Come Join Us Sept. 25th for "Church Faire"

September 25th we will be having morning worship with friends, and an evening of Praise & Worship.  The morning service is geared toward introducing ourselves to our guests.  Each ministry of the church will create a display communicating what is offered in their field of labor.  This will be a great opportunity to meet and greet, ask questions, create contacts, and in general, find out "who's in charge of?...."

The night service will be another opportunity to find out about church information, and the service will be an evening of Praise & Worship.  The adult and youth choirs will be singing, along with the Praise & Worship teams, and we will be highlighting the project "Roots of 65."

This will be a great day and we invite you to attend both services.  Blessings.

Mother's Day Luncheon

The GBFPC ladies were honored Mother's Day weekend at a luncheon and the "fellas" were so kind to prepare and serve the meal.  The speaker this year was Sis. Penny Watkins and the ladies all had a wonderful time.  Can't do it without Mom!

GBFPC Men Showing Support

Here are some additional pictures that were not featured in the newspaper article.

Congregation Shows Solidarity With Pastor Suffering From Cancer

Article courtesy of The Bakersfield Californian
Article originally published on January 5, 2010
By Jason Kotowski, Californian Staff Writer
Photos by Michael Fagans, Californian Photographer

The doors to Greater Bakersfield's First Pentecostal Church opened Tuesday evening and a stream of men, all with little or no hair, made their way down the aisle and lined up in rows.

Pastor Kevin Bradford watched for a moment, and then his smile grew wider as he realized what was happening. This wasn't going to be a typical prayer service.

The men and boys, about 80 in all, had shaved their heads in a show of support for Bradford, who was diagnosed in early December with cancer. He announced his illness to the congregation on Sunday, told them he was shaving his head in preparation for chemotherapy, and afterwards groups of churchgoers talked it over and decided to break out the razors.

They kept their decision a secret until the prayer service.

Bradford, 40, was stunned.

"I am so very grateful and thankful," he said. "I do want to apologize to all the wives."

The men then joined him in singing, followed by prayers.

Raymond Andreas, who attends the church, said this is the shortest his hair has been in 11 years. He said it was moving to see so many people participate.

"This shows solidarity for them to set their pride aside to support the pastor," Andreas said.

Laren Kaufman said he usually has a thick head of hair, and he went about cutting it Sunday in three stages.

He chose to go completely bald and he, like many others, brought knit caps to help protect against the chilly night air.

He didn't mind the slight discomfort the cold caused.

"We're just blessed to have the pastor we have," Kaufman said.

Others said they felt the same way.

"He's not only our pastor, but like a best friend," said churchgoer Randy Newton. "We cherish and love this man."

Colby Condren described Bradford as generous and outgoing. And very healthy. Condren said it was a shock to hear Bradford had cancer because he keeps himself in great shape.

"He's the healthiest guy I've ever known," Condren said.

Bradford, who's married with two children, said he was diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He underwent surgery to have an axillary lymph node removed, and he had his first chemotherapy treatment Monday.

He said that, in talking with doctors, he's learned that many people who recover from illness often have large support groups. Bradford's congregation let him know Tuesday that he's got plenty of people pulling for him.

"I'm just completely overwhelmed by the support of the church and I'm glad to be a part of these great people," he said.

Missions Conference 2010

… I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. John 4:35

We were blessed to have five foreign countries represented at the GBFPC Missions Conference this year.  Bro. Shreckhise (Honduras) and Bro. Debrun (Marshall Islands) both preached tremendous messages on Thursday and Friday nights.  Bro. Wheeler (Philippines) and Bro. Keith Nix concluded on Sunday and we had wonderful time in the Holy Ghost. 

From left to right: Bro. Lawrence, Bro. Eckels, Bro. Solomon, Bro. Debrun, Bro Shreckhise, Bro. McMillan  and Pastor Bradford

Bro. Shreckhise

Bro. Keith Nix

Bro. Wheeler

The Around the World Dinner is always a great time of food and fellowship. It gives us a chance to meet each missionary family and learn more about each country.  There were eight different food booths each representing a different country or region and an international bakery. From Chow Mein to Fried chicken and from Lasagna to Pickled Tongue, we had it all. There was something there for every palate. I think it’s safe to say that no one left hungry.

The Southern Booth with Sis. Denise, Sis. Genie, and Sis. Michele

Scotland with Sis. Jamie, Sis. Sherrie, Sis. Tammy and Sis. Teresa

China with Sis. Mona, Sis. Shandi, and Sis. Kaufman

The International Bakery with Sis. Bradford, Sis. Gregg, Sis. Stacy and a few admirers

Sis. Solomon and Sis. Wheeler

Bro. Keith Nix

The Day After

“And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” -Revelations 22:12

This year at GBFPC, the YPOWT youth group put together a phenomenal play. The play told the story of a group of young people’s decisions at the second coming of Jesus Christ. Some chose to follow the Bible, and lived a life devoted to God. Meanwhile, there were others in the play who were distant and unmoved by the matter, thinking that there would be plenty of time to make things right. The message was extremely realistic and impacted many of its’ viewers. With so many reliable volunteers, everything was carefully organized and successful. The play was performed on October 15th and 16th and there were impacting altar services both nights.

Pastor Bradford giving opening remarks the first night

Chris (Bryce Cosme) invites Alicia (Lacey Newton) to a revival service

The singers and musicians did excellent

The last church service before the Rapture

All of the youth hang out at the local pizza parlor after service

Mark (Trent Rodriguez) doesn't tell good jokes - "ANYONE WANNA' BUY A POLLO?"

A family's last dinner together before the return of the Lord

Cody and Sis Michelle

Landon (Jordan Johnson) tries to convince his sister, Lauren (Brittney McAlister), to serve God

Andre (Chad Bradley), Eva (Eva Rivas), and Mark (Trent Rodriguez) await for their typical ride for school

Derek (Daniel Granillo) realizes that Jesus has returned leaving him behind

Those that were left behind return to the church realizing it is too late to reconcile with the Lord

The Antichrist (Bro CJ Casey) addresses those taking the "mark"

Mark is force to take the Mark of the Beast

A soul (Stephany Bradley) has entered into heaven

"Well done, my good and faithful servant!" say Jesus (Laren Kaufmann) to Alicia

"Depart from me!" Jesus tells the unfortunate (Jace O'Guinn) as the demons of hell approach

Entering the Judgement, Andrew (Chad Bradley)

The Hell scene

Satan (Buddy Purtell) confronts the crowd

Bethel Day

We had our annual Bethel Day fundraiser on Saturday, October 30th and it was a huge success. Over 250 people attended this event including students, student families, visitors and GBFPC members. We had game booths, a snack shack, bounce house and face painting, wheel barrow races, toe sack races, tug o' war, a dunk tank, and fun, fun, fun. The Kern County Fire Dept. and the Bakersfield Police K-9 unit also made a showing.

I wouldn't be a GBFPC event if we didn't have some praise and worship. We were blessed by our Youth Choir once again.

The highlight of Bethel Day is always the annual football game between the Bethel Boys and OATS (others, alumni, teachers and staff). It was a close game with the OATS winning 21-14.

The OATS

The Bethel Boys

Bro. Harold Dansby and Bro. Kevin Condren cooked up a spectacular tri-tip dinner that was enjoyed by all.

Enjoying the puppet show

Tyler taking a dip in the chocolate fountain

Thank you Bethel Staff and GBFPC Sunday School Dept. for all of your hard work!