Brief History of the Ballesteros

Carl Ballestero first met his wife while he attended Andrew Baker’s church (which is were he was baptized in Jesus’ Name). Brother Baker was one of the early fathers of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World. Content (Connie) Faith Gleason was a niece to Andrew Baker, and this is where Brother and Sister Ballestero first met. They were subsequently married in 1943. Brother Ballestero was discharged from the Army and he and his wife went full-time into the Apostolic ministry.

Brother Ballestero pastored for 25 years and evangelized for 25 years. Altogether, he pastored nine churches. His first pastorate was in Clinga, California, followed by tenures in, Aneheim,  and Vista, California; Yakeymo, Washington; Columbus, and South Bend, Indiana; salt Lake City, Utah; and Sulphur, Louisiana. He was in South Bend from 1960 to 1972.

On September 11, 1994, after battling with Alzheimers desease, Brother Carl Ballestero completed the race that he had so nobley began and endured. It could be said of him, “Another Soldier has come home” and now his wife happily joins her beloved husband of 51 years and her oldest daughter, Beverly Anne Ballestero.

She is survived by:

Four Children: Martyn Ballestero and his wife, Marcia, Carlene Branham, Ramona Yandris and her husband, Nathan, Nila Marxer and her husband, Eric, eleven grandchildren: Anthony and Kim Ballestero, Bryan and Christy Ballestero, Martyn and Courtney Ballestero II, Marisa and Brandon Hartzell, Andrew and Jasmine Ballestero, Jeremy and Stacey Branham, Ryan Yandris, Clint and Elisha Yandris, Jason Marxer, Erica Marxer, Justin Marxer and seventeen great grandchildren.

Listen to the Funeral

Martynballestero.com

Other Info:

Story about the Ballestero’s as “The Greatest Evangelist and his Wife“

Rev. Robert Trapani in Akron Ohio, ministering in 2007.

TALLMADGE, OH – January 18, 2012. Bro.  Robert D. Trapani, age 72, went home to be with the Lord January 18, 2012. Robert was born May 4, 1939 in New York City, N.Y. to Domonic J. Trapani and Elsie Trapani Wilson. Robert is survived by his wife, Hilda Latta Trapani of 55 years; sons, Geoffrey Scott (Julie), Anthony Michael (Donna); daughters, Julia Renee Rose (Hugh) and Andrea Lynn Robinette (Mark); grandchildren, Alexandra Trapani, Abigail, Molly and Robert Trapani, David and Andrew Rose, Nathanael, Elizabeth, Benjamin, Rebekah, Anna, Gideon and Valiant Robinette; brother, Carl (Barb) Trapani. He was preceded in death by sons, David Mark and Nathan Paul and granddaughter, Emily Noel.

Bro. Trapani was a minister for 48 years and an international speaker and counselor. He was a member of both Mensa and Intertel. The most frequent remarks spoken of Robert Trapani were “He changed or saved my life, he gave me hope.” He loved people and loved teaching them to love the Almighty God and to love themselves – He leaves a big hole on this earth. We rejoice with him and mourn our loss, for he was without embellishment, a great man who touched those he met with wisdom and compassion.

Funeral Arrangements

Viewing Monday, January 23, 2012 from 5:00 – 8:00 PM

Viewing Tuesday, January 24, 2012 from 10:00 – 11:00 AM

Funeral Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 11:00 AM

All the services will be held at:

First Apostolic Church
199 South Avenue
Tallmadge, Ohio 44278
(330) 633-9031
View the church’s website

Hotel Country Inn and Suites
1420 Main Street
Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio 44221
(330) 926-1233
$85.00/night + tax – please mention the Trapani funeral
View the hotel’s website
Location: Tallmadge, Oh – Bulgrin

Mexico City Convention

MEXICO CITY – December 7, 2011. This was an update sent out for United Pentecostal Church of Mexico.

On the 20th of November 2011 we had our Central Disitrict Convention in Mexico City with over 4,000 in attendance; 159 received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and 2 were baptized. It was such a tremendous victory, to see how the Church in this central part of the country growing so greatly.

Aside from the responsibility of General Superintendent of the UPC of Mexico, we also have the responsibility of Central District Supervisor. The Central District is just Mexico City, where we now have 86 Churches and Missions; and 112 Licensed Pastors and Ministers. It is exciting to see how the Church is growing very rapidly in this Mega City of over 22 million people

During the month of October, our Pastors in this District reported a total of 257 baptized and 141 that received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

We want to thank everyone for your prayers. Continue to pray for revival in Mexico!

As Commanding Officer of the Georgia State Patrol, Major Grier is responsible for the field operations of the Georgia State Patrol, including the 48 GSP posts across the state, as well as the Criminal Interdiction Unit (CIU), Implied Consent Unit, SWAT, GSP Dive Team and the Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team (SCRT).

Major Grier graduated from the 56th Georgia State Patrol Trooper School in 1982 and was assigned to GSP Griffin. In 1990, he transferred to GSP Thomaston. He has served at GSP Griffin, Forsyth, and Thomaston as a supervisor and was promoted to Lieutenant for Troop D in 2003. He was promoted to Captain in the Deputy Commissioner’s Office in 2005 and served two years there before returning to field operations as a Troop Commander in 2007.

During his career, Major Grier has participated in numerous special details as part of a security team, including the 2005 and 2009 Presidential Inaugurations in Washington, DC; G8 on St. Simons Island; the 1996 Olympics; Atlanta Motor Speedway events; and Super Bowl XXXIV at the Georgia Dome.

He was born and raised in Thomaston. He and his wife Tina have two children and three grandchildren. They attend United Pentecostal Church in Thomaston.

Read more: Thomaston Times – Major Eddie Grier named Georgia State Patrol Commander

To spearhead this effort, the Cain campaign has looked beyond the traditional ranks of the Religious Right, to the fringes of American Christianity. Business Insider has learned that the Cain campaign recently tapped Pentecostal pastor Robert Upton, a former Bush administration liaison with strong ties to the Oneness and Christian Zionist movements.

Upton is a very strange pick to lead the Cain campaign’s faith outreach — although this is perhaps unsurprising, given the former pizza titan’s penchant for finding weird campaign staffers.

Read more

His wife, Sis. Joy Haney, wrote the following on the CLC website:

“The Lord giveth & the Lord taketh away! Blessed be the name of the Lord!” Jesus & His angels came for Bishop Haney this morning! He went very peacefully!!! In God’s army a 5 star General has gone home! God never makes a mistake! He heard our prayers! “Thy Kingdom come! Thy will be done!” God’s will has been done! The doctor just came in & said to me. “My mother use to tell me, “When you live a good life, you will have a peaceful passing!’ He said, “This is the first peaceful passing I’ve seen!” We love all of you & thank you for your prayers!!! Viewing & funeral arrangements are forthcoming!

Viewing:
Wednesday, November 16th | 7PM – 9PM
9025 West Lane

Funeral:
Thursday, November 17th | 11AM
4303 Christian Life Way

All flowers can be sent to:
Christian Life Center
9025 West Lane | Stockton, CA 95210

History

Source: CLCministry.com

On July 18, 1937, Kenneth was born to the parents of Rev. Clyde and Olive Haney in Stockton, California. He was destined to do great things for God! At the young age of 7, he received the gift of the Holy Ghost and was baptized in Jesus’ name.  At age 12 he received the call to preach at a service conducted by Ruby Keyes at the Bend, Oregon campmeeting where his father was the Bible Teacher for the day services.  He grew up on a farm and preached his first sermons to the cows in the field while they mooed their amens and switched their tails in agreement.  At age 15 he preached his first message in a church, and at age 17 he received his ministerial license with the United Pentecostal Church International.  He was ordained June 19, 1959. In the earlier years of his ministry, he served as Associate Pastor with his father for 11 years at the First Pentecostal Church in Stockton, as well as traveled for WABC, recruiting students in the summer, and preaching revivals and singing.

In 1960 he fell in love with the beautiful, vivacious, and talented Joy McDonald. They were married October 14, 1961 and to this union were born 5 children: Sherrie, Nathaniel, Stephenie, Elizabeth, and Angela. All 5 children are serving the Lord and are involved in ministry. They are the proud grandparents of 10 beautiful grandchildren.

As a young boy, Kenneth was always respectful of the ministry and was thrilled to be in their presence. He was acquainted with many of the greats of Pentecost and has many interesting stories to share about them. He has always been a humble, unassuming man, who loves people, and has always been a dreamer!  As a young man, he was involved in organizational work.  In 1963 at the age of 25 he was elected Western District Youth President and served in this office for 7 years. In 1963 and also 1964 he received 1st place award for the Western District as being 1st in the nation for Sheaves for Christ giving. Under his leadership the Western District was the first district to have Bible Quizzing and then it became national.

In 1971, Kenneth Haney became the pastor of the First Pentecostal Church in Stockton. View more pictures of Kenneth Haney.

In 1969 he was elected UPCI National Youth President.  While serving in this capacity he started several programs.  They were: The Youth Redemption Center (a place for troubled youth with drug problems), Pentecostal Student Fellowship International- (Campus Ministry), IYC, and the magazine called HOMELIFE for the young married. He was elected for 2 terms in this office, but upon the untimely death of his father, and at the request of the church board and much prayer and deliberation, he resigned and returned to Stockton where he was elected Pastor, and at the same time, he also became President of Western Apostolic Bible College, which during his time of service there, the name of the church was changed to Christian Life Center and the college to Christian Life College.  In his younger days he attended WABC for 3 years, and graduated, then became one of the instructors. In 2003 Christian Life College bestowed upon him an honorary Doctorate degree. So officially he is Dr. Haney!

The late Rev. Paul Gregory said about Kenneth, ”He was a whirlwind for Jesus.” During his early years of assisting his father, he organized and set up an elementary school that is still operating successfully. After returning to Stockton, he organized city wide crusades held in the Civic Auditorium, renting many billboards in the city to advertise. He organized continual prayer and fasting chains so that the church began to grow and flourish with revival.  Also during this time, his dream was to own a radio station that would air good gospel music and gospel programming. With much help and hard work, a 10 watt KCJH aired its first program in1975.   The call letters have changed to KYCC and the wattage has increased to 50,000 watts, and has 18 stations and translator stations and is the largest station in the city. KYCC now reaches into New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Montano, El Paso, Texas, and all of Northern California, and on internet around the world. He also served as the prayer coordinator for the city wide prayer breakfasts which originated with him.  He started the Good Samaritan Center which was instrumental to help and feed the poor.  Under his pastorate he started 14 daughter works.  He also led his congregation in many building programs. He was always building something!! Some of those were a new College campus, an Administration center, Family Life Center, Christian school, and new church buildings.

He is known for his God-given organizational skills and has served in organizational work for about 25 years: 7 years as Western District Youth Pres., 1 year as Western District Sunday School Director, 2 and a half years as UPCI National Youth President, 6 years as Asst. Gen. Supt, of the western zone, and 8 years as UPCI General Supt.

While serving as General Supt., he served with excellence and led the United Pentecostal Church International into greater revival and challenged the Fellowship to reach greater heights than ever before.  The following is quoted and taken from Bro. Randy Keys article in the recent Pentecostal Herald, ”Kenneth Haney is truly one of the greatest leaders the UPCI has ever had. His vision and dreams caused people to be set aflame with passion and fire for the cause of Jesus Christ!  There are numerous duties of the General Superintendent, but he went up and beyond these normal duties.  Following are the extra Accomplishments and Achievements during the eight year tenure of General Superintendent Kenneth F. Haney from January 1, 2002 through January 1, 2010:” We will not list all of them here today, but here are just a few:

1. He created Global Impact – A Program for Reaching the World and Doubling our Ministers, Churches, and Congregations in ten years
2. Instituted a program for acknowledgement of the faithfulness of our ministers by honoring them for years of service: 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, and 50 years with a personalized letter from the General Superintendent and a certificate of honor.
3. Began a full service Stewardship Department resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars being committed to various areas within the UPCI, and even millions in the future.
4. Instituted the Pentecostal Music Association (PMA) to honor the great musicians and singers in the organization.
5. Completely restructured the PENTECOSTAL HERALD with a new look and new format.
6. Developed the UPCI Flag for the funerals of all licensed ministers.  This included a separate flag to each district office for the draping of a minister’s casket and a special ceremony for presenting a flag, a personalized letter from the general superintendent, and a certificate of honor to the minister’s family.
7. To give honor and dignity to those who serve the UPCI he created a pictorial display of all Executive Board members and all General Board members which are beautifully displayed on the wall at WEC in the third floor lobby area.
8. He began the program, named: Order of the Faith, which is the Hall of Fame of the UPCI.
9. Established monthly Division Heads meetings for better communication and staying on target.
10. Published three books to instill the Vision and Mission of the Organization. They are (1). ONE VISION, One God, One World, One Church   (2). IRRESISTIBLE WAVE   (3). TURNING THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN.
11. Restructured General Conference including changing the format of the Wednesday evening service, beginning an outreach for souls over the weekend, and holding a city wide Holy Ghost rally on Sunday evening to reach the lost. Thousands have received the Holy Ghost and been baptized in these Crusades.
12. Developed the Division of Publications to consolidate five departments under the direction of one division. They are the following:  PPH, Word Aflame, Marketing, Pentecostal Herald, and Editorial.
13. Recorded a monthly Web cast to communicate with all ministers and to inform those in the grassroots on what was happening at the World Evangelism Center
14. Established Men’s Ministry as a Division
15. Developed TALK POINTS - a program for integrating and including younger ministers into movement beginning with the PASSING THE MANTLE service.
16. Organized the annual 30 days of Prayer and Fasting beginning with the first of the year.
17. Instituted 18 commissions which served the first four years of his administration or until their work was completed.
    His 58 years of ministry have been all about helping people and doing the will of God.  Pleasing God, serving others, and his family are the most important things to him. He has traveled around the world leaving his anointed influence on all lives that have been touched by his ministry.  He has raised the bar wherever he went.  He truly is as Bro. Francis, General Superintendent of Great Britain recently said in his remarks about him ”Bro. Haney is truly a modern day Apostle!” He is also characterized as being a visionary and great organizer. Bro. Bruce Howell, UPCI Foreign Missions Director and others have said, ”Kenneth Haney is the greatest visionary leader I have ever known.” Not only is he a visionary, but he is a man of prayer! And his faithfulness in all things is his trademark.

Source: CLCministry.com

To sum up his life, you can’t talk about Kenneth Haney without including Joy Haney. Together for almost 50 years they have been an unstoppable team, fighting hell, marching forward to victory, slaying the enemy and conquering each step of the way! Praying, fasting, reaching, preaching, loving, organizing, giving until there is no more to give, living a life that speaks that they belong to the One whom they serve: Jesus Christ. All glory to Him, and He alone!

Source: http://oof.upci.org/inductees/khaney.asp

This recent discussion appears to have started when Jakes tweeted to his followers Friday the following message: “God brings us together so that He can dwell in the midst of our unity, the church must lift up a standard of unity.”

Another Twitter user with the handle “Defend Orthodoxy” then tweeted: “Bishop Jakes: ‘…the church must lift up a standard of unity.’ // One reason why Modalism is a destructive heresy… misleading people.”

The Texas minister also began fielding accusations from Ken Silva, pastor of Connecticut River Baptist Church in Claremont, N.H. Silva is critical of teachings by various influential members in the Christian community, such as Jakes, Rob Bell and Rick Warren, to name a few.

Silva, an ordained Southern Baptist Conference minister, also questioned Jakes by tweeting to The Potter’s House pastor Friday: “Bishop Jakes Which God are you talking about? The Triune God of the Bible, or the ficticious god of modalism? Which one do you believe in?”

It was then that a minor debate ensued between Jakes and Silva regarding his beliefs about the Godhead, with Jakes tweeting: “Ken I believe in Jesus Christ the only begotten of the Father. I believe in the Holy Spirit sent to the world by the Father!”

Perhaps not wanting to get into a lengthy debate about a position he has addressed before, Jakes shut down the conversation and reportedly blocked Silva on Twitter, writing: “What I don’t believe in is dividing the body of Christ or allowing obnoxious communications in my space so….”

While all of the conversations are not recorded here, my question is “Is T.D. Jakes embarassed of what he believes? Why does he not just say that, “no I don’t believe in the Trinity; it’s a man-made doctrine that is not found in the Bible”? One of the dangers in always associating with Trinitarian pastors, is that there seems to be a tendency on many to dilute their own beliefs to accomodate others.

Michael Gurley, AST's first MA graduate. Same Stegall, also an MA graduate is in the background shaking hands with the professors. (Courtesy of Master's Light Photography).

Elk Grove, CA – October 5, 2011. Apostolic School of Theology (AST) has graduated the first bachelor’s and master’s students. There were 23 graduates that walked at their annual Challenge Week Baccalaureate. AST started the graduate program two and half years ago with 15 students. Since then their master’s program has grown to over 60 full time students. That has been a great portion of their growth, which has pushed the total student growth in their undergraduate and graduate to over 240 full times students.

The event was held at their Elk Grove location with a J-term session that had over 125 in attendance. The event lasted three days with day sessions, a banquet, a barbeque, and dinner at the home of Dr. Nathaniel Wilson.

AST Graduates (Courtesy of Master's Light Photography)

AST Graduates (courtesy of Master's Light Photography)

September 17, 2011 – Honduras. While we were attending a camp meeting in North Little Rock this past month, my phone rang. It was Bro. Jose Ferrufino, my assistant pastor in Honduras. He was requesting immediate prayer because his wife, Sister Leslie, had fallen to the floor, was not breathing, and had no pulse. They were trying to do CPR on her as we spoke. I immediately went into prayer with him still on the phone asking God to perform a miracle. While we were praying, God raised her up, and by the time our prayer was over she was sitting up praying speaking in other tongues! God is still doing miracles today. To God be the glory!

My wife and I have been traveling this past month in the United States raising funds to put the roof on our new church building. We were needing to raise $8,000.00 to pay for the materials and labor for this project. God has been good and we have been able to raise these much needed funds. Thank you Jesus!

It has been a joy to meet so many new people and to forge friendships with pastors and their churches. While we have been traveling, we have been privileged to travel in the states of Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, and North Dakota. We cannot tell you what a blessing each of the churches were to us. While we have been gone, God has been doing great things in our church. Brother Jose, my assistant pastor, reports that there are new people now attending the church and our new bus ministry is going full force ahead. He is also teaching a bible study to a brand new family. We look forward to returning soon and getting back to the plow of Gods planting field. We know that the time is short and we must work like we have never worked before to save the souls that are headed for a sure destruction. Please continue to pray for our country. One day when the Lord comes back for his blessed church, we want to present to Him a beautiful portion of His bride from Honduras.

Marc Schreckise