converge point - summer 2014

summer 2014 | point n 1

2 n point | summer 2014

This July, Dee and I are speaking at the an-nual leadership conference of International Baptist Convention churches. These English- speaking, international-congregation pastors and leaders have gathered together for the past 50 years in Interlaken, Switzerland, for worship, fellowship and Bible teaching. They gather from across Europe and other cities around the world. Converge enjoys a ministry partnership with the International Baptist Convention for the purpose of planting English-speaking congregations in cities with large numbers of English-speaking students, military per-sonnel, business people and other expats. We call this partnership A2:5, from the pas-sage in Acts 2:5 that describes how people heard the gospel proclaimed in their own languages on Pentecost. Personally, it has been inspiring to visit three of these churches associated with A2:5. Picture a church packed with more than 500 young worshipers near the largest U.S. military base in Europe. The worship is vibrant and the Bible teaching dynamic. We wish you could experience firsthand the ministry of Frontline Community Church in Ramstein, Germany. Then picture a brand-new church just down the highway in Darmstadt, a prestigious university city where students come from China and countries in Africa, Asia and Europe for graduate study. The name of the church plant? Converge International Fellowship, pastored by Con-verge missionaries Bob and Carol Marsh. After spending most of their lives planting a church in Wisconsin, through Converge Point the Marshes heard about a need for churches in Germany. Since then they have chosen to invest their later years in bringing the gospel to this country. Now see yourself traveling with Dee and me to Panama City, Panama. We step into a movie theater in a large shopping mall and join people from nearly 20 nations. They are checking out LifeBridge International Church, planted by Converge missionaries Glenn and Sue Herschber- ger. In all three settings―— Ramstein, Darmstadt and Panama City —―I think you would be blown away by how English-speaking churches in international cities can be such a powerful tool for connecting people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. In this issue of Point you will learn about new efforts to identify sites for the next A2:5 church plants. You will also be encouraged by the large-scale disaster relief efforts taking place in the Philippines. In 10 to 15 minutes you can read Point from cover to colorful cover and find yourself informed and inspired. Thanks for staying connected to the ministries of Converge Worldwide.

Jerry and Dee Sheveland President Converge Worldwide (bgc)

from the

president

EDITOR Bob Putman

DESIGNER, PRODUCTION MANAGER

Pam Nelsen

CONTRIBUTING EDITORFran Anderson

Point (issn/1546-3257) is published quarterly (with a special edition in

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VOLUME 6 n NUMBER 4

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Ramstein, Darmstadt and Panama City

on the coverChildren along the highway in Tabogon, Central Cebu Province, Philippines, beg for help after Typhoon Haiyan struck.

PHOTO: REUTERS/CHARLIE SACEDA


Connect 2014 is a gathering of Converge pastors and church leaders, Bethel University staff and friends. This year Converge Worldwide, Bethel University and Minnesota Iowa district will all partner in one biennial meeting, incorporat-ing speakers, worship, business, missionary recognition and a One Cry prayer webcast. Come connect with us on Bethel’s beautiful campus, as we share how we’ve been marked by God’s love.

Mark Batterson is lead pastor of National Community Church, with six locations in Wash-ington, D.C. The author of New York Times best-seller The Circle Maker, Batterson has written 10 books, including In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day and Wild Goose Chase. He holds a doctor of ministry degree from Regent University.

Jeffrey Johnson Sr. is longtime pastor of Eastern Star Church, with three locations in In-dianapolis, Ind. Under his leadership esc has grown to more than 10,000 members, 130+ employees and 40 ministries. He has led multiple building campaigns, published five books — including Dialogue With My Sons — and served as assistant chaplain of the Indiana Pacers.


NUMBERS

converge

connection

New books from Converge authorsRead online summaries of Comedy-Driven Leader-ship, by Jonathan Herron, and The God Puzzle, by Valerie Ackermann, at cvrg.us/summer2014.

MORE ONLINE...

Sheveland announces presidential leadership transitionAt the April 2-3 meeting of the Converge Worldwide board of over-seers, president Jerry Sheveland announced his decision to move into a transition phase to prepare for the next Converge leader. The overseers appointed a nine-member search committee to seek his replacement. Please pray for the committee as they seek to discern God’s will.

Number of people who attended the annual Egg Drop and Easter Egg Hunt hosted by theRiver Church, Lapel, Ind., at Lapel High School. Lapel’s population numbers 2100.

9 Number of potential church planters assessed at MissioDei Church, Chicago, April 8-11. Candidates came from three Converge districts.

4000

Number of new Converge Worldwide missionaries trained in ministry partner development April 23-25 at the Converge Orlando, Fla., office. Participants were Andrew and Jesica Coalwell (Japan), Austin Kidd (Argentina), Ashraf and Nivin I. (USA diaspora ministries), Steve and Jenny Valentine (Poland) and Rob and Christine Wright (Japan). Three other appointees, Chris and Therese Atkins (Worship Initiative) and Veronica Kidd (Argentina), were unable to attend.9

38Number who attended the Church Planting Institute seminar in Nagoya, Japan, in late April. Converge missionary John Mehn was one of five experienced practitioners who led the training tracks for Japanese church planting leaders and missionaries to Japanese people.


Who leads Converge PacWest?David and Sandy Yetter serve Converge PacWest district, which includes churches in the northern half of California and in Hawaii. David has served as executive minister for the past five years. David’s passions are “seeing people reconciled to God and one another through the cross of Jesus,” and helping people and churches grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus. These passions “feed my soul,” says David. His wife Sandy feels “called to help people by my prayers for them.” David “was mentored by a ‘committee’ over time: my parents, pastors, professors and peers, and by Sandy’s in-fluence.” Sandy’s parents men-tored her and have held the greatest influence in her life. Sandy trusted Jesus as her Savior in the first grade. David also grew up in a vibrant Chris- tian home. When he was a young boy, his mom introduced and led him to Jesus. The Yetters met as teenagers at Delano High School. Sandy was a cheer-leader, David a basketball player and the son of a Baptist deacon. In 1980 they married at First Assembly of God Church, where Sandy’s dad was pastor. The Yetters are blessed with four children, all married. Three of the couples live in nearby Fresno. The other couple live in Brentwood. The Yetters new joy is their “adorable” granddaughter. David and Sandy ask that we join them in praying for “Better Ministry: Better Gospel Sharing, Better Church Health, Better Pastor Fitness and Better Church Starting,” and that they keep growing and trusting Jesus as they lead PacWest.

By Donna Fagerstrom, staff writer

389 build a bridge at Ignite 2014The Ignite 2014 church planting conference, March 25-27, at Cornerstone Church, Chandler, Ariz. drew 389 registrants. Of these 106 of were next generation leaders — some sporting Duck Dynasty beards. Approximately 100 volunteers and 50 sponsors added to their number. Pastor Choco de Jesús, New Life Covenant Church, Chicago, charged pastors and church planters to stand up against this age’s “cultur-al giants,” so that the giants don’t grow larger by the time their children encounter them. Growing Leaders president Tim Elmore told participants to “Find your Joshua…. Success without a successor is failure.” Breakout sessions, Michael Jr.’s dry comedy and messages by speakers Jeff Durbin, Apo-logia Church pastor, and Brad Lomenick, Cat-alyst president, filled the next 24 hours. During the closing session, pastor Gene Appel, East-side Christian Church, Anaheim, Calif., chal-

lenged those in difficult pastorates to leave the difficult church, trusting in the Lord to direct them. A fun activity involved intergenerational bridge-building. Confer-ence participants were divided into teams to construct a decorated bridge with ramps, using only cardboard, masking tape, duct tape, scissors, ruler and multicolored Sharpie markers. Each team had 45 minutes to construct their section of the bridge to hold the weight of a golf cart, then partner with another team to attach their sections. When the golf cart finally cruised over the bridge, the room exploded in a roar of accomplishment and relief. Host pastor Linn Winters concluded the event by exhorting young leaders to honor their leaders, and experienced leaders to find a Joshua and help him find his Joshua. Ignite 2015 is scheduled for March 24-26 at Cornerstone Church, Chandler, Ariz.

With reporting by Carla Lenox and Gabe DeSoto Photos by Mark Kraakevic


Teams conducted feasibility studies this spring for possible church starts in six major international cities. Here’s a glance at the outcomes.

BY GENE SELANDER

Thanks to Converge Worldwide pastors who participated in these feasibility trips: Dan Maxton, LifeBridge Church, San Diego, Calif.; Kelly Patchin, New Harbor Community Church, Benecia, Calif., and Mike Evans Todd Hennlich, Faith Community Church, New Richmond, Wis.; and Larry Szyman, Faith Community Church, Hudson, Wis. In addition, Converge/IBC church planter Bob Marsh, Converge International Fel-lowship, Darmstadt, Germany, and Darryl Evetts, IBC church planting director, San Antonio, Texas, joined with European colleagues to help conduct the studies. Missionaries Glenn and Sue Herschberger and Jon and Sue Wizarde, LifeBridge Church, Panama City, Panama, participated in the Lima, Peru, study. And thanks to Pam Liebe for redesigning the feasibility study as a self-directed process.

A2:5 (based on Acts 2:5) is a Converge Worldwide initiative to partner with Christian organizations interested in planting international English-

speaking churches around the world. These churches are challenging the paradigm of missions for three interrelated reasons:

1. The people attending these churches are expatriates from all over the world who will return to their homeland as committed Christ-followers. A good number of these expats consider themselves to be missionaries paid for by secular corpora-tions. The gospel is being taught to the people gathered in the international church.

2. Many of these expats come from least-reached or unreached people group na-tions. When they return they are able to reach those people in a way no one else can. We see the Diaspora (people scattered from their homelands) right in the international church. The gospel is going to unreached and least-reached people groups via international churchgoers.

3. The international English-speaking church is making a major evangelistic impact in the marketplace where church attendees serve in secular positions. Most of the evangelism takes place in the workplace. The gospel is being presented pri-marily in the marketplace.

Converge Worldwide has given me and others the privilege of pursuing this amaz-ing opportunity to reach the English-speaking international community in the world’s great urban centers. Partnering with the International Baptist Convention, we recently conducted a six-city feasibility study in Lima, Peru; Oslo, Norway; Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Riga, Latvia; Valencia, Spain; and Rome, Italy. Converge is committed to leveraging our training in church planting methods with other Christ-honoring denomi-nations and associations in order to see more kingdom wins. n

Gene Selander is international director of A2:5, Converge’s international English-speaking church planting ministry.

Green light ahead?


Rome, ItalyPopulation: 2.6 million (early 2012)Need: locus of Roman Catholic Church but great need for outreach in Christ’s love and gospel proclamationKey challenges: affluent target group, therefore high cost of livingStrategy: Begin a Bible study in northwest quadrant surrounded by international schools, embassies and residential neighborhoods

Valencia, SpainPopulation: 2.3 million (undated)Need: generations of strong Roman Catholic Church influenceKey challenges: absence of English-speaking critical mass, no one seeking an international English-speaking churchStrategy: none recommended

Oslo, NorwayPopulation: 1,502,604 (Jan. 2014)Need: overall spiritually dark─but quite a number of expats interested in hearing more about a possible church plantKey challenges: exorbitant cost of living─and very closed to AmericansStrategy: Non-American church planter and church that attracts with excellent preaching, music and children’s programs

Amsterdam, The NetherlandsPopulation: nearly 800,000 (2013)Need: The majority of residents claim no religious affiliationKey challenges: extreme secularism means evangelicals will face resistance related to social issuesStrategy: A church led by a team and geared to families with young children — with significant outreach and social programs

Lima, PeruPopulation: Close to 9 millionNeed: Rapidly growing English-speaking population, positive view of ChristiansKey challenges: High cost of livingStrategy: A successful church plant will require outstanding worship and children’s ministry from the outset

Riga, LatviaPopulation: 693,064 (Jan. 2014)Need: a growing population of English speakers, international students and Latvians competent in the English languageKey challenges: lack of openness in Latvian culture and some anti-American sentimentsStrategy: Work with existing church planter who has established a core group of individuals and couples

Recommendation KeyFavorable location for an English-language church

Proceed with caution; risks need to be mitigated

Location not recommended at this time


A time for new beginningsBY BOB PUTMAN WITH REPORTING FROM DENNIS NORDINE AND PAUL VARBERG

AfterHaiyan

TT


AfterHaiyanWhen Typhoon Haiyan (called Yolando in the Philippines) struck Tacloban, three waves of storm surge decimated the downtown area and neighborhoods well inland.

TTTyphoon Haiyan, a monster stretching nearly 372 miles across, struck the central Philippines about 8 a.m., November 8, 2013. Local news reported sustained winds of 195 mph. For most Filipinos, typhoons are a familiar occurrence. Some fled north to Manila or to other safe locations. The rest expected they would get by. What no one anticipated was the wind’s ferocity and the wall of water that struck in three on-slaughts, towering up to 16 feet high in some locations. These brought death to nearly 6300 people and injured more than 28,660. An additional 1000 are still missing and presumed dead. In coastal Tacloban, few structures withstood the onslaught. On the central Philippine islands of Cebu and Bantayan, nipa huts constructed of woven bamboo and structures of coconut wood with galvanized iron roofs were shredded into deadly airborne missiles.

‘Everything’s white… flying.’ “The moment the storm struck, everything was white, just water splashing against every part of your body,” said pastor Randolph Bayo of Medellin Baptist Church on Cebu Island. “Everything’s flying. The 50-year-old tamarind tree shattered. Fear.” Bayo, his wife and their three children, ages 8, 2 and 9 months, huddled with four other families

PAUL VARBERG


Above: In the home of Butch Celestial and his family, Butch clung to a sheet of plywood to

protect them on the second floor as the typhoon ripped

away the roof and back and side walls.

in a house on the campus of New Hope Baptist Church and Christian School, San Remigio, Cebu, 12 kilometers from their home. The house was on high ground. When the wind ripped the roof off the second floor, where they were sheltered, they retreated to a middle room on the ground floor, “It was the only place the water wasn’t blowing in.” All were soaked, tired and shaking. “My second child didn’t understand what was happening,” Bayo said. “He was playing in the water inside the house, which reached to our knees.” When the rain stopped and the Bayos re-turned to the first house, they discovered that everything they owned was damaged except Ran-dolph’s library. It was untouched. Meantime Edgar, a member of Holy Faith Baptist Church on Bantayan Island, joined his wife, three children and four other families in another house, hiding under a table and praying to Jesus. The wind ripped off one part of the roof, then another and finally the last. One corner post came down, followed by another. The children cried in fear. As the house collapsed, the wind ripped the table from their hands. They ran to another house, where they crawled under two tables for protection. Edgar thought, Is there any hope for us? All they owned was destroyed, but they were spared.

‘It happened so fast, especially death.’ In Tacloban, sports director Lito Quiero of Bethel International School — founded by Converge missionaries Paul and Margie Varberg — faced the brunt of the storm. His wife and three of their sons spent the storm at their restaurant. But Quiero stayed at his father-in-law’s home, a half mile from the Leyte Gulf. His brother-in-law and sister-in-law and their 13-year-old daughter were with him. When the storm hit, Quiero first hid in the bathroom, then under a metal bed. As a storm surge flooded their home, he grabbed onto a floating plastic storage container, helping him keep his head above water. When a second surge struck, the house was swept away and he was carried a quarter mile to the campus of a Catholic seminary.

PAUL VARBERG


Dennis Nordine (l.), provost and professor at Cebu Graduate School of Theology and Baptist Theological College, and Ricky Recodo (r.), BTC president, played a large role in coordinat-ing relief and reconstruction efforts on Northern Cebu and Bantayan Islands.

He was snagged in a tangle of bamboo trees. When a snake threatened, he climbed a coconut tree and clung there for an hour until the water began to recede. Then he entered one of the semi-nary buildings to wait out what would be Haiyan’s second hour of rage. “It happened so fast,” Quiero said, “especially death. When I got here [what had been his home], they were already piling up bodies.” His brother-in-law and sister-in-law had died, but their 13-year-old daughter survived. In one neighbor’s house three people had been washed away. Seven died in another house. Across from Quiero’s house, 11 people in four houses died. Huge coconut trees were stripped of foliage. His own dream home, across the street from his father-in-law’s house and still under con-struction, was severely damaged. One of the storm surges had knocked out half the kitchen, living room, bedroom and bathroom walls. After the storm subsided, Quiero walked three miles to Bethel International School. “His clothes were wet and ripped, and he was cut and bleeding,” Varberg recalled. Quiero found a soccer uniform to wear, and Varberg attempted to drive him to his restaurant to check on his wife and

children’s condition. The two couldn’t get far. The roads were impassable due to fallen electrical posts and debris. The storm subsided in the afternoon. The sun emerged, warming a scene of unimaginable devastation. But God was already mobilizing the church to respond.

A hopeless situation became hopeful Ricky Recodo, president of Baptist Theological College, Cebu City, where Converge missionar-ies Dennis and Melody Nordine and Steve and Barbara Wilkinson serve, knew his first concern was the safety of faculty and students. He instructed the deans to evacuate all classrooms and move

Listen to what pastor Ricardo Moraca told his congregation on the Sunday following the typhoon: cvrg.us/summer2014.

TACLOBAN

CEBU CITY

BANTAYAN ISLAND

THEPHILIPPINES

BOB PUTMAN


Above: (l.) When Haiyan struck, Lito Quiero lost family members and major walls in his new house, close to the

shore. (ctr.) While trapped underwater, Spike was able

to save his daughter from drowning by releasing her in

the direction of his wife. (r.) A hired local painter gives

Marlou Imboy’s rebuilt house its final touches.

students to a sturdy building. Little rain fell on Cebu City, but the wind was fierce. Those on campus watched the news on TV until the power went out. As text messages flew to family members in other cities, students and teachers tried to imagine what was happening elsewhere. The next morning Recodo and one of his daughters rode a motorbike to Northern Cebu Island to investigate what had happened there. “I was overwhelmed by the devastation,” he said. He felt small compared to the wreckage and immense needs he saw around him. “Lord, what do you want me to do?” he asked. He decided to return to btc, create student work teams and send them to help Converge Philippine churches. The first team, led by Converge missionary Steve Wilkinson and btc staff, helped dig out a btc alumna whose house had collapsed. In the following weeks btc teams brought relief packs to Leyte and delivered truckloads of roofing sheets, rice and other food to the 17 Converge Phil-ippines churches in Northern Cebu and Batayan Island. “You could see the hopeless situation become hopeful because food had come,” Recodo said. Led by btc counseling instructor Josephine Harner, students worked at government evacuation sites in Cebu City, helping people displaced from Tacloban and other areas. Wilkinson and Ben West drove student teams to Northern Cebu to provide counseling and physical labor to assist af-fected families to rebuild. In December btc gave a stress debriefing and Christmas party for North-ern Cebu pastors who had been shouldering the needs of their church members and communities. With local financial resources, btc teams also rebuilt homes for three widows and three btc staff.

Organized and effective Converge’s Orlando-based World Relief Team heeded counsel from longtime Philippine mis-sionary John Baxter and asked Nordine to coordinate with local leaders to distribute Converge relief funds to the affected areas. Joining Nordine were Recodo; Ildefonso Alfafara, then president

BOB PUTMAN


Top: BIS as it looked shortly after Haiyan hit. Above: With assistance from his brother Dan and numerous hired workers and staff, Paul Varberg was able to reopen Bethel International School — which he founded with his wife Margie — by January 27.

of Converge Philippines; and Ep Brion, GraceNet Philippines director and Converge Philippines pastoral care director. They met regularly to assess needs and allocate funds from Converge and 16 other organizations and donors. Alfafara and Brion traveled repeatedly to the affected areas. The team’s philosophy was to help pastors and churches first, so that they were empowered to help their members and communities. Meanwhile, Paul Varberg coordinated efforts in Tacloban to reopen Bethel International School and the Tacloban Bible Community church — the church Paul and his wife Margie planted — and to assist member and attendee families who had sustained loss. The damage to Bethel was severe: the roofs were torn from the main education building and

staff apartments; the library, desks and sound equipment ruined; two outdoor gym buildings destroyed. Paul himself was struck by flying glass in the Varberg apartment when windows blew in as he sought to place a tarp over their bed.

Putting the pieces back together Varberg and his team worked tirelessly to reopen Bethel on January 27 and ready its auditorium for the April 26 graduation ceremony. He hired retiree Rodolfo “Butch” Celestial to coordinate ma-terials and to lead reconstruction teams to rebuild houses of Bethel employees, tbc members and attendees. Celestial, his wife and daughter lived close to the shore. Their property included an exercise gym and a banquet event area, both of which provided them a steady income. When Haiyan hit, water rose in the first floor, and the family retreated upstairs. The roof came off, followed by the back wall and part of the side wall. Celestial grabbed a sheet of plywood that had ripped off their ceiling, and they huddled in the corner behind it as debris crashed against the wood.

PAUL VARBERG

Watch a video of Paul Varberg describing the storm and efforts to rebuild: cvrg.us/summer2014.


On June 1 Panas Baptist Church in Boho reopened and also celebrated its 30th anniversary. Haiyan had destroyed all but two walls. Pastor Ricaldo and his wife Antoneta live in a small home also reconstructed with Converge relief funds.

Celestial called out to God, “You can take everything I have, but please spare our lives.” This is what happened. They were spared and, having lost his income, Celestial decided to work for God. Varberg took him into his home for four months till Celestial’s house was ready to be occupied. Converge funds helped restore much of the damaged structure. Spike, a good friend of Celestial, was another recipient. When the first storm surge struck his neighborhood, Spike was holding his baby girl. Something fell, knocking him over and pinning his legs. He and the baby were underwater, his wife about 10 feet in front of him. About to drown, he released the baby toward her. His wife caught the girl, saving her life. Then the second wave hit and freed Spike’s legs. He was able to escape. Other family members — his wife’s 4-year-old, a stepfather and a nephew — died in the house. In the rebuilding process Celestial headed, the strategy was to rebuild the same size house the occupants had possessed before the storm. The Tacloban team repaired or rebuilt the exterior walls and roofs and installed toilets. All interior construction and finishing were left to the owner. Spike’s home was one of more than 70 repaired by them.

Thank you for repairing our home In Northern Cebu and Bantayan Island, Converge Philippines president Alfafara and his team dis-bursed funds, provided logistics and sometimes hired labor to accomplish what follows: n 24 Converge Philippines churches were repaired. Since the typhoon, every church reports larger

attendance than they have seen in several years. For example, Bantayan Baptist Church, pas-tored by Dennis Mendoza, saw attendance jump from 80 before the storm to 200+ afterward.

n 17 parsonages were rebuilt or replaced. Thanks to Ep Brion and GraceNet, this was a priority.

See the before/after photo gallery at cvrg.us/summer2014.

ILDEFONSO ALFAFARA


Spike and Varberg discuss reconstruction in Spike’s neigh-borhood. Varberg coordinated a team that rebuilt Bethel Inter-national School and 70 houses in Tacloban, using funds from Converge and other sources.

n 10 classrooms in three church-based Christian schools were repaired. n 24 Sunday school classrooms were repaired. n 297 homes for church members were repaired or rebuilt. n 1 water project, with an elevated tank and filter systems, was completed (erected by Ikthus Iloilo

Church), with two others underway. These will serve surrounding communities, especially during frequent power brownouts.

n 60 fishermen in five rural island churches, having lost their means of livelihood during the storm, received new or repaired fishing boats, new motors and gear to resume their work.

Thanks to the generosity of Converge churches, individuals and districts, plus $20,488 from Burke Community Church (independent) and $5,000 from the Hillblom Foundation, Nordine and the Cebu/Bantayan team drew from $400,885 in donations. Varberg and the Bethel International School team drew from $553,369 in funds channeled through Converge International Ministries. Both groups also received donated goods and funds from numerous other sources within the Philippines and abroad. Converge relief efforts have wrapped up in Northern Cebu and Bantayan Island. But rebuilding continues in Tacloban. Full recovery there may take years. “We are extremely grateful for the generous giving by the people of Converge Worldwide,” said Nordine. “We are awed by God, who is turning a tragic situation into a chorus of projects in dozens of our churches, bringing glory to his name. This is indeed a time of new beginnings.” n

Bob Putman is editor of Point. Dennis Nordine is provost and professor at Cebu Graduate School of Theology and Baptist Theological College, Cebu, Philippines. Paul Varberg is founder and superintendent of Bethel International School and founder of Tacloban Bible Community, both in Tacloban, Philippines.

BOB PUTMAN


We’re celebrating our 60th. It’s a great time to jump in.

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The offer and sale of certificates is limited to persons who are, prior to receipt of the Offering Circular, members of, contributors to, participants in or affiliates of Converge Worldwide (BGC) including any program, activity or organization which constitutes a part of Converge Worldwide (BGC), its district conferences, or its member churches or other persons who are beneficiaries or successors in interest to such persons (“Investors”). n This shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state in which such an offer, solicitation or sale is not authorized. The offering is made solely by the OFFERING CIRCULAR. The offering involves certain risks, which are more fully disclosed in the Offering Circular under the heading “Risk Factors.” These investments are not FDIC or SIPC insured. n In the event the Fund exercises its right to redeem a Certificate prior to maturity and upon 60 days notice to the holder thereof, payment of the outstanding principal and interest will be made to the holder to the date of redemption, rather than to the Certificate’s maturity date.

Currently 3000+ investors know a good thing when they see it: the Converge Cornerstone Fund’s 60 years of outstanding investment service.

Our Fund’s mission is to: n Assist Converge churches by providing financial

resources and services to expand their facilities.n Benefit our Converge constituency by offering

a competitive rate on investments.

Check us out. Cornerstone Fund may be just the good thing you’re looking for. Make this your year to join us.

We offer: n Loans n Traditional IRAs n Term Investments n Roth IRAs n Demand Investments n Capital Campaign Services

To learn more about Cornerstone Fund visit: cornerstonetoday.org email: [email protected] call: 877.228.8810

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