(260) 356-2312
Marshall Woods (right), pastor of Mill Chapel UB church (Reedsville, W. Va.), sent this report: “Last week, some men from our church, with their own heavy equipment, enlarged our parking area. After some traffic jams, it was time to do something. We can seat approximately 220 in our newly expanded sanctuary, and we are at 170. We are holding off on going to two services. God is so good.”
This 10-minute video is of the January 31, 2010, worship service at Findlay First UB (Findlay, Ohio). It’s quite inspiring to watch.
Pastor Darwin Dunten explains:
“We had a testimony Sunday where the people of the church wrote testimonies regarding how God is transforming their lives on posterboard. This came from an idea shared with us from a member of our church from Grabill Missionary church when they had cardboard testimony Sunday in November. It took a little over a month to prepare the church for this service. God is working at Findlay First UB.”
Roy Atherton has been appointed senior pastor of ImagineThis LLC in Grand Ledge, Mich. A commissioning service will be held March 28, led by Bishop Phil Whipple.
Roy has been serving as interim pastor of ImagineThis LLC, and before that was the church’s associate pastor. Roy’s wife, Kathy, is a schoolteacher.
King Street Church in Chambersburg, Pa., presented their 2009 Christmas program at Shippensburg University’s Luhrs Center for the Performing Arts. Dually motivated by a lack of space in their current worship center and, more importantly, a desire to take the Gospel into the larger marketplace of their community, the decision was made to change the context of this annual event.
LIGHT was an original program written and produced by Jonathan Ford (right), Worship Arts Pastor at King Street since January 2006. The program reflected the different worship styles that are a part of the King Street experience. It featured the Mass Choir and Orchestra, Kid’s Choir, Dance Team, Drama Ministry, Praise Band, and King Street Horns (a 19-piece jazz ensemble).
In many ways, this was a church-wide endeavor as the Evangelism and Missions commissions partnered with Worship Arts to achieve the unique goals of this Christmas outreach. Attendees were carried through a progression which:
The King Street Media ministry produced 6 video testimonies featuring the stories of “Light Bearers” at King Street Church. North Africa, Cambodia, Honduras, India, South Africa, and Indonesia were each represented in these stories of ordinary people who have seen God work in extraordinary ways as they carried his Light to others.
In all, a cast and crew of over 300 people shared this message with an audience of 3000 over two performances. Evangelism volunteers had the joy of following up with dozens who responded to the invitation that was given. Twenty-one people sponsored children through a partnership with Compassion International. Many exciting accounts are still being shared about how attending this event has spurred conversation with friends, coworkers, and family members about faith and a relationship with Jesus Christ.
A remarkable number of curious University students attended the program to help fulfill their Fine Arts requirement for the semester. It has been thrilling for King Street’s college students to begin connecting with classmates on a new level as they return to school after winter break.
It is our prayer that the intentional work of evangelism and missions will be the long shadow cast by the light of Christmas 2009 at King Street.
Here are a few more photos from the program.
Barry Skinner, pastor of Kilburn Avenue UB (Rockford, Ill.), sent this note:
In November 2009, I had the honor of baptizing my ten-year-old grandson, Spencer, and a friend’s daughter, 18-year-old Rose. My younger son Joshua is resurfacing our baptismal tank, and we are redoing the plumbing and top to make it easier to use. We have finished painting the children’s Sunday school room, and now we will add trim and border and an interlocking colorful floor mat system. Little by little, we will keep updating as we can.
In addition:
General Conference opened on January 10 with a Sunday afternoon service at the Bethel Institute in La Ceiba, Honduras.
The service began with a parade of flags representing each United Brethren country and mission district represented at General Conference. That would be nine national conferences, plus Guataemala, Haiti, El Salvador, and Costa Rica. Honduran teenagers carried the flags, escorted by younger children clad in outfits symbolic of that country.
The flags were inserted into holders on the stage, while the younger children lined across the front. And then came this amazing part: those children took turns singing the national anthem of the country they were representing. The two children representing Mexico went first, then three for Canada, and on down the line. You could see General Conference delegates singing along, smiling with delight, when it was their country’s turn.
Missionary Marilyn Reeck spearheaded this part of the program. You can imagine it was an incredible amount of work–making the costumes, finding recordings of the various national anthems, teaching Spanish-speaking children to sing those songs in other languages, etc.
At the end came the Honduran national anthem, which really brought the local assembly alive. After finishing with the national anthems, the children then did several more songs before marching out. General Conference was off to a great start, thanks to the children of Honduras.
Click on any thumbnail photo below to view a photo gallery of the children singing at General Conference.
Bishop Phil Whipple (left) presents a retirement pin to Larry Taylor, as Larry's wife Linda looks on.
On January 17, Bishop Phil Whipple attended Park UB (Bluffton, Ind.) to present a retirement pin to Pastor Larry Taylor. The pin recognizes his 37 years as a United Brethren pastor at these churches:
Before joining the United Brethren denomination, Larry pastored Evangelical United Brethren (now United Methodist) congregations going back to 1964.
Brian Magnus, bishop of the UB Church in Canada, gives his report on Canada as Donna Hollopeter, General Conference secretary, takes notes.
Since General Conference reports were given in alphabetical order, Canada went first. Brian Magnus, bishop of the United Brethren Church in Canada, opened his report on January 11 by talking about the secularization of his country.
“I believe North America is coming to a place, soon, where Europe has been for a while. People are already calling North American post-Christian. Christian values are being dropped all over the place. Marriage in Canada is now between any two persons, regardless of sex.
“I predict that very soon, polygamy will be legal in Canada, too. We have many people who have immigrated from Muslim and other countries, and they want to bring over their second, third, and fourth wives. Marriage itself has dropped in popularity; the majority of people simply move in together and never get married. The divorce rate has gone down, but it’s only because so few people get married.
“We have a partnership with a Christian organization called Christian Horizons which provides services for handicapped people. A case currently making its way to our Supreme Court will affect all Christian organizations in Canada. One of the 3000 employees of this organization had signed an agreement to live by Christian values, but then she entered into a lesbian relationship and was fired.
“The courts have found the Christian organization guilty of discrimination. The question before the courts now is whether Christian organizations can hire only other Christians, or must hire anyone. This specifically relates to doing social work, which of course as Christians we want to do.
“The country has become very secular. But we want to take advantage of the opportunities we have, and not just feel sorry because our country is changing. God has us there for a reason. We want to be his servants.”
United Believers in Christ Fellowship consists of churches in California which withdrew from the denomination in 2005. However, they are raising funds for Haiti to be channeled through UB Global Ministries.
Nicholas Kern, CEO of United Believers in Christ, writes, “If you or your congregation wishes to do so, please send your contribution to the United Believers in Christ Fellowship. We will send any monies collected through the Global Ministries department of our parents (The United Brethren in Christ Missions Dept) designated to our Missionary in Haiti.”
Huntington University has as partnership with Star 88.3. a contemporary Christian radio station in Fort Wayne, Ind.
On Sunday night, January 17, Star 88.3 hosted a benefit concert for Haiti at Pathway Community Church in Fort Wayne. About 250 people attended. Money raised went to Mission of Hope, a Haitian charity run by HU graduates Brad and Vanessa Johnson.
An article about the event in the online Journal-Gazette gave this information:
NBC Nightly News ran a segment on Mission of Hope on January 19.
