South Central Mennonite Conference PO Box 564 Hesston, KS 67062 .620.327.4187

a Regional Conference of Mennonite Church USA

Construction Progress at Pleasant View

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Over a decade ago, Pleasant View imagined a time when it would need a new sanctuary and more classrooms.  That vision is becoming a reality.  Nine months ago, there was only a dirt pad.  Today, a steel structure sits atop a solid concrete foundation.  With each passing day, less imagination is required as the new spaces begin to take shape.

Spearheading the project is the building committee chairperson, Matt Jackson and project manager, Daryl Mast.  They are part of a larger building committee made up of interested people from the congregation.  There are also a series of subcommittees working together to approve bids and seek answers to all of the questions that come with constructing a new building. When complete, the new building will house a new sanctuary, new library, new offices and a host of new classrooms all geo-thermally heated and cooled.

Pastor Jeff Selzer hopes that the project will be complete in time for Christmas, though when asked about a projected completion date, he is quick to respond, “When it’s done.”  Once the new building is complete, the 1928 building and 1967 sanctuary will be torn down to make room for more parking.

SCC Pastors to present at Church Planting Conference

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​Mennonite Mission Network is sponsoring an event at the Arca de Salvacion church in Fort Myers, Florida, April 6-8.  With the title of SENT, the meeting will involve more than 100 Mennonite mission-minded, Jesus-following leaders in a church planting summit.  There will be church planters, groups and individuals testing the call, missional entrepreneurs, outreach experimenters, pastors, missiologists, and conference leaders.

Jim and Jodi Ostlund, church planting couple at Journey@McPherson, will be presenting two seminars, describing the campus church, and the multisite church.  They will draw upon their current experience in planting a congregation in a supermarket building being remodeled in stages, with an attendance up to 200.  Several persons from south Texas are also expected to attend the conference as participants.

Kansas City Church Planting report

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Omot and Hanna Aganya and their children have been in Kansas City since July, 2016.  They have learned to know and are working with many immigrants from Ethiopia and South Sudan.  After having smaller group meetings in homes for some months,  Omot is sensing that the Lord wants them to start having larger group worship services.  He is working specifically with 8 lay leaders who feel called to start a more public witness in Kansas City, Missouri.  They are looking and praying for the Lord’s leading in finding a meeting place that they can use.  Please join them in praying that they will be able to locate a place where they can reach out to those who need to hear the Gospel in that area.  It would be also helpful if they would be able to find a van with which they could haul particularly new refugees who do not yet have their own transportation to worship services.  If you know of any possibility for such a vehicle, please contact Omot Aganya (612 703 1637) or James Wenger (620 217 9029).

Teach Me To Fish

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​TEACH ME TO FISH

Rey de Gloria Mennonite Church is located in the small southern town of Brownsville, Texas. Its beginnings date back to December of 1999. Made up of mostly immigrant persons, it has always been an active church and true to our Mennonite service oriented background. Every summer, for the whole summer, they run a free daycare for children of all backgrounds, but mostly of undocumented persons. It is a small congregation with little funds, so a church building seemed like a wish destined not to come true. However, in January of 2010 they were able to buy a small plot of land with the help of South Central Conference and a lot of “Mennonite Chicken” Plate Sales as fundraisers. By December of 2015 they had the foundation laid for a new 120ft X 33ft Sanctuary. Around this time a group of persons from the Hesston area had come to lay block but due to a hold-up with city regulations, this could not be done. They came anyway and changed plans, instead roofing the Fuente de Agua Viva Mennonite church, a new church plant in Los Fresnos, Texas.

Fast forward to January of 2017, when again a group of men from the Hesston and Yoder area journeyed to Texas to help lay block. Here I think it’s fitting that names are mentioned; Pastor Kurt Horst, Dean Leatherman, Roger Reimer, Dana Orpin, Bob Esau, and Ed (Boomer) Cherry from Whitestone Mennonite Church in Hesston, Kansas, were joined by Matt Yoder from the Journey@Yoder Church in Yoder, Kansas. The group arrived on the 7th of January and after attending services at local churches on Sunday, began work by laying the cornerstone for the Rey de Gloria building on the 9th of January.

Along with the workers from Kansas, men from Rey de Gloria were there to help. They knew nothing of how to lay block. They thought they were there simply to help in any way they could. These men were Adan Perez, David Lopez, Martin Hernandez, Rafael Lopez, and Raul Velasquez. The guys still remember Bob Saying “ It’s your church, let’s get to laying block,” and lay block they did! Throughout the week, the Kansas team taught the Rey de Gloria men how to lay block. This is the true mission of the Mennonite Church; Brothers and Sisters in Christ reaching out to others and teaching them.  Not doing for them, but teaching them. These men are proud to announce that the laying of block is already done!  We now have a group of proud “Menonitas” that can say that they had a part in building a House of Prayer for our Lord.

The congregation sends their most profound thanks to SCC and these wonderful brothers in Christ that came to help.

 

–Lupe Aguilar, RCM reporting