October is Pastor Appreciation Month. Many churches use this month to recognize their pastor and do something special to show their love. What is your church doing?

Many United Brethren churches send children to summer camp at Camp Cotubic, the former UB camp in Bellefontaine, Ohio. Here are the dates for the summer 2011 camps, so you can plan ahead:

June 12-17: Teen Challenge Camp (grades 7-12).
June 26 – July 1: Discovery camp (grades 5-6).
July 17-21: Voyager Camp (grades 2-4).

Chick Fil-A is chipping in to help with a unique fundraiser for Camp Cotubic in Bellefontaine, Ohio.

On Tuesday, October 26, the Chick Fil-A at the Jefferson Pointe mall in Fort Wayne, Ind., will donate to the camp 15% of all sales made 5-7 pm. Friends of the camp will be on hand to clean tables, greet friends, and answer questions about the camp. So if you live in the Fort Wayne area, head on over to Jefferson Pointe.

Members from Zanesville UB church (Zanesville, Ind.) arranged this event. Note: the Jefferson Point Chick Fil-A is the only location participating in this promotion for the camp.

In fall 2008, Munster, Ind., and other northwest Indiana communities were greatly affected by a flood that damaged more than 18,000 homes and businesses. Some were lucky, regaining their homes within a matter of weeks. Others were not.

A group of eight Huntington University students and one staff adviser will be traveling to Munster from October 15-19 during fall break to rebuild and tear down houses that were greatly affected by the flooding. The team will work with LARRI (Lakeshore Area Regional Recovery of Indiana), a local relief organization, as well as ArcBridges to do some site maintenance to its building and to a few other residential buildings.

“We are going on this trip because it is important to serve God and serve others through service,” said Zach Keller, a junior math and math education double major from Portland, Ind. “The Munster area is still in need of clean up, and we are very excited to be able to help with that.”

The trip is sponsored by Huntington University’s Joe Mertz Center for Volunteer Service.

Paul Hirschy, who served as bishop 2001-2005, dealt with lymphoma cancer during his years as bishop and and before. Now his cancer has returned. He will begin chemo treatments on Thursday, October 21, and it will continue over a period of months.

You can send cards to:

Paul Hirschy
5493 North Goshen Rd
Huntington, IN  46750

Joan Sider has made many trips to Haiti with her fellow Canadians. Now she’s there again, this time with a team of 12 persons from Canada, plus one from Honduras. They are working on the Delmas church in Port au Prince.

We’re beginning work on a redesign of the UB.org website, the official website of the United Brethren in Christ Church, USA. The current design has been in place for over 5 years. Time for an upgrade.

We want your suggestions as we begin developing a new flagship site.

  • What would you like to see in a revamped UB.org?
  • What is missing in the current site?
  • What frustrates you about the current site?
  • What bells and whistles would you like to see?
  • What types of information would be most valuable?
  • What information needs to be most accessible?

Please send your suggestions to Steve Dennie, the Communications director.

Anything is fair game. So fire away!

UB.org will complement these two new sites:

  • UBCentral.org, a centralized place for all types of UB news, with hooks into Facebook and Twitter. Created in October 2009.
  • UBGlobal.org, a new site for everything related to Global Ministries. Unveiled in September 2010.

The Convoy UB church (Convoy, Ohio) voted to close during a local conference meeting on Sunday, September 26. Bishop Phil Whipple spoke during the morning service, and then led the local conference meeting.

The congregation attending Family Day at Faith UB

Deon McLennon

On September 26, Faith United Brethren Church climaxed its month-long family celebration with the all day ”Family day” program. The first Sunday in September focused on the role of the mother, the second Sunday on the role of the father, the third Sunday on the role of youth, and the fourth Sunday–Family Day–on the role of the family.

Family Day began with a special 9 a.m. service where Pat Eves-McKenzie delivered an inspirational sermon on the role of the family. After the service, all participants attended a special Sunday school which looked on issues relating to married couples and single people.

The 203 strong attendance then congregated outside to take the group picture for the 60th anniversary magazine. We then enjoyed a wonderful dinner together after which all enjoyed a spirit-filled concert which displayed the variety of artistic gifts God has blessed us with.