Churches of God, General Conference

06/02/2026

Retirement on your mind? Do you have questions you'd like answered? Join our online sessions all about retirement for FREE.
When: June 3rd, 12 P.M.
Where: Anywhere via Video Call
Why: Because Retirement is important and so are you concerns!
Register here: https://cggc.org/stewardship

05/29/2026

Did you know that all of our Pastors in the CGGC have access to RightNow Media? And every CGGC church that signs up for RightNow Media gets a discount for being in the denomination? Well, if you didn’t before, you do now!

If you are a church leader looking to get access to Right Now Media, simply reach out to [email protected] with a request, and we’ll get your account set up quickly.

But the news gets better. Even if you’re not a pastor, RightNow Media has free resources available through their new website RightNowPastors.org. At RightNow Pastors, you don’t even need an account to view their curated webinars, like Ben Stuart’s hour-long piece titled When People Don’t Care: A Discussion About Apathy in the Church.

RightNow Media has over 20,000 Bible studies, and many different series covering each book of the Bible, issues related to church and family, and just about every topic in between. If you’re a leader in the church, there is something on RightNow Media for you.

One of the ways that our office had supported our churches was through the Media Access Curriculum (MAC) Library. The MAC Library, was a physical collection of popular and worthwhile media like VHS (and eventually DVD’s!), CD’s, Books, and more that the CGGC would loan to churches who couldn’t justify the cost of large curriculum sets. Started in the 1990’s, through this tool, churches were able to have access to a growing library media that was educational, theological, and entertaining.

By middle 2010’s, internet streaming had become truly accessible, thanks to affordable broadband internet and fiber technologies. Given that fact, along with the ever-increasing amount of material that could be desirable to churches, it was quickly becoming more and more difficult for the CGGC to justify maintaining the MAC Library. By the time the pandemic hit, the CGGC was looking for a legitimate alternative, and they found that resources in RightNow Media. In 2020, RightNow media was positioning itself as the “Netflix of Bible Studies”. The CGGC purchased a subscription with the understanding that all of our pastors would have access to this service through our account.

Since then, hundreds of pastors have gained access to RightNow Media through our account, and many churches have as well at a discounted price. Now, in 2026, RightNow Media has evolved past being just a Netflix alternative. It’s not just a home for passive content. Instead, RightNow Media has grown into a service with tools that spur on community and thoughtful engagement. Videos and series come with study guides, quizzes, and questions to help leaders go deeper. The platform allows for remote watch parties to be held, so people in different houses/buildings can watch the same video at the same time, and chat through their software.

They’ve increased their content offerings. Not only do they have quality children’s shows, but now they have both free and premium resources for pastors like blogs, articles, podcasts, and more through their “Pastors Hub” webpage at RightNowPastors.org.

They even have content in native languages from around the world. Do you have Spanish speakers in your church? RightNow Media has a tremendous amount of Spanish first content. It’s not translated from English to Spanish; it was made with Spanish speakers in mind. On top of that, they have subtitles translated for the vast majority of their library, which means RightNow Media can be a cross-cultural tool for those trying to reach across language barriers.

We hope that this tool blesses our pastors and church leaders in their devotions, providing accessible material to compliment their bible studies and prayer lives.

Get your free access to RightNow Media by messaging [email protected], or tell your pastor and see if RightNow Media right for your church.

CGGC eNews—Vol. 20, No. 22
https://cggc.org/cggc-enews/every-cggc-pastor-has-access-to-rightnow-media/

Did you know that all of our Pastors in the CGGC have access to RightNow Media? And every CGGC church that signs up for RightNow Media gets a discount for being in the denomination? Well, if you didn’t before, you do now! If you are a...

05/26/2026

🙌Rejoice with us over this update to our urgent prayer request from last week...

05/26/2026

Camping Season is here! Don't forget to pray for our camps, camp directors, staff, and of course, the campers themselves. Lives are changed at camp!
https://cggc.org/camps

05/22/2026

Jump out of your seat because Bible quizzing registration is available now!

The Bible Quizzing season will be coming to a close in July and another is on the way in late summer. Get ready by registering NOW for this next season.

For those who have run Bible Quizzing before, you’ll know the drill. Head over to CGGC.org and find all the next years forms and resources on our front page.

CGGC.org

For those who haven’t run a Bible Quizzing team before, give us a minute to convince you that Bible Quizzing is a great way to help immerse kids in the Word of God, and an important tool for discipleship in the arsenal of youth pastors.

Bible Quizzing is a fun and engaging way to get kids deep into scripture, writing scripture on their hearts. From 6th grade through their senior year in high school, students read and memorize scripture for more than 1000 hours (and that’s if they never study at home, which most do!) And they do this within a community of fellow young believers, competing against other kids from other churches.

Better yet, creating a team doesn’t require a large youth group. 2 kids can make a team, which means especially for small churches who are struggling to have enough kids for a youth group, Bible Quizzing is a great tool to get just a few kids involved in scripture reading. Likewise, because Bible Quizzers compete with other churches, they’re able to develop relationships that are deep and meaningful and which last with kids from other churches.

While speaking about the benefits of Bible Quizzing last year, Director of Bible Quizzing Rachel Neely-Pletcher said that,

“The Pennsylvania kids get to know the kids from Ohio and Indiana. This year we have really seen all of those walls break down and lots of kids are interacting, and everybody kind of knows everybody. That's a really neat benefit of it, the friendships that are made.”

Historically, the CGGC has watched Bible Quizzing be an important tool in the lives of many disciples and disciple makers. A number of our pastors and missionaries began to own their faith during their time in Bible Quizzing. The practice of reading scripture, along with the community of faith engendered through quizzing, created a lifelong love of God’s word and His people. Passages that quizzers drilled in their youth return again and again in different phases of life, taking on deeper meaning.

You can read wonderful stories about Bible Quizzing from across the years in an encompassing story published by the CGGC Archives Museum in their News Magazine. Pastor Dave Williams, said of his time in Bible Quizzing,

“This ministry has been a constant form of discipleship for the teens of the General Conference. During my time as the Director of Church Health for the Eastern Region, I continually met up with former quizzers and coaches across the region. It was thrilling to see how many pastors, council leaders, and teachers there are today because of Bible Quizzing.”

Read the full story here: Bible Quizzing History Article

In a time when kids are feeling socially isolated, and lonelier than ever, when sports and other extra curriculars fill up Sunday mornings and compete for worship time, Bible Quizzing is a healthy spiritual practice that pushes back against those cultural forces. Likewise, Bible Quizzing helps reinforce healthy educational and learning practices, sharpening the memory and focus of young people who have their attention constantly pulled around.

Considering starting a Bible Quizzing team? Reach out to Pastor Rachel Neely-Pletcher, or Pastor Nancy Hiser for more information about how to get started. They’d be happy to assist in the process and get Bible Quizzing up and running at your church! Contact information and additional resources are below. Likewise, if you're new, check out our starter guide on the resources page. Find it here: Starter Guide

Rachel Neely-Pletcher Email: [email protected]

Nancy Hiser Email: [email protected]

CGGC eNews—Vol. 20, No. 21
https://cggc.org/cggc-enews/bible-quizzing-registration-is-open/

Jump out of your seat because Bible quizzing registration is available now! The Bible Quizzing season will be coming to a close in July and another is on the way in late summer. Get ready by registering NOW for this next season. For those who...

05/21/2026

Please unite in prayer over the following urgent request...

05/16/2026

The Allegheny Regional Conference (ARC) kicked off yesterday, Friday May 15th. As with each of our regions and elderships, annual conferences and gatherings are an opportunity for a variety of good things. Equipping, discipleship, fellowship, and future planning. Worship, prayer, ordinances like feet washing and the Lord’s supper.

This year the equipping and training was led by Dr. Matt Lake, a leader from Fresh Expressions and the pastor of First Church Williamsport, PA. Pastor Matt was also the keynote speaker at the CGGC’s Triennial Conference in 2025, so it was great to catch back up with him and for more people from around the CGGC to learn from his story.

The ARC was challenged on Friday to listen. To listen to God, the moving of the Holy Spirit, to scripture, and to their communities. Part of this was led by the conference handing out demographic information for each of the church’s present. It meant that each church was able to reckon with their community's population, social economic make up, their greatest needs and issues.

You can find data like this about your local community at: www.datausa.io

Church teams worked together to come up with new ideas for how they can reach their communities, thinking through how they might address mental health and opioid challenges, loneliness, and more.

The ARC, in partnership with the CGGC, is committed to creating cohorts to help churches walk through these new plans, encouraging each other and offering best practices in a group of likeminded people. The idea is to help get these new ideas off the ground, to evaluate and improve, and then to help these new initiatives become sustainable over the long haul.

Pastor Matt spoke about the incarnational and informal nature of doing ministry outside of church walls. That Jesus’s ministry encapsulated both the formal in temple and the informal in homes, towns, streets, boats, on the mountains, and in the wilderness. One example Pastor Matt gave was of a rugby ministry which involved some prayer and scripture and lots of intense rugby matches. The guys playing rugby were very unlikely to grace the doors of a church building, and so the church came to them. Using Christian lingo, the church was incarnated into their context, like John 1:14 says “The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”

With a plethora of examples, Pastor Matt encouraged the church leadership to get creative and to be okay with meaningful change in their communities.

This year conference was hosted by Grange Church of God in Punxsutawney, PA. Pastor Marcus John, his family, and the entire team at Grange were remarkably hospitable, with excellent food and accommodations, which is a testament to the giftings that God has given them. We did get to see the world famous, Phil. He was napping.

Worship ended on Friday with a local Pittsburg band named It’s Only Temporary (IOT) who played a mix of classic Christian hymns, contemporary worship, and their own original Christian music.

Saturday (today) was a time of more official business for the region, where regional licenses were handed out, and ordinations were recognized with their families present. 3 pastors were recognized for ordination at conference: Marcus John (Grange), Brian Zeisloft (Mt. Pleasant), and Stephen Flugga (Congress Hill).

We’d ask our readers to be in prayer for the ARC and all of the CGGC regions and elderships throughout this conference season. Big changes and moves are being made to strengthen churches and ministries, and we pray that God will work through these times of fellowship, that the church might greatly impact people for the kingdom of God.

CGGC eNews—Vol. 20, No. 20
https://cggc.org/cggc-enews/a-fresh-allegheny-conference/

The Allegheny Regional Conference (ARC) kicked off yesterday, Friday May 15th. As with each of our regions and elderships, annual conferences and gatherings are an opportunity for a variety of good things...

05/16/2026

Feetwashing is one of the most distinct aspects of our tradition. It also happens to be one od the most beautiful. Jesus modeled service to others and humility through washing His disciples feet and this ordinance is an important part of committing ourselves to Jesus's humble, sacrificial, servant leadership.

05/15/2026

At the Allegheny Region Conference, pastors and church leaders are looking at the demographics of their communities, considering the needs and opportunities in their immediate contexts.

Churches are developing new ideas about how they can both preach the message of Jesus and meet the challenges and needs of their communities!

05/15/2026

The Allegheny Conference kicks off it's annual sessions today. Please pray for a productive time of equipping, discipleship, and church business this weekend!