Bishop Phil and Sandy Whipple anchor the the front row.

Cathy Reich (left) and Peggy Sell.

Donna and Jason Hollopeter

The Healthy Ministry Resources (national office) staff headed out to the ballgame on Monday night, August 8–specifically, to Parkview Stadium in Fort Wayne. There, they saw the minor league Fort Wayne Tin Caps take on the Lansing Lugnuts (and, unfortunately, lost 8-2).

The staff, spouses, and a few other family members occupied a concourse suite, with a great view of the action. And when it rained, they were covered.

The only persons missing were Jeff Bleijerveld, who was in Haiti, accounting clerk Mabel Mundy, and cluster coordinator Denny Miller.

The August 7 Sunday morning service at the Delmas church, concluding a three-day conference for our Haitian churches.

Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries

Hard to believe that just four short years ago a gathering of 30 or so held an evangelistic service on the land that now occupies the 800-seat church and conference center in Delmas, Haiti.

Although this is just an iPhone snapshot from Sunday morning’s worship, it gives a sense of the celebratory atmosphere as our 30 churches gathered for three days and nights of fellowship, teaching, and worship (as only Haitians can do).

Attending the service this morning was the mayor of Port Au Prince, the President of Haiti, and delegations from UB churches in Canada and a partner congregation from Paris, France.

The church in Haiti is alive and well. The theme for the three days was from Matthew 14:27, “Don’t be afraid; take courage; I am here.”

Tomorrow we plan to visit schools and micro-economic projects our Haitian UBs are operating with the help of Global Ministries’ partner, CH Global.

On July 31, Pastor Marshall Woods baptized 11 people at Mill Chapel (Reedsville, W. Va.). More will be baptized in August.

The church is now raising money to blacktop the parking lot.

The Mid-Atlantic Annual Missions Day will be held August 23, 2011, at Rhodes Grove Camp in Chambersburg, Pa. The missionary speaker wil be Jennifer Blandin, who is home on furlough from Macau.

A noon meal will be followed by an auction of baked goods, home-grown items, crafts, and good used items. All donations will go to missions. Come and bring your friends.

The 2011-2013 UB Discipline is available for download. However, no changes were made at the recent US National Conference. So if you already have the 2009-2011 version, that will suffice for another two years. The only change is the date on the cover.

The Eighth Annual Animation Block Party festival in Brooklyn, N.Y., accepted Huntington University animation graduate Brett Swanson’s short animated film, “Flora,” into the festival, which is to take place July 29-31 at Rooftop Films and BAMcinématek.

The Animation Block Party is the largest animation film festival on the East Coast. It is dedicated to screening the world’s best professional, student and independent work of all genres. “Flora” was selected as one of the top 100 films to be featured during the festival out of more than 650 other submitted films.

The film is about a young girl who sets out to decorate her bedroom with origami flowers. However, she is in for a surprise when the room begins to take on a life of its own and transforms into a beautiful garden.

“It is exciting to have my film in a festival and crazy to think about how many people will get to see it,” Swanson said. “I put so much of my time and energy into this project, and getting it into a festival is a reminder that all of the stress and long hours were worth it.”

Swanson, of Lumsden, Saskatchewan, Canada, is a 2011 animation graduate of the digital media arts program.