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This synagogue in Kizkalesi is believed to date back to the Roman period based on adjoining architecture.
After discovering two previously unknown synagogues in Turkey, Huntington University Bible and Religion Professor Dr. Mark Fairchild (right) is sharing his findings in a noted academic journal.
Fairchild will lead a UB tour of biblical sites in Turkey in October 2012.
In an article published this month in the Biblical Archaeology Review, Fairchild begs the question, “Could the world’s earliest known synagogue be buried amid rubble?” The Biblical Archaeology Review is a prestigious publication that documents archaeological digs relating to Biblical findings around the world.
In 2007 while researching in Turkey, Fairchild discovered two synagogues in the areas of Kizkalesi (the ancient city of Korykos) and Çatiören. In the years since, he has returned to conduct surface surveys and to continue his research.
“We know almost nothing about the churches that existed in Cilicia in that time period,” he said of that region of Turkey. What he and other researchers suspect is that the Apostle Paul established the churches during the 10 years after his conversion to Christianity. There is documented evidence, however, that Paul travelled through those regions on his missionary journeys later in life, Fairchild said.
“That’s why these synagogues are particularly interesting to me,” he said. “There is a good chance that Paul shared the Gospel message in these synagogue cities.”
The synagogue in Kizkalesi, Fairchild suspects, dates back to the Roman period based on adjoining architecture. The Çatiören synagogue, however, more than likely dates back to the Hellenistic Period around the 1st or 2nd Century B.C. If this proves to be true, it would be the earliest synagogue ever discovered.
In the BAR article titled, “Turkey’s Unexcavated Synagogues,” Fairchild calls for the excavation of these regions, particularly the synagogues, to unearth more of the treasures that they may be hiding.
“On my recent trip this summer, I found four more tombs with menorahs,” he said of the inscriptions in the stones. “I know there are more. That’s an indication of how many Jews lived in that area.”
As a researcher, Fairchild conducts surface surveys of the regions and then documents his findings. Over the past 15 years, he has visited more than 200 sites and plans to continue his work in Turkey in future years. Last summer, he visited 30 sites dating back to the 5th and 6th centuries B.C. This summer, he continued his research of ancient sites around Turkey from Gaziantep, near the Syrian border, to the ancient city of Iconium where Konya stands today.
Former Global Ministries director Kyle McQuillen reported in May that he had been declared in remission from lymphoma cancer. However, since then he has suffered other major health problems. On June 12 he had a platelet transfusion because his count had dropped to 17, and a bone marrow biopsy was done the next day. They’re still waiting on the results.
Kyle’s wife, Mar Louise, reported on Friday, June 15, “He still has severe double pneumonia and is still on 2 antibiotics for the next 7 days. He had been on 6 antiobiotics in the hospital, and even at that things weren’t all that great. The major concern now is getting his blood levels up to keep him from getting any other problems. The doc has told him to stay away from people until this gets better.”
He is now at home, and is very weak, but is able to use a walker. His daughters have spent time with him, and home health care checks in occasionally.
“This has been a very rough 3-4 months and I sure hope we have reached a bright spot,” Mar Louise says. “He does have some nodules in his thyroid, but they can’t test them at this point and for now, they are not the biggest concern. I sure praise God for kids. Don’t know where I would be if we had not had them the last 2 weeks.”
Please keep Kyle and Mar Louise in your prayers. Here is a mailing address:
Kyle W. McQuillen
299 Casa Grande
Edgewater, FL 32141
You can keep tabs on Kyle’s progress, view photos, and leave comments on Kyle’s Facebook page.
Kyle McQuillen served as a UB missionary in Sierra Leone, as an associate director of Missions, as pastor of College Park UB church (Huntington, Ind.), and then as Director of Global Ministries 1993-2001.
Parkview Field
At the ballgame. Global Ministries director Jeff and Charlene Bleijerveld (middle) with Dr. G. Blair Dowden, president of Huntington University, and his wife Chris.
On Thursday night, June 14, Bishop Phil Whipple took the staff and family of Healthy Ministry Resources, the UB national office, out to the ballgame. In this case, it was the Fort Wayne Tin Caps vs. Lansing. The group had a spot behind home plate, and when the team recognized the various groups present, “Healthy Ministry Resources” was flashed on the big scoreboard. Unfortunately, Lansing won 5-4.
This happened to be the stadium’s third highest attendance in the team’s three-year history. The Tin Caps are a single-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. The stadium, considered among the best minor-league stadiums in the country, is located across the street from the Grand Wayne Center, where the 2013 US National Conference will be held.
A full gallery of photos of the group at the game can be viewed on the United Brethren Facebook page.
Children eating their sack lunches.
Pastor Randy Carpenter trying to outrun a water balloon.
A volunteer with children from the Sunfield area.
Leigh Pearson (right), administrative assistant, Sunfield UB Church (Sunfield, Mich.)
In our area school district, 70% of the children participate in the subsized school lunch program. For the summer months, we are partnering with a local buinsessman to provide a sack lunch to children in the Sunfield area. The sack lunches are free and are available Monday – Friday from noon to 1:00 pm. We started the program on Wednesday, June 6, and during the first week the number of kids participating tripled.
It is such a joy to pull up at the park and see all the kids waiting for you to help you unpack your car and pass out lunches. Each day, we have lunch and then the kids participate in some type of Bible-related craft or activity. Then we head out into the park and play games.
We are so blessed to have the opportunity to talk with and build a relationship with our children in the area over the course of the summer. We are really excited about it! I know we’ll be sad to see the summer end and will miss spending the lunch hour with them. But hopefully we will see a lot of them here at our church.
The church in Haiti is meeting under a simple structure.
Andy Sikora (right), senior pastor, Renew Communities (Berea, Ohio)
Today, June 11, Renew Communities is sending a team of 13 people to Jeremie, Haiti. They will assist in planting the latest church alongside Haiti Bible Mission. Chris Solyntjes, our worship pastor, is on the board of Haiti Bible Mission. They exist to train up indigenous church leaders in Haiti and have been training up church planters to plant where they live.
In December 2011, Renew Communities raised $7000 to help establish this new church and build a structure that will be used both for church and a Christian school. While in Haiti, our team will help build that structure, connect with people in that community, encourage the works that are already established, and care for some orphans in that area.
Please pray for safety, unity, growth, and power from the Spirit as we serve over the next week.
Erik Rojas is pastor of one of our churches in San Jose, Costa Rica. This gifted young man, who represented Costa Rica at the 2010 General Conference, is now attending seminary in Costa Rica at the Nazarene Seminary of the Americas. He expects to finish in 2016. Global Ministries is seeking a total of $100 a month to support Pastor Erik while he pursues a seminary degree.
I was born in a Catholic home in 1967. In January 1979, when I was 11 years old, my mother was very ill in hospital when she heard a dear woman of God share the salvation message of Jesus Christ. From then on, we began attending a Pentecostal Evangelical Church. After five years in that church, when I was 16 years old, I walked away from God’s ways. Many years later, when I was working in a restaurant, I met the woman who is now my wife. She invited me to church August 21, 2003. Following such a long time away from God, I was reconciled with the Lord in the same church where I serve as pastor today.
In 2005, I was chosen, along with my wife, Iris, to take charge of a church plant that we call “House of Prayer.” I had no theological training. Moreover, I did not know how to plant a church. I accepted the challenge because it has always been my desire to serve God. In 2006, I received the news that I would be transferred to the church where I now serve as pastor, “His Holiness Worship Center.” I now have over eight years of involvement with the United Brethren in Christ and this year, God willing, I will fulfill seven years in the pastorate. I am very happy and thankful to God to belong to the United Brethren in Christ.
Erik Rojas and his wife, Iris.
During these years of ministry, I completed my theological studies and earned my Diploma in Pastoral Ministry in the Costa Rican Evangelical Alliance Seminary (a leading school in Costa Rica). To obtain this diploma, I completed 20 courses, a workshop, and a final project. My studies lasted two years. My average grade was 96.5%.
Parallel to these studies, I obtained three credentials from the United Brethren in Christ. These credentials are:
2006. The Superintendent’s Credential, which is awarded after a year of pastoral service. It requires the presentation of the primary academic diploma, recommendations, a review of the work performed, and the approval of the Bishop or Superintendent.
2007. The Pastoral License, which is awarded after two years of pastoral service. It requires a review by a theological examination board, various recommendations, a written examination, and approval by the Conference Board of Nicaragua.
2009. Pastoral Ordination, which is awarded after four years of pastoral service. It requires a review by a theological examination board, recommendations, a written examination, and approval of the Board of the Conference of Nicaragua, after review and assessment of work done by the pastor.
Our Constitution provides that the minimum time for a pastor to receive these three credentials is four years. I thank God that I was able to achieve them in the shortest possible time.
Make plans to attend the Fandana Music Festival at Huntington University on August 10-11 (that’s a Friday and Saturday). Thousands of people attended the first Fandana in 2011. One of this year’s headliners is Chris Tomlin. Bring your youth group, or join the many adults sitting outside in front of the huge stage, as band after band perform for the crowd. It’s a neat atmosphere.
This is a very family-oriented event. Adults of all ages attended in 2011, along with plenty of teens
Associate pastor Matt Kennedy (left) and senior pastor Tim Hallman (right) with a joyful member after being baptized.
Pastor Tim Hallman (center) with members of the Anchor worship team.
For over ten years, Anchor Community Church has held an annual service at the Stillwater Retreat on the south side of Fort Wayne, Ind. The event begins with a worship service which includes communion, and concludes with a potluck meal and fun times at the camp. But the highlight is the baptism. After the service, everyone heads down to the lake, where they sit on the dock or stand on the shore as various people share their testimonies and then walk into the lake to be baptized.
On June 3, 2012, around 180 people gathered at Stillwater to watch 10 persons be baptized.
A highlight was the presence of Joe Leatherman, who had arrived in town around 4:00 that morning after completing basic training in San Diego, Calif. He was now a Marine, and was proudly wearing his uniform. Joe, Anchor’s drummer for the past several years, talked about the spiritual reawakening which had occurred during basic training, and wanted to be baptized as a testimonial to what God was doing in his life.
Conducting the baptisms were Pastor Tim Hallman and associate pastor Matt Kennedy, with the assistance of several laypersons. Each person gave his/her testimony about how Jesus had changed their life, and why they were taking this step of baptism.
Hundreds of photos of the event were posted on Anchor’s Facebook page: photos of the service, the baptisms, and miscellaneous photos.
Jane Shutt Mason, 92 passed away on May 29, 2012, after an illness of several months duration. The funeral service was held Saturday, June 2, at the Myers Funeral Home in Huntington, Ind., with Dr. Kent Maxwell officiating.
In 1978, following the death of her husband, Wendell, Jane became the United Brethren Archivist. In 1988, she oversaw the relocation of the Archives from the denominational headquarters to a much larger space at the RichLynn Library at Huntington University, and the integration of the collection with the university archives. For the next 11 years, as an employee of Huntington University, she worked as Archivist for both the denomination and Huntington University.
Jane is responsible for professionalizing the denominational archives. After being named Archivist, she was sent to the National Archives in Washington DC for specialized training in archives management. Under her leadership, the United Brethren history collection was greatly expanded and items of relevance to UB history–books, annual conference minutes, magazines, and other records–were acquired. Many periodicals were put on microfilm.
Numerous people doing historical research appreciated Jane’s knowledge of United Brethren history and her helpfulness in locating the information they needed.
Jane and Wendell were very active in the College Park United Brethren Church, where she was a board member, children’s Sunday school superintendent and teacher, VBS director, and editor of the church newsletter. She also served as a youth leader with her husband. Later she was a member of the New Hope United Brethren Church in Huntington, Ind., close to her home. Since February 2009, Jane lived in Maumee, Ohio, with her daughter Barbara and her husband, Dr. Jonathan Rohrs.
