God has blessed me with 2 wonderful women in my life. My high school sweetheart Lori and I  have one child, Philip. God brought Lori home after a 7-year battle with brain cancer in her mid 40’s and blessed me with another wonderful mate – Marilyn. Between us, Marilyn and I have  been truly blessed with 10 grandchildren – thank you Lord!!! In my spare time, I enjoy spending  time with my family, woodworking, coaching basketball, being a sport spectator, theatre,  mentoring students, traveling, music and Bible studies.  

My family has been part of the Agape Christian Church family since 2006 and this is my second  opportunity to serve as an elder. As an elder, my prayer is that I’m a blessing to the  congregation and the community. Helping to “shepherd” the congregation is what I hope to  achieve in this second stint as an elder. In addition to being an elder, I have served in various  areas within the church over the years. I have had the opportunity to share communion  meditations, preached a couple of sermons, been an usher, offering input team member, and  workday participant.  

I have many favorite Scriptures – however, my favorite is: 2 Corinthians 1: 3-5  

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God  of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble  with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the  sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.  

At the core of life, I believe that some of the suffering we experience ultimately equips us to  help others. I have seen it play out numerous times in my own life. I feel like this scripture, in  many ways, helps us through hard times and to use those experiences to help others in their  difficult season if we will allow the scripture to permeate our hearts.  

As one of your elders, I urge you to continue to stay engaged in worship; look for ways to serve  as the hands and feet of Jesus – both within the church and out in the community; stay in the  Word; and pray for your leaders.
 
 
 
                           

 

I’m Dennis Duschek, have been married to my wife Denise for 43 years, and we live near Stillwell with our 3-year-old Shih-Tzu/Maltese dog Bonnie. We have two married adult sons, three grandsons, and two granddaughters. Denise and I have been members of Agape Christian Church since 1998, and I have served as an elder for a total of twelve years. I love observing in all four seasons the beauty and wonder of what God has created while being involved in activities like bicycling, hiking, kayaking, camping, fishing, and especially through my favorite hobbies of gardening and motorcycling. I also enjoy music and joined the Arts in the Park General Committee to participate in making the free concert series available for the people in our community to enjoy.

My favorite scripture is Philippians 4:8; “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things.”  I find the most rewarding thing about serving as an elder is when we find solutions to concerns people of the congregation bring to the elders for us to discuss. I am involved in the Agape shepherding program. I belong to the Wisdom Seekers Bible study group and have led on occasion. I have also been serving Agape Christian Church with communion meditations for more than 20 years and have preached on a few occasions, serve on the new Associate Minister Hiring Committee, come out to help on nearly all the Church workdays, and occasionally make coffee on Sunday morning.