, veterans, and chaplains.

For more information or to register your church as a “sponsoring church” of the Eagle Commission, please contact Larry Chamberlain, president, Grace Brethren Investment Foundation (proud “sponsoring agency”) at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Click here for color poster (PDF file).
Click here for two-up color bulletin insert (PDF file).
Click here for two-up black only bulletin insert (PDF file).

For human reasons, Je’Rod Cherry probably shouldn’t want to part with his Super Bowl ring. It’s an honor to own one, it represents the struggle of his team to achieve a spot in football history, and it also signifies a personal career high.

But he’s decided to put it up for raffle to benefit needy children around the world.

Je’Rod (pictured at right with his wife, Samua) was a safety on the New England Patriots team that won three Super Bowl games within four years. Each time, team members, coaches, and staff received unique rings to commemorate the occasion.

His first ring, received in 2002 following the team’s 20-17 win over the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI, is his favorite. (He also has rings from Super Bowls XXXVII and XXXIX.)

“I had a huge impact on the game,” he recalls. Indeed, he recorded a game-high three solo special teams tackles, including dropping Rams punt returner Dre’ Bly for a one-yard loss. He also remembers that there was a greater struggle for the team to get to the Super Bowl, having been an underdog much of the 2001 season.

But now he’s ready to give it up for a higher cause. Je’Rod was in the audience at Momentum East, the annual Grace Brethren youth conference, when students and staff were challenged to give sacrificially to help feed starving children. By the time the conference was over, participants had given more than $94,000 to provide 100,000 meals for children in third world countries, build an orphanage in Cambodia, and replace the roof at Urban Hope (an inner city Philadelphia ministry), with enough left over to go towards a second orphanage in Thailand.

He knows he felt the spirit of God move that night in the auditorium at Cedarville University. After the service, he began walking out of the auditorium. “I was wrestling with finding some way to help with the building of an orphanage,” he recalls.

Friend and CE National staffer, Courtney Cherest saw him along the way and asked, almost in jest, if he was going to sell one of his Super Bowl rings. “I just may,” was his quick response, he recalls. But by the time he caught up with his wife, Samua, and they headed to meet with their youth group, he realized he’d been prompted, not by Courtney, but by God, to sell a ring. The proceeds would help the students at Momentum build and support a second orphanage in Southeast Asia. She quickly confirmed his decision.

He plans to offer the ring in a raffle this fall. He hopes to gain enough from the sale to benefit Asia’s Hope, enabling the completion of the second orphanage. Additional funds would go to Feed My Starving Children, a Christian organization that provides highly nutritious meals for severely malnourished children, and to other charities in the Boston area, where he played ball, and around his home in Macedonia, Ohio.

Looking back on the week, Je’Rod realizes that it was a divine moment. He hadn’t planned to attend the conference, but because the youth group at Grace Church, a Grace Brethren church in Macedonia, Ohio (Jason Haymaker, pastor), needed an additional man to accompany them, he offered to help. Samua, a volunteer youth staff member at the church, was already planning to attend. (The Cherrys are members of the church.)

“At first I didn’t want to go,” he remembers. It didn’t help that wasn’t a good time for him to take off from his job as a financial adviser.

But he realizes it’s an example of how God can change a man’s heart and perspective, admitting that even a year ago, he would not have wanted to part with the ring. “It was a personal pride issue,” Je’Rod remembers. Now he’s ready to use it as a way to raise funds for the greater good of society.

“I hope to raise enough money to bless a bunch of people in God’s name,” he says.

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To learn more about the raffle, click here.
To see a video of Je'Rod Cherry announcing his intention to sell his Super Bowl ring, click here.

For the third consecutive year, the Grace Brethren Church in Tracy, Calif. hosted a Thanksgiving meal for international students in San Francisco. It was held at the International House of Friendship, where Kevin and Sieu Choo Ong minister to young men and women from around the world.

This year, more than 70 students and ministry supporters attended the November 17 dinner. About 20 members of the Tracy church prepared the meal, while another 10 took it to the city and served it, relieving the Ongs from any preparation or cleanup.

"After the meal, we led in games and a program in which a Christian perspective of an American Thanksgiving was presented," reported Robert MacMillan, Jr., teaching pastor at the Tracy church. Guests were challenged to consider most world religions and to test the truths about Christianity.