Winckles Family Update

Area Administrators in Indy

Larry has been in meetings this week in Indianapolis at our mission headquarters. The other Area Administrators and some Area Directors gathered together for the first time for face-to-face meetings. A lot of good work was accomplished, along with good fellowship. Notice that some of us earned gold stars!

In Ypsilanti, Michigan

There are only two Ypsilantis in the USA, one in North Dakota and one in Michigan. We have connections in both states, but today we visited the Ypsilanti Free Methodist Church in Ypsilanti, Michigan. The Ypsilanti church has been one of our long-term partner churches, and it is always good to return there for a visit.

Pastor Bruce Rhodes recently led the church through an emphasis on 40 Days of Community, and it was exciting to hear the testimonies that have come out of that emphasis on spiritual growth in community. This is one of several 40 day emphases that have been developed by the Saddleback Church, which is also responsible the the Celebrate Recovery! materials.

After the service we had lunch with the church's missions committee and spoke with Pastor Bruce about the possibility of the church sending a ministry team to Hungary sometime in the future. We look forward to continuing our partnership with YpsiFree in this way in the future.

Special thanks go out to Alan Stout, who has served as the church's missions coordinator over the past several years! We appreciate his advocacy on our behalf.

Living Water Community Church in Dalton, Ohio

We were delighted to be able to share our Tree of Life presentation with the folks at the Living Water Community Church in Dalton, Ohio. The Living Water church has been one of our major ministry partners over the past eleven years. Located in the Amish country of Ohio, this church has made a major impact in the surrounding community.

Their lead pastor, Mark Hirst, spoke this morning on "Dig, Man, Dig," based on 2 Kings 3:4-27. He challenged the congregation to dig deeper during the "detours" that inevitably occur in our lives. The detours are the distractions, the worries, the problems, and the tragedies that we experience. He ended with this quote: "Our faith is not built on the fault line of feelings or the flood plain of our performance. We build our faith on solid ground, higher ground. We build on the faithfulness of God." (S. Furtick)

A new addition to the church complex is a coffee house, which they call the Connection Pointe. It is a great place for people to meet, not only on Sunday mornings but also throughout the week. Community organizations make use of it as well.

We also were able to spend some time with the new superintendent of the Ohio Conference, Mike McFerran, and his wife, Robin. Mike was until this year the pastor of the Living Water church. 

Smucker's in Orrville, Ohio

Little did we realize that we would be spending the night in Orrville, Ohio -- the home of the J. M. Smucker Company. Smucker's is known for its jams and jellies, but we didn't realize that the company now owns many other brands, including Jif, Pillsbury, Folger's, and more! We learned all this through visiting the Smucker's Store and Cafe, where they have samples of all their product lines on display. Katie even got to shake hands with the Pillsbury Dough Boy!

Back to Monroe

We went over to Monroe, Michigan today to see Larry's mom and sister Nancy, who are in Michigan for a two-week visit. Andrew and Christy joined us for the afternoon. It was good to have our family together, for a little while at least. We go back on Monday to see them again, as well as Linda and Joel. Peter will join us on Monday.

Visit the Europe Café at General Conference 2011!

We will be traveling to Rochester, New York next month to take part in our denomination's General Conference, which is held every four years. As a part of the conference a large Missions Central area will be set up in the Pearce Memorial Free Methodist Church's Family Life Center. Each of the world areas will have a themed booth where you can find out more about the countries, leaders, ministries, and missionaries. Here is what you can expect:

Visit Missions Central at General Conference

Experience the global Free Methodist Church at Missions Central

Visit the African school room

Walk through the Asian marketplace

Sip coffee in the European coffee house

Relax in a Latin American town plaza

Sit around the table at a Middle East house church

Watch solar cooking and Sawyer water filter demonstrations as done in Haiti

Meet missionaries and national leaders

Reach around the globe to hear from national leaders through Skype

Hear exciting updates from area directors at Power Lunches

Purchase products from SEED artisans

Sponsor ICCM children

All this at Missions Central
located at Pearce Memorial FMC Family Life Center 

We hope to see you there!

Woodsfield, Ohio

We spoke at the Woodsfield, Ohio Free Methodist Church on Sunday morning, giving an expanded version of our Tree of Life presentation. We met Pastor Greg and Barbara Fish for the first time, and renewed our acquaintance with Bertha Saho. After the service we enjoyed a wonderful meal prepared by the ladies of the church. They can cook! We are thankful that the Woodsfield church is now partnering with us in ministry.

As an added bonus, our friends Dan, Carol, and Tim Neville came down from Zanesville to see us. Larry served under Pastor Dan for five years from 1995 to 2000 at the Holland Free Methodist Church.

Quick stopover in Columbus, Ohio

After finishing up in Indianapolis we traveled to Columbus, Ohio to visit our long-time friends Wesley and Cheryl Rohrer. We spent a relaxing Friday with them, and then on Saturday we went together to visit Joe and Pam Mesaros, our daughter-in-law Christy's parents, who live nearby. It was great to be able to reconnect with them as well. Thanks so much for your friendship and support!

Second Day in Indy and a Visit to Calvin Fletcher's Coffee Company

We started off our second day in Indianapolis with our required physical exams (what fun! - not). This was followed by our giving our Tree of Life presentation to staff members at the ministry center. Our afternoon was devoted to more meetings. When we were finally able to get away, we headed to Calvin Fletcher's Coffee Company in downtown Indianapolis. This is a not-for-profit coffee shop that is managed by our home office operations director and her husband, Judy and Doug Litsey, as a part of their church planting and revitalization efforts in the inner city neighborhood of Fletcher Place. Their delightful coffee shop has a warm and friendly atmosphere and a welcoming staff. They have won several awards in the past couple years. If you are ever in Indianapolis, you should drop in at 615 Virginia Avenue! It's just down the street from Fountain Square.

Visit the Fletcher Place website to find out more about who Calvin Fletcher was and about the neighborhood revitalization efforts.

First Day in Indy

We arrived at the ministry center today for our first day of debriefing. We had a wonderful time reconnecting with our home office staff and sharing with them stories of our past five years of ministry in Hungary. We enjoyed lunch with the Executive Director of our mission, Dr. Art Brown, and his wife, Sylvia.

On the way to Indianapolis

We traveled to Indianapolis on Monday for meetings at our mission headquarters. On the way our car automatically stopped at this place. Is it familiar to anyone? We enjoyed our time there.

Sunday Evening in Spring Arbor

We gave our "Tree of Life" presentation this evening at the Spring Arbor Free Methodist Church. It is always good to reconnect with our dear friends in this congregation, which is one of our top five partner churches. 

We were able to speak with the mother of Larry's roommate from university days, who is now 92 years old. When we gave her one of our prayer cards, she told Katie, "You look just like the woman in this picture!" Katie replied, "That's because it is me!"

After the service we enjoyed the hospitality of Pastor Mark and Linda Van Valin in their home. We are thankful for their friendship, and look forward to having a game evening with them sometime yet this summer.

Jackson, Michigan -- A visit to JFM

We took part in all three services this morning at the Jackson Free Methodist Church (JFM) in Jackson, Michigan. Not only was this Communion Sunday, but also time was taken at the end of each service to introduce and pray for the newly appointed lead pastor. Because there was so much on the program today, we were only given the opportunity to greet the congregation and express our thanks for their ongoing support. We had a number of excellent conversations with people before and after each service, and are truly thankful for their partnership in ministry.

Pastor Doug Langford will be concluding his service at JFM next Sunday and then he and his family will be moving to Brighton, New York to begin ministry at the Edgewood Free Methodist Church there. He's served at Jackson for the past six years.

The new lead pastor at JFM will be Pastor Jason Engle, beginning August 1. Jason has served at JFM for the past 14 years as pastor of student and young adult ministries. We pray that both Pastor Jason and Pastor Doug will be blessed in their new ministries!

 

The Runyons

We spent a delightful evening tonight with our friends Dan and Renee Runyon. Dan and Renee will be coming to Hungary in August to teach a weekend seminar that we are calling "Salty and Sweet Together? -- Understanding the Opposite Sex." (In Hungary it is not customary to eat sweet and savory things together.) Tonight we were able to do some more detailed planning for their time with us.

We eagerly anticipate their visit!

Southern Michigan Annual Conference in Spring Arbor, Michigan

This year's Southern Michigan Annual Conference took place in Spring Arbor Michigan at the Spring Arbor Free Methodist Church. The conference began on Thursday night with a dinner at the Kresge Student Center, followed by an opening session at the church that included Superintendent Tom Ramundo's State of the Work address. Bishop David Kendall presided over the conference.

Business meetings continued throughout the day on Friday, held in the sanctuary of the church. During breaks people could visit the exhibit area, where a number of ministries had set up displays. We made use of this opportunity to connect with many people from our partner churches.

We are thankful for the wonderful people of Southern Michigan!