08 Dec UB Worship Leader Puts Out Christmas Album

Bethany Solyntjes, worship leader at Renew Communities, has recorded her first album. Renew is a UB church plant in Middleburg Heights, Ohio.

Pastor Andy Sikora (right) writes, “It’s a Christmas EP called ‘Hope Renewed.’ It’s got an indie-folk feel to it and has some really cool re-workings of some of her favorite carols as well as one original. In my opinion it’s really good!

“Bethany and Chris (her husband) are like most church planters in that they are raising their salaries for the first few years of our church’s life. This record is one way that they are hoping to supplement their income. They are giving 10% of each sale to a church planting project of our church (yeah, our church is less than a year old and we’re working on planting one church locally and one internationally).”

You can read more about Bethany on the Renew website. You can listen to the six tracks and buy the digital or physical album for $10 on Bethany’s Bandcamp page.

07 Dec Findlay First’s Prison Ministry Leads to a Baptism

As a result of jail ministry of Findlay First UB Church (Findlay, Ohio), a prisoner gave his life to the Lord and wanted to be baptized during a Thursday night service. Because Pastor Darwin Dunten was not available that night, Pastor Robert Cochran of the First Lutheran Church of Findlay was able to perform the service.

Every Thursday night, a jail ministry team from First UB goes to the Hancock county jail to present a worship service/discipleship program for the inmates. Some of the inmates have started attending worship services and discipleship programs at the church. This particular inmate will not be attending worship services at Findlay First for about 6 years.

05 Dec 750 Nativity Sets

Dean Hoobler, a longtime member of Kilburne Avenue UB (Rockford, Ill.), has a collection of about 750 nativity sets collected over the past 30 years. This year, as in some past years, the church hosted a public display of the nativity sets.

05 Dec Growing on Wednesday Night in Findlay, Ohio

Wednesday night attenders at Findlay First UB Church

Polly Dunten (left) with her class.

Last week, Findlay First UB Church (Findlay, Ohio) had the largest Wednesday night attendance in 12 years, with 57 participants. The elementary class had 27 children, and the adult prayer meeting is running out of room.

Pastor Darwin Dunten (right) writes, “Adults from our church are picking up these children and bringing them to church in their personal cars. Some cars are stuffed with children sitting on laps. Most of these children do not come from Christian homes. One girl stated, ‘What’s a Bible verse? Then she said, What’s a sanctuary? Another girl wanted us to pray for her mother and her boyfriend who are fighting, and for her father and his girlfriend who are not getting along. It breaks your heart, but what an opportunity.”

05 Dec Simulation Helps People Understand Life in Poverty

Hillsdale UB church (Hillsdale, Mich.) hosted a poverty simulation on November 18 to help people better understand what it’s like to live in poverty. The workshop was conducted by the Poverty Reduction Initiative, a Kalamazoo-based group that runs these workshops across the state of Michigan.

The simulation mainly drew members of Hillsdale County service organizations. Some attendees were assigned to family roles (schoolchildren, parents, teens, senior citizens), while others were given non-family roles (mortgage lender, business owner, etc.). Then the various persons interacted.

Through the simulation, participants were made more aware of specific problems poor people face, such as transportation, time constraints, quality of family life, difficulties in dealing with social agencies, the stigma of asking for help, and the importance of education in landing a job. They saw how parents, putting all their energy into just struggling to survive, had little left for family time. Sometimes children who ended up in juvenile centers were left there, because parents knew they would have food, shelter, and safety.

The purpose of the event was to help people think of ways to work together to help persons in need.

02 Dec Christmas Child – One (Make That Two) More

First UB Church (Van Wert, Ohio)
Number of Shoeboxes: 18

Sue Miller of Van Wert UB writes, “The Operation Christmas Child shoebox ministry is a group effort at our church. Our children from the AWANA program collected items for eight boxes. Our youth group brought in supplies to pack four more. Several families in our church filled the other 6, and many people helped to sponsor them. We brought all the boxes to the altar and asked a child or youth to stand next to each box as we prayed for the children and families that would receive these gifts. We have participated in Operation Christmas Child as a church for about ten years.”

Criders UB Church (Chambersburg, Pa.)
Number of Shoeboxes: 71

Chip Stottlemyer of Criders UB writes, “We had a shoebox packing party and the Kids Club, Youth Group, and many adults joined in wrapping and packing for our shoeboxes. A team of youth and some adult leaders delivered them and some extra items to the regional collection point and assisted there along with about 100 other people sorting and packing more boxes. What a blessing to be part of this ministry.”