Surely the presence of the Lord was in that place! Those words sum up the 5th Annual Meeting and Worship Conference of the Covenant Brethren Church held July 17-19 at the Koury Convention Center in Greensboro, NC. This worship celebration was a mountaintop experience for the 316 registered adults and youth who attended with the theme of Bearing Fruit for Jesus from John 15:1-17.
Participants engaged in moving worship led by the music ministry of One Family and passionate Biblical messages from Brothers Will Graham and Craig Alan Myers. Orders of the Day provided devotional times with Scripture, music, and prayer. During worship on Friday evening, participants presented eternal fruit offerings to God by hanging grape clusters on the crosses.
The various committees provided updates, and 54 congregations were recognized that had been received into the CBC family in the past year. In addition, 23 newly credentialed ministers were introduced. Pastor George Sikhila, Regional Elder from Tanzania, shared a video greeting, and Sister Honorine Dusabimana from Rwanda helped to introduce the African congregations and reported on what Jesus is doing through CBC in Rwanda and Uganda.
The CBC Youth Conference was simultaneously and 23 young people presented a powerful skit on the Goodness of God. Throughout the week they also studied knowing God and packed items donated by conference attendees into over 200 Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes.
Preconference sessions were presented on the conference theme, the newly published CBC Church Membership materials, and Harvest USA’s mission and resources to help congregations be sexually faithful. Ethics Training was also provided for ministers. All of these, as well as every session, are available to view at www.covenantbrethren.org.
Participants learned of a new prayer initiative of Sister-to-Sister that partners CBC congregations in the continental US with international churches for mutual prayer and encouragement. If your congregation would like to participate, email Sister Suzanne Clarke at hsuzanneclarke@yahoo.com to choose a congregation or to learn more.
In addition, CBC Anniversary Sunday was announced to be held on October 19th, 2025, and resources were distributed. More information will be shared later but churches should begin planning their celebrations now.
CBC’s partnership with Samaritan’s Purse was affirmed with the presentation of gifts for Texas flood relief, and the Executive Board was privileged to tour the SP hangar at the Greensboro airport. In addition, Sister Lynne Rienstra shared updates on SP, and Brother Grover Duling announced that CBC has donated more than $300,000 to Samaritan’s Purse since our partnership with them began in 2022.
Brothers Jonathan Prater of Virginia and Jose Acevedo of Puerto Rico were called to serve on the Executive Board as the terms of Brothers Craig Alan Myers and Stafford Frederick came to an end. Conference exhibitors offered support services and Eder Financial provided ice cream each evening while Brethren Mutual Aid Agency blessed participants with coffee and donuts each morning.
Much good fruit of worship, praise, love, service and more was produced for Jesus at the 2025 Annual Meeting and Worship Conference of the Covenant Brethren Church. Stay tuned to learn where and when next year’s AMWC will be held!
Submitted By George Bowers, CBC Executive Board Secretary.
Pictures by Stafford Fredrick, Publications Committee
Edited by Craig Howard, Publications Committee
