From Rocky Spear (right), senior pastor of Mongul UB church (Shippensburg, Pa.)

Easter for Mongul Church began Saturday morning at 11:00 with an 1100 egg Eggstravaganza. Food and crafts were also available. Having promoted this on the radio, internet and flyers, we did not know what to expect.

We were excited and overwhelmed when over 250 kids and adults showed up, some as early as 10:00. Great contacts were made with our community.

Easter Sunday morning marked a new page in the history of Mongul, as we began a third worship experience. All three services were well attended with a total attendance of 251.

The highlight? At the end of each service, we gave the opportunity to pray the sinner’s prayer. The instructions were, if you prayed to receive Christ, write your name on the bulletin tear-off and place a “1” beside your name.

A little girl, attending with her parents and grandparents, walked by me at the end of the service, holding her grandfather’s hand, and she handed me a little piece of paper with her name written in her best handwriting and a “1” beside it. Her grandfather had tears in his eyes.

Sixty guests joined us for Easter worship, about half of them “first-timers.” God is working in the church and he’s helping us reach into the community. I am excited about the journey God is allowing Mongul Church to take.

From Nick Woodall, senior pastor of Stryker UB church (Stryker, Ohio)

Stryker United Brethren held a Lenten luncheon every Wednesday. The menu included donated soup, sandwiches, cookies, and appropriate menu items. We divided the hour into two parts:

  • 11:30 – 12:00: meal.
  • 12:00 – 12:30: worship service.

Each week a different community pastor spoke for 10-12 minutes. We also had special music from different churches.

The Lenten luncheons were attended by a wide variety of people from the community, including a bus of clients from the Quadco sheltered workshop attended.

L-r: Dr. Henna B. Williams, Martha Smith, and Donald Duff.

Huntington University will hold its 112th graduation exercises on May 15 in the Field House of the Merillat Complex for Physical Education and Recreation. The university will award degrees to 281 students.

Baccalaureate
Time: 10:30 a.m.
Speaker: Martha Smith, Huntington University associate dean of students.

Commencement
Time: 3 p.m.
Speaker: Dr. Herma B. Williams, provost and academic vice president for Fresno Pacific University in Fresno, Calif.
Title: “Shaping the Future: Leading a Life that Matters.”

Two honorary degrees will be awarded.

  1. Dr. Williams will receive the honorary Doctor of Commercial Science.
  2. Donald Duff, former Huntington University Board of Trustees chairman, will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.

Duff joined the Huntington University Board of Trustees in 1971, and served a total of 36 years on the Board. In 1975, he became the first layman elected chairman of the Board of Trustees. During his six years as chair, the trustees adopted a campus master plan and an internal committee structure. In 1990, he was named the Lay Person of the Year by the National Association of Evangelicals.

The commencement exercises and the baccalaureate sermon are open to the public, and no tickets are required.

From Linda Andreas, from Eden UB church (Mason, Mich.):

Our choir presented “The Easter Story” on Good Friday night and Easter Sunday morning. It was a wonderful mix of drama and music about our risen Savior. We were well led by our volunteer choir director Alena, a 21-year old student from Michigan State University.

The program was dedicated to one of our faithful choir members, Kathy Kyser, who had gone to be with the Lord the day before Good Friday at the age of 65 as a result of liver cancer. We all miss Kathy very much, but we sang with a smile on our faces knowing that Easter is all about the assurance we have in our risen Savior and everlasting life with Him. We know that Kathy is now strong and well and singing those high notes in the heavenly choir!

From Marvin Schwartz (right), senior pastor of New Horizons Community Church (Rockford, Ohio):

We started planning for Easter in January. After much thought, I came up with an idea for a sermon series that would answer life’s most challenging questions:

  • Is God real?
  • Can I trust the Bible?
  • If God loves us, why is there suffering?
  • Is Jesus real?
  • What happens when I die?
  • Why did Jesus come to earth?

We promoted this series with radio ads, newspaper ads, mailers, and simply by inviting people.

Since then I became ill and was unable to do the series. But with the help of our youth pastor, John Emmons, and a great staff, we kicked this series off on Easter. The Lord blessed our commitment to reaching people, resulting in our largest crowd ever here. Around 400 persons attended one of our two services.

Easter has been a way for us to reach the community around us. I think Jesus would have wanted it like this.

The Easter season–Lent, Palm Sunday, Easter–is always exciting for churches. There are special events, and often large attendances. Churches do some pretty creative things to capitalize on the Easter season.

So tell us what happened during the Easter season at your church, using this form. Then we can share it with other UBs. Or, just leave a comment with this post.

The annual UB History Course will be offered at Huntington University June 7-10, 2010. All local licensed ministers seeking National Conference or Specialized Ministry licenses are required to take this course.

The cost is $250. Information and registration can be obtained by contacting Lori Garde at the Graduate School or by calling 888-424-7231.

If any attendees need assistance with lodging, they can qualify for the denominational rate at Holiday Inn Express by contacting Cathy Reich or by calling 888-622-3019, ext. 311.

Last Sunday, March 28, I visited the Imagine This UB church in Grand Ledge, Mich. This church was planted just over two years ago. They went through a process of organizing as a full-fledged United Brethren church. And on March 28, we made it official.

I also conducted an installation service for Roy Atherton, who had been appointed senior pastor at the end of January. I charged the congregation with the responsibility of supporting their pastor.

The people at Grand Ledge are mostly new believers. The church is stronger than it’s ever been. They went through the ups and downs of losing their founding pastor, Gordon Kettel, but Roy Atherton is doing a great job of keeping them on course.

Imagine This makes an impact in the community. If they closed their doors, people would notice because of the types of services and ministries they do. They currently occupy a former bank building on a prominent corner in Grand Ledge. The lease on their building runs out at the end of April, but they are working on several different options.

Imagine This holds two services each Sunday—one at 10:30 a.m., one at 6 p.m. They are identical services. The congregation began with an evening service while sharing facilities with several other churches; evening was the only time slot available to them. When they got their own facility, they added a morning service, but kept the evening service since that’s what the people were accustomed to attending. The evening service has always been their larger service, and the services draw a different group of people. I estimate that around 200 people attended the two services on March 28.

They baptized eight people–two boys and an adult woman in the morning, and three teens and two adult women at night. They used an inflatable pool, probably six feet across. People sat down in the water and were dipped backwards. The pool apparently had a slow leak, which became noticeable at night. People came up to hold the sides in place.

The water was very cold. A young boy about 10 years old went first in the morning. As he stood knee deep in the water, he couldn’t go through with it. They ended up pouring water over his head. Both women in the evening service were also baptized by pouring (one worse a cast).

At 3 p.m., they held a concert featuring Seven Day Slumber and another band. The leader of Seven Day Slumber gave a powerful testimony of his conversion. Twelve people came forward to make some kind of change in their lives, not necessarily a first-time conversion, but an altar call. This went until 5:30. That left just 30 minutes to reorient the stage for the evening service, but they were ready to go at 6:00.

The evening service also featured the dedication of the worship leader’s new baby, which brought in some extra families. Since they meet at night, guests were able to attend their own churches in the morning.

I’m very proud to have Imagine This as a United Brethren church. They are doing what I think all of God’s churches are called to do. They won’t reach every type of person, but they are reaching people who need the gospel and are definitely making an impact on their community.

Robert McCoy, a former associate pastor of Jerusalem Chapel UB (Churchville, Va.), passed away March 27. His widow, Shirley, lives in Woodlawn, Va.

Mabel Mundy, who has worked at the national office since 1987 (most of that time in Global Ministries), became a great-grandma this morning.