Dr. Paul R. Fetters

This year, 2011, the first Sunday of Advent is November 27. Traditionally, Advent, from the Latin advenus (coming), is a period of preparation and anticipation in celebration of the birth of Christ.

During the period of Advent, Christians traditionally light a candle each Sunday during worship at church and at home. Throughout the Advent season, five candles are lit–one for each of the four Sundays and one for Christmas Day.

  • On the first, second, and fourth Sundays, we light purple candles to remind us of the royalty of the coming celebration of the birth of our King Jesus.
  • On the third Sunday, we light the rose candle.
  • On Christmas day, we light the white, Christ candle.

On the first Sunday, we celebrate HOPE. In most churches we recognize the three comings of Jesus–His first advent of being born into this world, next the advent of His being born again in our lives, and finally the anticipation of the hope of His coming again.

On the second Sunday, we light a second purple candle celebrating our FAITH.

On the third Sunday, we light the rose candle celebrating the JOY of His presence in our lives.

Then, on the fourth Sunday, we light the third purple candle in celebration of our wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, and Prince of PEACE.

On Christmas Day, the white Christ candle will be lit in full celebration recognizing the LOVE of God who loved the world so much that He sent his only begotten Son, so that we might have eternal life.

Josh Whipple (right, with family) has been named senior pastor of Mount Hope UB church in Carson City, Mich., effective November 14, 2011. He previously served as youth/worship pastor at Mongul UB (Shippensburg, Pa.) 2008-2011. Josh and Katie have two young children.

Nathan Boggs (right) called the national office on Wednesday, November 16.

Nathan is director of Laurel Mission in Big Laurel, Kent. He has held that position since October 2010, when his father, Titus Boggs, went on medical leave. Titus passed away on August 29, 2011.

Nathan is a busy guy. In addition to his responsibilities with Laurel Mission, which includes preaching at the Little Laurel church, he works fulltime for the Harlan County Farm Bureau in Harlan, Kent.

Nathan also reported that he and his wife, Lindsey, were in their seventh day as the proud parents of a newborn baby.

Nathan and Lindsey live in Big Laurel, about 3 miles from the mission house. His mother Debbie, along with three sisters, still live in the mission house and are very active in the work of the mission. Debbie, in fact, is associate director of Laurel Mission.

Billy and Mamei Simbo

Billy and Mamei Simbo

Mamei Simbo, wife of Rev. Billy Simbo, passed away on Friday, November 18, 2011. She and Billy served churches in the United States and Sierra Leone, at the Sierra Leone Bible College, and most recently, as missionaries to Sierra Leone, during which time he became the first bishop of Sierra Leone Conference.

Funeral details are still being worked out. However, Rev. Simbo announced that the funeral is now scheduled for 11 am Friday, November 25, at a church in Philadelphia, Pa.

He wrote on Facebook, with the photo above: “I met her as a young lady, pretty in a pink and white lace dress. It was the smile and pleasant personality that drew me in. Over the years she has been the rock of the family, outgoing, quick to make friends. The perfect minister’s wife and a terrific ministry partner. She has left a hole in my heart, but she has left a legacy of four strong children who know the Lord as their Rock.”

Billy’s mailing address is:

Billy K. Simbo
1822 Erlen Road
Elkins Park, PA 19027

We’ve got a new flagship United Brethren website. The totally redesigned UB.org is now live. Check it out!

The previous site was designed in 2005, with continual tweaks and upgrades along the way. However, it was time for several significant changes:

  • A whole new design.
  • Adopt a Content Management System (in our case, WordPress).
  • Move the site into the “cloud,” rather than host it on a computer at the national office.

So that’s what we did.

We didn’t go all-out with fancy bells and whistles. But we did want to improve the appearance and usefulness–not only for UB people, but for the thousands of other people from numerous countries who, for whatever reason, find themselves on our website.

Related Sites

We also wanted to tie together four sites:

UBGlobal has its own distinctive look. However, the other three sites now share a common look in the heading.

That heading includes a “Related Sites” dropdown on each site’s homepage, which enables you to easily go to any of those sites.

Printing

Each page includes a “Print” feature. It puts the page in a print-friendly format without all of the graphics. You can then print the page, or export it as a PDF document. This will be especially helpful if you want to print a chapter from the Discipline or other official documents.

Use the Search Field
A search field is very prominent on the homepage of UB.org. You’ll also find the search field on every other page, in the left-hand sidebar. The search field is the fastest way to find something specific. For example, if you want information on setting the pastor’s salary, type in “pastor salary.” Keep it simple.

HOWEVER….The search function uses Google. Until Google indexes the new site and deletes the obsolete links to the previous site, you may find yourself on a “Page Not Found” page. So give it some time to catch up.

Look Around

We welcome your suggestions for improving the site. And if you find any errors–bad spellings, broken links, etc.–we want to know about it. We even provided a special form you can use to report errors.

We hope you enjoy the new site. And we always welcome your feedback and suggestions for making it better.

Below are a number of screenshots–mostly from UB.org, but a few from the other sites as well.

Huntington University students frequently create Hollywood-grade productions. Now they can do it with the best equipment.

A donation from a member of the Board of Trustees enabled the Digital Media Arts department to buy a state-of-the-art RED Scarlet-X camera for use by its film, animation, and broadcasting students.

“It’s a great opportunity for our students to learn the workflow of this camera, because this is what they will encounter in Hollywood and while working on independent films,” said Dr. Lance Clark (right), professor of Digital Media Arts and Communication.

The camera produces 4000 lines of resolution and can be used with the department’s existing equipment. Clark, however, plans to seek other donations to buy more equipment for the unit, as well as two other cameras for the department.

Clark hopes to have the camera ready for use by January.

“We have one of the fastest growing programs on campus, and this is going to put us on par with any film school in the nation,” Clark said.

The Digital Media Arts program supports 139 students in four majors: film production, film studies, animation, and broadcasting.

Beulah Harkness, 88, of Hastings, Mich., passed away on Wednesday, November 16, 2011. She served beside her husband, Rev. John Harkness, for many years in churches in Michigan.

Visitation date: Sunday, November 20, 2011.
Visitation time: 2-4 pm and 6-8 pm.
Visitation location: Koops Funeral (Lake Odessa) Chapel, 935 Fourth Avenue, Lake Odessa, MI 48849. Phone: (616) 374-8221

Funeral date: Tuesday, November 22, 2011.
Funeral time: 2 pm, with visitation 1-2 pm.
Funeral location: Sunfield UB church, 8436 W. Grand Ledge Highway, Sunfield, MI 48890

Billy Simbo, former bishop of Sierra Leone Conference and an ordained minister in the US National Conference, called the national office this morning (Wednesday, November 16). His wife, Mamei, has been hospitalized in Abbington, Pa. (Philadelphia area) for about three weeks. She entered the hospital with pneumonia and developed complications.

Yesterday, the family decided to take Mamei off of the respirator and other machines. She is breathing through oxygen tubes, and is comfortable. However, he’s not sure she’s aware of what’s happening. If she continues to be stable, they will move her to the hospice unit at the hospital.

Please keep the Simbo family in your prayers.

Nursing is a fast-paced field. Nurses are expected to explain and to understand procedures and drug side effects in an instant. This year, PDAs are helping Huntington University nursing students stay ahead of the curve.

Beginning this fall, the nursing department required that all incoming juniors purchase a PDA, such as an iPod Touch or a Blackberry, for use in the classroom as well as clinicals later this year.

“It’s exciting as a nurse because having a good reference at your fingertips is wonderful,” said Diana Shenefield (right), instructor of nursing. “Mostly, it’s to get them the most up-to-date information because it is ever changing.”

This year’s junior class–18 students–are the first to use the PDAs. So far, they are adjusting quite well.

“It’s been really hard, but at the same time, it has been useful. I use mine every day,” said Erin Lessing, a junior nursing student and Fort Wayne, Ind., native. “It’s really quick. You don’t have to look it up in a book. It’s right there.”

The students right now are using many of the hundreds of nursing “apps” available through iTunes and other services, but they soon hope to transition to iPads where eReaders would be available to them.

“We’re getting the students used to it in school, because in the field these are the tools that they are using,” Shenefield said.