Photo by Thomas Schütze on Unsplash

Bishop Rob and Candie Taylor

The greatest good news of the gospel is that in Jesus Christ, we who were dead in our trespasses and sins, are made alive. 

Resurrection is not just the story of Jesus at Easter. It is his story in each of our lives as believers today. His resurrection makes us alive in the immediate, and promises life eternal. Daily we live and move and have our being in Jesus Christ. Daily we serve his mission, the Great Commission, in our living.

Daily we experience his love, joy, and peace in every circumstance of our living. Daily we walk in his victory in spite of the many and varied challenges, battles, and storms we face. Daily we are confident that will be live eternally with Jesus. This is indeed, the greatest of good news. Let’s take advantage of this season and share Jesus with everyone with whom we are given an audience.

Let’s be proactive in seeking opportunities to interact with people so that we can share Jesus with them. 

Blessings, 

Bishop J. Rob Taylor

Administrative Bishop

Church of God in Hawaii

The early followers of Jesus weren’t really referred to so much as Christians. Rather, they were referred to as Disciples. Did you know the word Christian is used three times in the whole Bible, whereas the word disciple is used 281 times? Jesus called His Disciples, and they answered the call.Just like when the phone rings, we must make a choice to answer it or not, we must choose to answer the call of God.

Here you have Jesus calling the fishermen to follow Him. Matthew 4:18-22 – Jesus Calls the First Disciples

We Must Hear The Call:

Facts about Ears: Fish do not have ears, but they can hear pressure changes through ridges on their body. Of the 206 bones in the human body, the six smallest are in your ears: three in the right and three in the left. Together, each three are about the size of a pencil eraser. The ear continues to hear sounds, even while you sleep. My wife says I have two faults. I don’t listen...and something else.

Sound travels at the speed of 1,130 feet per second, or 770 miles per hour. Dogs can hear much higher frequencies than humans. Ears not only help you hear, but also aid in balance.Male mosquitoes hear with thousands of tiny hairs growing on their antennae, my new prayer, let the male mosquitoes go bald. I found this very interesting, Ears are completely individual just like fingerprints! Yahoo has even explored technology that could unlock a cell phone when held to the ear.

Maybe we God created with us without ear prints because God speaks to us differently.

Hearing is important for a number of reasons

a. Hearing is Essential to Salvation

b. Hearing is Necessary for Obedience

c. Hearing is Foundational for Hope

Hearing is so important that 16 times from the book of Matthew through the book of Revelation we hear the words, “let him hear.” Why? BecauseHEARING IS ESSENTIAL TO SALVATION.

Something to think on, when we call on God, we expect Him to answer right away, the question is, when He calls on us, do we answer right away? Do we complain? Do we shift?

Please be in prayer for the Hawaii Youth And Discipleship Department as Got Talent and Youth Camp are quickly approaching.

Pastor Brian

Pastor Brian

YD

Church of God in Hawaii

Dr. Robert Fisher, former Church of God Executive Committee member, was renowned for his denominational leadership. Dr. Fisher served the Church of God in numerous leadership capacities. He was the former superintendent of West Coast Bible College and was the state overseer for Hawaii, Delmarva-DC, North Georgia and Western North Carolina. He was the General Director of Education from 1976-1984. In 1989, he was elected to the Church of God Executive Committee where he served 7 years as General Secretary-Treasurer and Assistant General Overseer. From 1996-2000, he was the Director of Ministerial Care for the denomination. In 2000, Dr. Fisher founded and served as executive director of the Center for Spiritual Renewal in Cleveland, Tennessee. An important part of this ministry was the leading and directing of the Centennial Celebration for the Azusa Street Revival which will took place in Los Angeles April 25-29, 2006. (From Dr. Fisher's Obituary)

Dr. Fisher’s leadership impact remains in Hawaii. His heart was to plant churches for the furtherance of the Church of God in the islands. In 1969, he oversaw the building of the current state parsonage on Akaaka Street in Aiea. He invested in creative ministry opportunities. And he saw the need for ministerial training among those being called to the ministry in Hawaii. He began the Ministerial Internship Program 50 years ago to train those being called into pulpit ministry. From some of the most isolated islands on Earth came one of the most influential programs in ministry training.

Dr. Fisher laid a foundation that has given the Church of God in Hawaii a footing for the ministry that continues today. We acknowledge Dr. Fisher’s leadership and speak the amen to his prayers for the furtherance of the gospel through the voice of the Church of God. 

This May, the commissioning service for MIP will celebrate the 50th anniversary. Hawaii joins the celebration with the current class of 7 candidates, which happens to be the number of participants in the initial class. It is to be noted that this is the first MIP class in Hawaii in about 25 years. 

Recently, Bishop Rob and Candie Taylor traveled to Kauai to the dry caves where the Powells met with the hippies who lived there. Dr. Fisher sent the Powells to Kauai to plant a church. He raised the money to purchase a van so the Powells could give hitch hikers a ride. Having a captive audience, the Powells took advantage of the time to share Jesus. Eventually, they began having services in the caves with those who desired to join. From that primitive location, the current Maranatha Church of God was planted. Some of those converts became the initial MIP class. Pictured are current Maranatha pastor, David Pennington and his wife, Teresa, the Bishop and Candie Taylor, Pastor Ofelia Serrano with her husband Teo. 

In February, the Taylors traveled to Los Angeles for the World Missions Inspire conference. Following conference dismissal, they gathered at the invitation of California/Nevada Bishops, Dr. Sean and Sheryl O’Neal. Together with John D. Childers, Dr. Mark Swank (both from World Missions) and other invited delegates, they joined in a Prayer Tower tour and prayer session led by Dr. O’Neal to ask God to send a the next wave of pentecostal revival in the western part of the United States. The Taylors, again found themselves aligned with the vision of Dr. Robert Fisher to continue the pentecostal outreach as they joined in the prayer service. 

Current strategies for the island work continue to find their foundational influence in the visionary leadership of Dr. Fisher. Church planting is a great need. There are nearly one million people on the island of Oahu. Between 38 and 41 percent of those are of Asian descent. Our desire is to bring missionary church planters to Hawaii who speak the language and understand the cultures of the Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese and Thai. One of the limiting factors is the high cost of housing. We have begun clearing the land which can accommodate duplex style homes for 4 to 6 missionary families, who already speak the language and know the culture. Dr. Fisher seemed to understand the importance of cultural influence. Although we are not in the dry caves with hippies, we feel that having a place for those who are church planters to live while they establish churches will help us see a furtherance of evangelism to the nations that have a cultural constituency in Hawaii. 

We stand in agreement with the prayers of those who have come before us. Jesus is the amen (Rev. 3:14). 

Resourcing the local church and ministers

Hawaii Churches and Ministers Serving

Hawaii is an Island of abundance. There is abundant sunshine, ocean and sand, and termites…Yikes!

Did you know there are 7 termite species we must contend with at any given time? Every shipping container may be hosting the arrival of our next new gnawing neighbor. 

• Drywood termites: Kalotermes approximatus and Incisitermes minor
• Subterranean termites: Coptotermes formosanus and Reticulitermes flavipes
• Dampwood termites: Neotermes castaneus and Zootermopsis angusticollis
• Conehead termites: Nasutitermes corniger

Pest control is a necessary and expensive need for our island homes and churches. There is a risk of loosing the complete building to termite damage due to untreated infestations. COVID closures made termite pest fumigation more complicated as local churches struggled to survive week-to-week. 

With the support of Church of God World Missions and matching partnerships, tenting season and repairs have begun.

Ewa Beach Church of God saw the completion of termite tenting. There are repairs to the church that are dependent upon this process being completed before they can begin. There is a follow-up treatment that is scheduled. A year’s monthly treatment and ground termite prevention are paid for in advance. The cooperation between Ewa Beach and the State Office continues.

Another ministry partnership began at the very beginning of March. During a recent trip to Kauai, Bishop Taylor presented one-half of the money needed to purchase a wrought iron fence to install on the wall that is the barrier between the Maranatha Church of God property and the business next door. This will not only be a nice addition to the property, but will be a safety barrier to prevent falls and unwanted foot traffic on that side of the property. 

A landscaping company was hired to clear the lot adjacent to the ministry center parking lot. It gives the visual needed to begin the process of fundraising for evangelism. We continue to pray for the funds and means to build homes for the future ministry in Hawaii.