Wesley Skiles (right) has been appointed senior pastor of Olive Branch UB church (Lakeville, Ind.) effective January 15, 2017. He holds a provisional ministerial license.

Skiles graduated from Asbury College in 2001, and is currently pursuing a masters degree at Huntington University. He has served in ministry since 2001, including 2011-2014 as associate pastor of youth at Heart O the Lakes UB church (Brooklyn, Mich.). He and his wife, Tracey, have three children.

William Wheeler has been named senior pastor of Mt. Pleasant UB church in Angola, Ind. He had been filling the pulpit since the retirement of the previous pastor, Devon Strine. Wheeler is a 1987 graduate of the former Fort Wayne Bible College, and in 1991 received the Master of Christian Ministry from Huntington University.

Pastor Charles Simmons (right) passed away October 17, 2016, at age 77. He served 21 years as senior pastor of Liberty UB Church (Stockport, Ohio) before retiring in 2015.

Longtime member Michael Turner wrote, “He shared God’s love with abandon. All who knew him could see Jesus in him. He will be missed.”

Visitation time: 2-4 pm and 7-9 pm on October 20, 2016
Visitation location: Stone-Matheney Funeral Home, Chesterhill, Ohio
Funeral time: 11 am on Friday, October 21.
Funeral location: Liberty United Brethren Church, 470 Sheets Road, Stockport,OH 43728

Kyle McQuillen (right) was a UB missionary in Sierra Leone, and served as Director of Missions 1993-2001. He retired in Florida, but has remained active in ministry with a prison and a church. In 2011 he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and began aggressive chemotherapy which lasted until April 2012.

On October 15, 2016, Kyle posted on Facebook an update on his physical condition. Here is some of what he wrote.

“On April 15 of 2012, my cancer went into remission, but because the cancer had adversely affected my immune system, I continued receiving treatments for the next several years on a regular basis. At the present time, I go to oncology every three months to receive an infusion of IVIG to build up the immune system. As far as we can tell, there is no cancer at the present time.

“Over the years I have suffered with back problems, having had two back surgeries, laminectomies in 1972 and 1980 and then another one, a fusion, in 2011. Because I suffer from spinal stenosis, I am going back in for surgery on Tuesday, October 25, at the Florida Hospital in Ormond Beach, Fla. Two neurosurgeons will work on my back and seek to build a cage which will enable some stability in the L3 L4 area of my back, which at the present time suffers from a condition known as the sequester disc….

“It will be an extensive operation, but the neurosurgeons feel that this will bring relief to a great deal of pain that I have been having in my back, radiating into my right leg, for the past several months. I’ll be off for some weeks from work–yes, I still work at the church every day (Pastoral Care and Visitation), but I should be fine and able to return to work in a couple of weeks after surgery.”

frank-strine-200obitRev. Frank Strine (right) passed away at 10:30 pm on Thursday, September 29, 2016, in the hospice wing of Huntington Parkview Hospital in Huntington, Ind. He was 91 years old. Rev. Strine attended Huntington University, was ordained in 1968, and pastored several different United Brethren churches–including congregations in Coldwater, Camden, and Montgomery, Michigan–before retiring in 1986.

Funeral time: 2 pm Saturday, October 8, 2016. Visitation one hour prior to the service.
Funeral location: Union Church, 3688 E 400 N., Huntington, IN 46750.

Frank Strine was born in Goshen, Ind., in 1925 and served in New Guinea and Australia during World War 2. He and Phyllis, married in 1951, had four children, all of whom graduated from Huntington University. Bruce and Devon became ordained United Brethren ministers and served UB churches in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana (Bruce began pastoring in another denomination in the 1990s). Daughter Donalynn Strine was heavily involved in leading UB Bible quizzing. Another daughter, Maddie Grubbs, lives in Florida.

Memorial donations can be made out to the Strine family in care of Myers Funeral Home, 2901 Guilford St., Huntington, IN 46750.

Condolences can be sent to the following addresses:

Phyllis Strine
745 Church St
Huntington, IN 46750

Devon R. Strine
100 S Church St, PO Box 38
Kunkle, OH 43531

Donalynn Strine
745 Church St
Huntington, IN 46750

Bishop Todd Fetters (right) conducts the ordination of Eldon Grubb.

Bishop Todd Fetters (right) conducts the ordination of Eldon Grubb. Assisting are elders Duane Walters and Lee Rhodes.

Eldon Grubb was ordained at a United Brethren minister on Sunday evening, August 18, at Pleasant Valley UB church in Lake Odessa, Mich. Bishop Todd Fetters conducted the ordination service. Eldon Grubb, a graduate of Grace College (1977) and Grace Theological Seminary (1983), and his wife, Denise, have served Pleasant Valley since 2011.

Brent Liechty has been appointed senior pastor of Mogul UB church in Shippensburg, Pa., effective August 16, 2016. He has served since 2005 at Pathway UB church in Jackson, Mich.–as associate/youth pastor until 2013, and since then as senior pastor. Prior to that, he served six years at Criders UB church in Greencastle, Pa. Rocky Spear, who had pastored Mongul for nine years, is now senior pastor of Kilpatrick UB church in Woodland, Mich.

Rev. Devon Strine has retired effective July 31, 2016. He was ordained in 1976. Most recently, he has pastored the Mt. Pleasant UB church (Angola, Ind.) since 2012.

Rev. Teddy Fairchild has been appointed to a two-year assignment as interim pastor of Eagle Quest UB church (Columbia City, Ind.), effective July 31, 2016. He is a 2010 graduate of Huntington University, and earned a Masters from Liberty University in 2014. He has served UB churches in Wilshire and Findlay, Ohio. Teddy and Sarah (right) have been married since 2007 and have two children—daughter Julz, a college student, and son Gabriel, who is 5.

Rev. Jeff Lawson has been appointed senior pastor of Hopewell UB church (Auburn, Ind.) effective July 25, 2016. He takes the place of Rev. John Erwin, who recently retired after serving Hopewell for 16 years.

Jeff Lawson is a graduate of Taylor University (1995) and Crown College in Minnesota (2007), and has been an ordained minister since 1995 in the Christian & Missionary Alliance. Since 1999, he has pastored eight churches in five states, with a focus on church revitalization. He cites “turn-around” situations as his preferred ministry role. Jeff and his wife, Cindy (right), have two grown children.