Storm The Gates

Your local church is exactly where college students can discover hope in Jesus and grow in a community of faith. Miriam Swanson is the National Director for Fusion USA. She moved to the USA in 2019, married an American and started Fusion USA in 2020, establishing it as a non-profit organization in 2021. She had previously worked for Fusion across the UK and Europe for over a decade and with invitation and provision, saw the need and answered the call to begin the work here in the States. She has been in the movement for over fifteen years, equipping students in faith, sharing Jesus, training leaders and churches and speaking internationally.Fusion was born in the United Kingdom in the late nineties out of a place of prayer and a holy hunger for young adults to encounter Jesus in their formative years. It initially grew through students planting missional small groups on campus and around university towns and cities. As university students came to faith and needed to be formed as disciples, Fusion’s focus sharpened, committing to working with and through local churches to reach the campus and create sustainable pathways for college students to find both hope in Jesus and home in the local church, long term.Listen all the way through for some funny banter about how Miriam's influence to change American language is growing. For more information about Fusion and resources for your local church, you can visit fusionusa.org.

From casting vision for the Board of Ministry to serving the Kingdom of God through the Global Methodist Church as the Bishop of several conferences and as the Conference Superintendent of the MidTexas Conference, Bishop Leah Hidde-Gregory is back on STG to testify to the amazing work of the Lord. She is overjoyed by the work of the Holy Spirit to raise up holy disciples of Jesus. Enjoy her stories and testimony of what it's been like serving in these capacities thus far. We're grateful for her leadership and pray the Lord continues to bless her in mighty ways. Stay tuned to the very end as Haley works up her first intro. midtexasgmc.org

Thank you Holy Spirit for Pastor Abe. His testimony is so refreshing for the church to hear. Abraham Guajardo is one of the Lead Pastors of Eden Church in Houston, Texas (edenchurchhouston.com). As the name indicates, Eden intends to be a garden in the city. A community where new life in Jesus is planted, watered, and grown in some of the hardest places. It's a relatively new church plant although it's been prayed for, dreamed about, and in the making for years. Please listen with an open heart as Pastor Abe offers wisdom for everyone, especially disciples of Jesus. His story is a testimony to what God does with simple, audacious obedience. Stay tuned to the very end as Pastor Abe shares some of his drumming influences.

God is raising up new generations of men and women and calling them into vocational ministry. One young man with such a call is Coy Gammons. Coy is a student at Texas A&M University where he serves Christ Church in College Station and Breakaway. Coy is from Forney, Texas where he serves actively as a member of First Methodist Church. The power of an invitation and being present and available to serve God and live in community where you're planted are messages you're going to here and take to heart.We're also thrilled to welcome our new co-host at STG, Rev. Hayley Shotts! The future of STG will be brighter because of this addition to the team. To God be the glory!Stay tuned to the very end as we resolve some technical difficulties together.

"How to make meth" didn't seem as appropriate of a title. Although, in a sense, that's what we're talking about! Meth being short for Methodist! What makes the Wesleyan/Methodist movement distinctive and an essential movement of the Holy Spirit within the Body of Christ? Brothers Ryan and Jason both offer an invaluable resource for the church to grow deeper as disciples of Jesus. Please check out the links below to access these resources via seedbed.com. Hang around to the very end for a strong word from a dad regarding his sons and the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church. Ryan Barnett is Chair of Connectional Council of the MidTexas Conference of the Global Methodist Church. He is the founding pastor of the Wesley House of Studies at Baylor University’s Truett Seminary where he currently serves as preaching faculty for the Pastoral Studies Program. He loves preaching, teaching, and setting up systems for effective church leadership. Ryan is husband to Kim, dad to Davis, enjoys gardening and losing golf balls.Jason Vickers (PhD) serves as the Wesley Endowed Chair of Christian Theology at George W. Truett Theological Seminary. A popular teacher, prolific author, and ordained elder in the Global Methodist Church, Jason fulfills his calling as a teacher of the church both through advancing scholarship and resourcing church members theologically. He is married with three children and is an avid outdoorsman and lifelong fan of classical country music.https://seedbed.com/pcdm/https://seedbed.com/theology-of-god-and-creation-profoundly-christian-distinctly-methodist/

It's with a heavy heart that we release this special episode of STG. Lord have mercy. In the wake of the loss of life and incalculable physical and emotional damage due to the recent flooding in the Texas Hill Country, we offer these faithful servants and their witness to the Kingdom of God in such a time as this. Please keep praying for these friends and the communities impacted severely by the flooding.In this episode you'll hear how best to help and some stories to encourage your prayer life. God is near. There is something all of us can do to help our brothers and sisters in the Texas Hill Country: pray. You can also recruit a team or join one through Texans On Mission. Please utilize the links below for more information.In this episode you'll hear from the following: Rand Jenkins (Chief Strategy Officer for Texans On Mission), Rev. Frank Oakman (Pastor of Kerrville GMC), Rev. Judy Swarts (Pastor of First Methodist Church of San Saba), Rev. Scott Bradford (Pastor of First Methodist Church of San Angelo), and Rev. Brad Dehaven (Pastor of St. Luke's Methodist Church of Corpus Christi).https://www.texansonmission.org/https://www.texansonmission.org/serve

Get ready to be moved, challenged, and inspired! The Holy Spirit is doing a work through brother Zach. Whether you're in a rural church, urban church, or anywhere else, we believe the Lord will speak to you through this testimony. If you'd like to follow up with Pastor Zach and the Dirt Roads Network, you can contact them here: dirtroadsnetwork.com. Rev. Zach Kingery is a Network Ambassador with Dirt Roads Network and an ordained elder in the Global Methodist Church. He is a Kansas native who grew up attending Lamont Wesleyan Church and has rural church revitalization as part of his spiritual DNA.With a BA in Pastoral Ministry & Biblical Study and a Master of Divinity, Zach has pastored in small town and rural churches in Oklahoma, Missouri, and South Dakota. He met his wife, Jessica, while attending Oklahoma Wesleyan University and they have three children: Syrus, Etta, and Jameson.As a Network Ambassador Zach works with denominations, church leadership, and pastors to be effective in the mission field of rural America. “It is my hope to see the pioneering, Holy Spirit filled, mission-minded zeal of the Methodist movement renewed in rural America.”

What a friend we have in Jesus! Dr. Nijay Gupta is also a friend we have in the GMC. Becoming Christian friends is a key component of discipleship. He is a Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary and a Wesleyan at his core. He is a prolific writer and has a theological mind to build up the one holy, catholic, and apostolic church.Nijay Gupta (DPhil, University of Durham) has written several academic books including A Beginner’s Guide to New Testament Studies, Paul and the Language of Faith, 15 New Testament Words of Life, and Tell Her Story: How Women Led, Taught, and Ministered in the Early Church. He has co-edited The State of New Testament Studies, Dictionary of Paul and His Letters (2nd ed.), and The State of Pauline Studies. Nijay co-chairs the Pauline Theology seminar of the Institute for Biblical Research and serves as a senior translator for the New Living Translation.Stay tuned to the very end if you care about who will be the next Lightfoot Professor of Divinity and Religion at Durham University. To connect with Dr. Gupta's work, please follow these links:https://www.seminary.edu/faculty/nijay-gupta/https://nijaykgupta.substack.com/https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/slow-theology-simple-faith-for-chaotic-times/id1556188087

We're coming back to the heart of worship in this conversation with Dr. Tesia Mallory. She is a Lecturer in Worship at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio where she is also the Dean of the Chapel. Tesia is a trained musician and vocalist who serves on key teams and committees in the Global Methodist Church providing worship resources and leading worship across our church. If you're at all interested in the histroy and future of worship in the Global Methodist Church, you'll want to soak in all that Tesia shares. You can find Tesia's work as it relates to worship here: tesialmallory.substack.com. Stay tuned to the very end to discover why Fort Wayne, Indiana is a desirable location to live.

My personal preferences and the Kingdom of God are not perfectly aligned this side of Jesus' Second Coming. We pray for sanctifying grace and trust God will lead us into scriptural holiness if we welcome Him into our lives. In this episode, some of our friends in the MidTexas Conference returned from Bulgaria to tell us of the sanctifying work God is doing in the GMC in Bulgaria and in the established partnership between MidTexas and Bulgaria. Our friends on this episode represent faithful pastors and leaders within local churches who desire to see the Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Their sweet, simple stories and experiences will move you to reflect upon how God is speaking to you. Lean in and listen. Bulgaria is a beautiful country with a rich and long history and the GMC there is strong in the Spirit.