The Association of Grace Brethren Ministers honored three of its own on Wednesday morning as their annual “Pastors and Wives” breakfast kicked off Day Two at Access2017, the national conference of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches. The conference is being held through Thursday at Grace Community Church, Fremont, Ohio (Kevin Pinkerton, pastor).
Randy Smith, Bible teacher, tour leader, and pastor of the Grace Brethren Church, Sebring, Fla., was recognized with the Excellence in Ministry.
The Pastor of the Year Award went to Dan White, recently retired pastor of the Grace Brethren Church, York, Pa., who now serves in a part-time pastoral role at Lancaster Bible College.
Earlier this summer, Bob Fetterhoff, who recently stepped down as senior pastor at Grace Church, Wooster, Ohio, was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
The day continued with cohorts available for conference attendees to share ideas and network. Morning and afternoon sessions provided plenty of opportunity to connect and learn.
At lunch, Encompass World Partners focused on innovative ministries, including a coffee shop in Bangkok, a comic book ministry in Africa, and short-term opportunities to serve migrants in Europe. As part of their corporation meeting, a change to move membership in the corporation to churches rather than individuals was approved.
The Grace Brethren Investment Foundation and the Eagle Commission dinner not only featured updates from the 11 chaplains present, but they formally passed the responsibilities of the chaplaincy endorsing agent from John Schumacher to Mark Penfold during a moving Stole Ceremony.
Schumacher, who served as chaplain endorsing agent for 22 years, after serving more than 30 years as a chaplain, was also recognized at a cake and ice cream reception following the evening session.