Memos

Our Winter Tabernacle Meetings begin in about six weeks, on Friday, February 24, and continue through Sunday, March 5. The services will be preceded by a week of prayer meetings held February 20-23, with a brief webcast beginning at 7:30 each evening.

Please let your interested congregation members know that the camp housing units are available for rent and can be reserved through the Rentals page of our website. We have a flyer (download here) with all of this information and more, which can be posted at your church. 

We also have a ministers meeting scheduled for Friday, March 3, from 9AM-12PM, followed by lunch at 12:15. The meeting will include three sessions presented by Brother Darrel Lee, Brother Mark Staller, and Sister Josephine McElveen. These will be webcast live and the videos will be archived for those unable to attend in person. Instructions for watching the webcast will be sent when we are closer to the event date.

If you are able to attend the minister sessions in person, please RSVP to this email so we can plan appropriately for the lunch. Spouses are also welcome to attend the lunch.

Lord willing, in the coming months several individuals will be traveling on behalf of headquarters to attend special events at some of our churches around the world. Thank you in advance for your prayers. 

• This weekend, Bob and Cheryl Downey will be at our Reed Road church in Houston, Texas, along with Josephine McElveen.
• Darrel and Debbie Lee, along with John and Rodica Musgrave, will depart for Johannesburg on November 28, with a scheduled return to Portland on December 13. The itinerary calls for Brother Darrel and Brother John to visit Angola for three days before all four attend the Southern Africa camp meeting in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
• The Downeys are also scheduled to leave for St. Vincent on January 26, with a February 7 return date. Their itinerary includes visiting all of our branch churches there.
• Bill and Lori McKibben will attend the Philippine year-end consecration meetings. They are scheduled to depart December 26 and to return home January 12. Dial and Carrie Keju will join them. Their itinerary also includes visiting several Philippine branch churches.
• Jeff Downey and Harlan Lee are scheduled to leave for Romania on February 1, with a return date of February 20. They will be visiting several of our Romania branch churches.

In addition, services and special events are continually occurring in Apostolic Faith churches around the world. They all merit our prayers. 

If you are following along with the Daybreak daily devotionals, you will see a new unit beginning this Monday, November 21. This three-month unit will cover the books of Mark, 1 & 2 Corinthians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, and 1 & 2 Peter. The Discovery lessons for that unit will run from December 4 through February 19. For the following quarter, we plan study another Daybreak/Discovery unit, covering the books of 2 Kings, Nahum, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Lamentations.

Before the busy holiday season begins, we wanted to make sure you have the dates for our 2023 Winter Tabernacle Meetings, which are planned for Friday, February 24, through Sunday, March 5. The schedule includes a ministers meeting on Friday, March 3, from 9AM-12PM, followed by lunch at 12:15. More information for the meeting will be sent when we are closer to the event date.

Additionally, our website platform enabled the user accounts feature over the summer, and our web team is setting up that functionality now. You can expect an email in the coming weeks with instructions for setting up your account. This will give you access to the entire digital ministers manual and the archive of past minister meetings.

Pastors and ministers,

With sincere condolences to the Ouchi family and the saints in Japan, we announce the passing of Reverend Hidehiro Ouchi. Brother Ouchi was appointed pastor of our Kawasaki, Japan, church in 1962 and then the District Superintendent of Japan in 1968, roles that he held until his retirement last year at the age of eighty-five. We remember him for his beaming smile, kind personality, and years of faithful service. He is survived by his wife, Sister Sumie, as well as two daughters, a son, and grandchildren.

Please be praying for his family as well as for the work in Japan, which continues to be led by the Kawasaki Board of Trustees with the assistance of Brother Yoshiki Ohno. You can read about Brother Ouchi’s service to God in this World Report article on our website.

Until Jesus Returns,

Darrel D. Lee

Superintendent General

Pastors and ministers,

With heavy hearts, we notify you of the sudden passing of Brother Joey Ruiz, district superintendent of our work in the Philippines, from a heart attack. Brother Joey was just forty-nine years old. He is survived by his wife, Sister Gigi, their four children, and his mother, Sister Aida, who happens to be staying with family in Portland at this time. His father and three siblings also survive him.

Please pray for Brother Joey’s immediate and extended families, as well as the Filipino saints. Brother Bill and Sister Lori McKibben are making plans to attend the funeral once arrangements are finalized.

Until Jesus Returns,
Darrel D. Lee
Superintendent General

We wanted to make sure you are aware that we will be starting a new Daybreak/Discovery unit this fall. This unit has never been used before and it covers the books of Ezekiel, Daniel, Habakkuk, Obadiah, and Esther.

The Daybreak lessons will be used as our daily devotional from August 28 through November 20. The Discovery lessons will be used for the fall Sunday school quarter, which runs September 4 through November 27. Click here to download the date sheet.

The daily devotional is available on our website, app, and can also be emailed daily with a digital subscription. The weekly Discovery lessons and teacher’s guides will be posted on the This Week’s Lessons page of the website. Please let your congregation members know about these resources and encourage them to follow along as well.

Looking further ahead, for the winter quarter we plan to use Daybreak/Discovery unit on the books of Mark, 1 & 2 Corinthians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus Philemon, 1 & 2 Peter. That quarter runs from December 4, 2022, through February 26, 2023. You can review that unit at any time in the Curriculum section of our website.