The Conference Reporter’s Report
Past. Present. Future. All three tenses were in abundance at the 127th Bible Fellowship Conference, held April 26-27, 2010 at Pinebrook Bible Conference.
Right from the start, conference moderator Randall Grossman, in a message entitled “The Unity of the Bible Fellowship Church,” highlighted our place as part of the great tree of Christianity that finds its roots and life in Jesus Christ.
“We’re a branch, a twig…part of a great tree,” Grossman noted, using Hebrews 12:1-2 to accent out connectedness to other branches within Christendom. “We’re all connected. We’re all related,” he said.
That connectedness, he added, is of great benefit because it ties the Bible Fellowship Church to many centuries of forbears. “We really do stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us,” Grossman said.
Our past came out in many ways throughout the two-day conference.
It came out in poignant remembrances of faithful saints John Dunn and Robert W. Smock, longtime BFC pastors who went home to be with the Lord since last year’s conference.
David A. Thomann, who succeeded Dunn as pastor in Lancaster in 1980, noted his introduction to a little man who would become a dear friend. “You need to know your people,” Dunn told Thomann upon his arrival in Lancaster. “You need to be here and get to know your people.
“He was just a good friend who loved his people,” Thomann concluded.
Daniel P. Allen, giving praise for Smock’s ministry, noted there were times when they held differing opinions while both served at the Ephrata church. Smock, he said, was often dogmatic in the things he held dearly. At the same time, however, he was a selfless servant. “He would go the extra mile,” Allen said. “There was no question that he would take the shirt off his back and give it to you.”
The past and present intersected on Tuesday during R.C. Reichenbach’s time at the microphone. Our brother Reichenbach regularly gives the report of our Beneficiary Society; this year, during a discussion of some changes implemented within the Society, Reichenbach and pastor John H. Riggall got into a good-natured and somewhat humorous tete-a-tete between 90-year-olds that raised chuckles through the bar.
The present was also a central focus as David T. Allen was approved as BFC Executive Director and was installed during Monday’s evening session. Allen sees his new position as one who “guides, coaches and comes alongside you to get done what we’re called to do.” He said he seeks to instill “a culture of excellence” among the various departments and ministries of the BFC.
While the introduction of a new Executive Director gives an inkling of both the present and the Bible Fellowship Church’s immediate future, Monday evening’s introduction of visiting missionaries and ordination service provided another sense of both tenses.
The Bible Fellowship Church has long maintained a strong support base for missions both within the United States and across the globe. Dana Weller, Director of the BFC Board of Missions, noted that the BFC currently supports 170 missionaries in 34 nations.
Several of those missionaries were on hand Monday night to be welcomed by pastors and delegates. Included in that group were Carrie Ziegenfuss and Becky Masessa, two young ladies from our Ebenezer/Bethlehem church who will leave for Tanzania in a few months as the next team in the BFC’s burgeoning Tanzania Project. Pastors and delegates got a video update on Tuesday morning, with current BFC missionaries John & Nancy LoRusso taking key roles on screen.
Monday night’s service of ordination saw Conference welcome Mark R. Evans and Joshua P. Miller as newly-ordained men while recognizing the previous ordination of Carlos G. Rodriguez. All three men are already serving BFC churches, with Evans at Calvary BFC, Coopersburg, Miller at Grace BFC, Quakertown, and Rodriguez at La Roca de Reading.
In his testimony, Evans offered thanks for a long list of people who have played key roles in his life. “God has been very good to me,” he concluded.
Miller emphasized God’s grace in his life, describing himself as a “wretch” by nature who was saved and called to ministry. “I got His righteousness, and I will be singing His praise for all eternity,” he said.
Rodriguez, who grew up in Guadalajara, Mexico, gave praise for his “new friends” in the Bible Fellowship Church. “I really thank the Lord for how He connected me with the Bible Fellowship Church,” he explained. “It has been a great adventure of faith.”
Keith Plows offered the challenge to the three ordinands from 2 Timothy 2, applying the metaphors of the soldier, the athlete, the farmer, the worker, the vessel and the servant to pastoral ministry. “Someday we’ll be evaluated for the job we’re doing – by the Lord Himself,” he stressed.
Rodriguez, by the way, also factored into a first-time event for BFC Conference. For the first time in our long history, BFC Conference was “live-streamed,” allowing interested parties from around the globe to get a look-in at our conference happenings. Rodriguez’ mother watched from Mexico during the Ordination service while Colby Weinhofer, one of our missionaries, e-mailed to let us know he was watching conference from Japan.
Monday’s activities always include the introduction of first-time Conference participants. This year, included in that number were Dave Smith and Ed Suthers from Grace Fellowship Church in Harrisburg, which is pursuing a connection with the BFC.
“We are real excited about finding the BFC,” Suthers said. “We’re thankful to be introduced to the BFC, and we’re really excited to be here.”
While Tuesday brought its fair share of reports and discussion, the morning address by Bob Sloan, “The Uniqueness of the Bible Fellowship Church,” stood as a definite highlight and a perfect bookend to Randy Grossman’s opening sermon.
Sloan deftly tied together our past, present and future, noting that the Bible Fellowship Church’s uniqueness is found in a combination of factors, including its doctrine, its unity, its leaders and the path it has taken during its 150-plus year history.
And now, the future awaits as God leads, with a new denominational structure, new church connections and new missions opportunities.
“We are developing a new focus,” Sloan noted. “I can’t wait to see what it becomes, because we aren’t there yet, but we are on that road.
“We should never leave anything undone that God gives us to do,” he added. “Our ultimate goal is to make disciples of Jesus Christ, and unity is at the core of it all.”
Respectfully submitted,
Ronald L. Kohl
Conference Reporter
127th Annual Conference