Annette Sites (right), Jerusalem Chapel, Churchville, Va.

Instead of exchanging gifts in the Middle School Sunday school class (and tempting ourselves with greed and bad attitudes), we chose to share a gift with the church family. During December, we studied God’s example of gifting and looked at our attitudes when giving and receiving gifts. To conclude our study, the students filled snack-sized baggies of “gorp” (peanuts, M&Ms, and raisin mixture) this week and stapled a message of Christmas greeting onto the bag. The students were then given the freedom to go out into the church parking lot, where they placed the goodie bags on car windshields.

Even in our giving, one problem occurred–we ran out of goodie bags before we ran out of cars! (Woops!) So, to remedy this situation we first took the goodie bags off of the pastors’ cars (since they are always showing us an example of servanthood). When that still wasn’t enough, the teens agreed to take the goodie bags off of their own family’s cars. A true sacrifice that wasn’t in the originial teaching plan.

When the class came back together to look at the story of the Three Wise Men, I took it a step further and talked about God’s gift–and sacrifice–in sending his son into the world to save us.

The students had fun, and there was not even a hint of a bad attitude. What a great Christmas gift for me and my assistant–watching the class learn and work together for God’s glory!


Tell us something special your church did during the Christmas season–events, programs, ministries, anything. You can use this form or send an email.

Residents of Charis House with Santa (Anchor's own Tim Bauman)

Residents of Charis House with Santa.

The Christmas party was held in the dining hall at Charis House.

Anchor Community Church usually holds an all-church Christmas party at the church, complete with lots of food and a visit from Santa.

This year, Anchor held this event at Charis House, a 78-bed facility for homeless mothers and their children. Residents of Charis House joined people from Anchor on Friday, December 16, for two hours of food, music, fellowship, and pictures with Santa. Anchor brought along a lot of supplies and materials which Charis House needs.

Tim Bauman, lead guitarist/singer for the Anchor worship team, played the role of Santa, as he does each year. Throughout the evening, parents and children got their pictures taken with Santa. Meanwhile, two guitarists from the worship team sang Christmas songs for the gathering.

A lot of photos from the event have been posted on Anchor’s Facebook page.


Tell us about the special events and activities your church is doing over the Christmas season. Use this form or send an email to [email protected].

At the end of each year, pastors are required to complete forms which tell about the church’s ministry during the past year and their own ministry.

The annual report forms are being mailed December 28, 2011. Each church office will receive a packet of forms which will need to be returned to the bishop’s office.

Deadline: February 15, 2012. Reports need to be returned to the bishop’s office by that date.

These are the reports:

  • Local Church Report. This is the responsibility of the senior pastor.
  • Minister’s Report. There is a separate form for active ministers, inactive ministers, and retired ministers.
  • Women’s Ministry Survey. This brief survey will go to the Women’s Ministry Leadership Team.

These reports can also be downloaded from the UB website at ub.org/reports. They are available as:

  • PDF documents.
  • Microsoft Word documents which you can fill out on y our computer and email to the bishop’s office.
  • Online forms–fill in the blanks and hit “Submit.” The Local Church Report is the only one without an online form.

Note: If you need your report forms sent to an address or to someone’s attention other than the address the national office has on file, please contact Cathy Reich as soon as possible at 260-356-2312, ext. 311.

Greenfield, Ohio. Good Shepherd Church is seeking a senior pastor. The current pastor, Mike Anderson, came in June 2010, taking on the role while continuing fulltime at his local ministry with New Directions. He is resigning from the church so he can transition back to that ministry exclusively. He will perform interim pastoral duties while the church begins the process of searching for a pastor.

Grandville, Mich. Also in transition is Homefront Church. Tim Flickinger had been appointed interim pastor, but is returning to the Lansing Restart project on a fulltime basis. The church is preparing their profile to begin the pastor search process.

Steve Platt, a Huntington University basketball star (Class of ’74) and former coach, has been named the special ambassador for the university president. He will assist the Advancement Office as well as President G. Blair Dowden in fundraising efforts with a special emphasis on the $21 million “Together” The Campaign for Huntington University” capital campaign.

The campaign includes:

  • $9.5 million to expand the Merillat Physical Education and Recreation Complex.
  • $1.5 million for the digital and visual arts programs.
  • $3 million for the University Fund.
  • $2 million to increase the university’s current endowment.
  • $5 million for deferred giving commitments.

“I have a real passion for Huntington University,” Platt said. “I’ve spent a lot of years being involved with HU, and I look forward to helping in any way I can.”

As a basketball player, Platt was a four-time All-District Player of the Year and an NAIA All-American, and led the entire nation in scoring. He remains Indiana’s all-time collegiate leader in scoring with 3700 points. As the men’s basketball coach, he led the Foresters to 329 wins and a national championship run during the 2005-06 season.

Sara Powell dancing as Alice with the East Pointe Ballet Company.

Here’s an inspiring story involving Sara Powell, an 8th grader from Fountain UB church in Keyser, W. Va. The information comes from an article in the online NewsTribune.

In March 2011, Sara, who has cystic fibrosis, had a successful double-lung transplant. Before that surgery, she made two wishes:

  • To visit DisneyWorld on her 13th birthday.
  • To dance the role of Alice in “Alice in Wonderland” with East Pointe Ballet Company in Keyser. That story has always been her favorite.

On June 5, a cystic fibrosis nurse from Pittsburgh’s Children’s Hospital, where the surgery was performed, helped provide a benefit concert for Sara. There, she was surprised with a trip to Florida. She and her family spent a week in Orlando beginning September 30, visiting Universal Studios, Epcot, and DisneyWorld, where she met Disney’s own Alice.

Then, on November 8, her second wish came true when she danced as Alice for her hometown’s East Pointe Ballet Company.

Sara stays very active–taking dancing lessons through East Pointe Ballet, participating in Fountain UB’s bell choir and youth choir, and teaching in the children’s church program.

Arno Neggenschwartzer, one of the suspects, interacts with one of the three Healthy Ministry Resources tables.

Jeff Bleijerveld picked Latina, the ship's activities director, as the culprit, and she didn't appreciate it.

The Healthy Ministry Resources staff (the national office) held its annual Christmas “party” at the Courtyard Marriott in Fort Wayne, joining about 100 other people in a mystery theater program called “A Christmas Cruise.”

The program was based on the game Clue. Everyone watched a performance, which started with the death of Captain Lenny Ledbeter of the SS Whatamess cruise ship. The performance gave clues to who committed the murder, and ended with four suspects. The audience then wrote down who they thought the villain was, and why.

Oh, the program began with a wonderful buffet. Can’t forget that.

It was a very fun evening, with lots of laughter. The program was put on by Bower North Productions. Larry Bower is part of the morning team at local Christian radio station WBCL.

Here are some photos from the evening.

Edna G. Davis, 77, of Elmore, Ohio, passed away Tuesday, December 6, 2011, with her family at her side. She and her husband, Rev. Keith Davis, were married in 1952 and served various United Brethren churches, including Bethel UB in Elmore, where she was a member. A strong supporter of Samaritan’s Purse, Edna made hundreds of Christmas shoeboxes over the years for Operation Christmas Child.

She is survived by her husband, Keith, and four children, 9 grandchildren, and 4 great-grandchildren.

Graveside services will be held at 9:30 am Friday, December 9, at Mt. Zion Cemetery, Wayne, Ohio. A celebration of Edna’s life will follow at 11:00 am at Bethel United Brethren Church, Elmore, Ohio. Memorial contributions may be made to Samaritan’s Purse (Operation Christmas Child) or the palliative care unit of Mercy St. Charles Hospital.

Condolences can be sent to Rev. Keith Davis at:

Keith Davis
15115 S. Portage River Road
Elmore, OH 43416

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.

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.