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14 Sep

September 14, 2011 |

Bishop Emeritus Raymond Waldfogel

Raymond Waldfogel, who served as bishop 1969-1981, passed away during the night of September 13, 2011. He was 85 years old.

The funeral will be held Saturday, September 17, in Huntington, Ind. The details:

Viewing Times: 2-4 pm and 6-8 pm Friday, September 16.

Viewing Location: Myers Funeral Home, 2901 Guilford Street, Huntington, IN 46750.

Funeral Time: 2 pm Saturday, September 17.

Funeral Location: College Park Church, 1945 College Ave., Huntington, Ind. 46750.

Raymond Waldfogel was born on April 27, 1926, in Fulton County, Ohio. He was converted as a boy in the Fountain Chapel UB church.

Raymond graduated from high school in 1943, and in 1946, at age 20, received a quarterly conference ministerial license from Fountain Chapel. He went on to graduate from Huntington College in 1950, and from its seminary in 1956. He was ordained in 1956 upon finishing seminary.

All of Raymond’s pastoral experience came in North Ohio conference. His first pastorate was Olive Branch Station, 1950-1953. From 1953-1955 he pastored the two churches on the Hopewell Circuit. He served the South Scipio church 1955-1958, and the Stryker Circuit 1958-1959.

After he had served as a pastor for nine years, the conference showed him their confidence and respect by choosing him as their fulltime superintendent. He held that position for six years, until 1965, when the conference adopted a system involving three pastor-superintendents. Raymond then began pastoring Harvest Lane UB church in Toledo, Ohio, while continuing as one of the three pastor-superintendents.

The 1969 General Conference elected Raymond as one of three bishops. During the 1969-1973 quadrennium, the bishops lived on their assigned districts. For the newly-elected bishop of the West District–everything west of Indiana–that meant moving his family to Sacramento, Calif. His pastor at the Hillsdale UB church in Sacramento was a young minister named Ron Ramsey.

The 1973 General Conference changed its mind about bishops living on their districts, and called all of the bishops back to live in Huntington, Ind. Raymond remained bishop of the West District until 1977, when General Conference stationed him on the Central District (Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Florida), which he served until 1981. He then returned to Toledo to again pastor the Harvest Lane church.

Bishop Waldfogel and Wardena eventually relocated to Huntington, Ind., and he served a number of years on staff at College Park UB church in Huntington and as chaplain at the Huntington hospital. He was also part of the “bishops’ cluster,” which Bishop Ron Ramsey started and Bishop Phil Whipple has continued, in which the former bishops meet periodically with the current bishop.

Raymond and Wardena were married in 1945 in Claytonville, Ill. They have five children.

14 Sep

September 14, 2011 |

Bishop Emeritus Raymond Waldfogel passed away last night, September 13. He served as bishop for 12 years, 1969-1981. Details about funeral arrangements will be posted here when available.

13 Sep

September 13, 2011 |

Pastor Kevin Whitacre (right) prepares to baptize one of the ten persons baptized on September 11 at Corunna. (click to enlarge)

The folks of Corunna watching the baptisms. (click to enlarge)

At Corunna, we chose to focus on our identity in Christ as our guidepost for the best and worst of days. We then moved forward with the renewal of our church by receiving 7 new members, and baptizing 10 believers at our celebration!

13 Sep

September 13, 2011 |

Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries

Sierra Leone has appointed Rev. Joe Abu (right) to serve as a liaison to United Brethren churches in Canada and the United States. Joe, a native of Sierra Leone, is senior pastor of Mount Zion United African Church in Philadelphia, Pa.

Earlier this year, an agreement was signed by the Sierra Leone Conference, Global Ministries, and Rev. Abu, to ensure that communications and projects have been approved first by the Sierra Leone National Conference and then by Global Ministries. Any funds for ministries in Sierra Leone will be handled by Global Ministries.

13 Sep

September 13, 2011 |

Jonathan Herron has resigned as senior pastor of Colwood UB church (Caro, Mich.). A letter was read to the congregation on August 28. Rev. Herron had been pastor of Colwood since September 2009.

Jason Garwood (right), associate pastor at Colwood, has been appointed interim lead pastor for an undetermined time.

13 Sep

September 13, 2011 |

Chet Conley, associate pastor, First UB (Findlay, Ohio)

As associate/music pastor of First UB church, I spent a vast number of hours putting together a Powerpoint presentation, timed to Don Moen’s “God Will Make A Way.” I mention this only because I viewed it in part so many times during the process that I almost knew at each beat of music what slide should be up and for how long. With each run through, I discovered my focus was on producing a well thought out presentation. When I completed it and viewed it from start to finish, I became so emotional, I couldn’t play it again. Thinking it was just me, I asked my wife Carol to view it and tell me what she thought. As she saw it, she too became very emotional.

I did not want to open or end our service on such an emotional note. Indeed, memorializing a monumental event in our nation’s history merits such a presentation. But, in lieu of all the preparation, it did not really tell a story of Christ’s compassion and mercy like the story of the cross does.

Empowered to make the musical decisions for our church, and after much prayer, I believe the Spirit led me to this conclusion: the best way our church might honor those who lost their lives that dreadful day was simply to observe a moment of silence. We used a Powerpoint slide of a young lady wearing a commemorative tenth anniversary 9-11 T-shirt shirt as a backdrop. Far less elaborate than I had planned. But the impact confirms that God is always on time. It proved a very poignant but effective opening moment in our worship service.

13 Sep

September 13, 2011 |

Mark Smith, Morocco UB Church (Temperance, Mich.)

Morocco UB church held an outdoor service on September 11, with 64 people attending. We allowed time to remember 9/11. Four young people were baptized in a pond. A carry in dinner was held following the service.

Pastor Todd Greenman is the pastor at Morocco, where exciting things are happening! We have a roof project going on, ordered 25 worship chairs for our overflow area, replaced railings on our outdoor deck, and are busy making preparations for our annual Family Fun Fest on September 24 (2-6 pm). This event will include live music, games, crafts for children, food, and lots of fun. If your in our area come celebrate with us!

What did your church do to recognize 9/11? Write up something on this form.

12 Sep

September 12, 2011 |

Jonathan Ford (right), pastor of Worship and Arts at King Street Church (Chambersburg, Pa.)

We invited first-responders in our community and church family to attend in uniform and took time to recognize and express our appreciation to them for their service. We also gave each a DVD titled “The Cross and the Towers” as a thank you.

We used 2 video elements in our service:

  • “Why We Remember,” that was followed by Taps and the choir anthem “Salute to our Fallen Heroes” (from the collection, “Sweet Land of Liberty”) which included “America the Beautiful” and “The Lord’s Prayer.”
  • An 8-minute short feature with testimonies of some first responders in New York City.

Our service included communion, which was followed by bagpipes entering from the rear of the church playing “Amazing Grace.”

Dr. Beukema preached a sermon titled, “When Towers Fall” (see http://www.kingstreetchurch.com/sermons for a copy).

We have heard already that the service was helpful to people who were looking for hope and consolation.

12 Sep

September 12, 2011 |

Jen Blandin, a member of the Global Ministries Staff in Macau for the past 14 years, has been on educational leave from the field for most of this year. This summer, she was among the 19 students who graduated from Winebrenner Theological Seminary in Findlay, Ohio. She writes:

Nine years after starting the race towards a Master’s degree, I finally crossed the finish line and graduated on August 6! It has been a journey that God has definitely used to shape my life. One word of advice, do not…unless absolutely necessary…do not try to complete 26 credits in two semesters! Should you choose to do so, be sure to buy stock in your favorite coffee provider!

12 Sep

September 12, 2011 |

Our Global Ministries team in Macau is currently attending a week-long conference on evangelism in Asia hosted by the Chinese Coordination Center on World Evangelism. More than 2000 participants from all over Asia are attending these meetings in Indonesia.

When the team returns to Macau, they will relaunch the Taipa English Language Program (ELP). Classes will be offered on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. The center has had a good history of connecting with the community of locals and expatriates, and the team is praying it will continue to have a positive impact and lead to evangelistic opportunities.