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29 Jun

June 29, 2009 |

A UB medical team arrived back from a ten-day trip to Honduras on June 27, one day before Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was deposed in a military coup. The Honduran Congress has already appointed a new president. A nationwide curfew from 9 pm to 6 am is in effect for June 29-30, but the country seems to be at peace, at least in the immediate aftermath.

The coup happened on the same day that Hondurans were voting on a proposal which would enable President Manual Zelaya to seek re-election. The country’s Supreme Court had declared the referendum illegal.

The coup has been widely condemned, with statements to that effect coming from both the United States and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

From Kevin Lam of Mt. Olivet UB (Mt. Solon, Va.): “Five of our church members at Mount Olivet are from Honduras. After hearing the news of the government upheaval in Honduras this morning, they are very upset and concerned for the safety of their families back home. We ask for prayer for these 2 families as well as all of our brothers and sisters living in the midst of this turmoil.”

25 Jun

June 25, 2009 |

Troy and Julie Hendricks, UB endorsed missionaries in Spain, returned to the States after Troy’s father died unexpectedly on June 10. They were set to return to Spain today, June 24. But then serious medical problems arose with Troy’s mother, Susan, prompting them to cancel their return flight. Here is information sent out by Troy and Julie on Wednesday, June 23:

Sharon had not been feeling well for several days before Troy’s dad passed away unexpectedly. She continued to worsen and became quite jaundiced, and Sunday was admitted to the hospital for what we thought/hoped was gallstones. 

Yesterday morning the doctors did a procedure with a scope to try to move the stones, but found no stones. However, the (bile?) duct was 100% blocked by something. In the afternoon they did another procedure to insert a drainage tube in the liver, to drain the bile that had been backing up in her system.
 
They will be doing more tests to determine both what the blockage is, and exactly where it is located, but are concerned with it’s location near/on the liver. 

As you might imagine, so much has happened with Troy’s father’s unexpected death, and now with his mother’s illness in such a short time that I don’t think any of us are able to process the information. We are just doing what needs to be done at the moment.
 
We have cancelled our return flight to Spain that was scheduled for tomorrow (Thursday), and will determine a return date once we know more about what is actually going on with Troy’s mom.

25 Jun

June 25, 2009 |

We completed tabulating all the evaluations from the US National Conference. People were asked to rate various aspects of XLR8 on a scale of 1-10, with “Poor” on the low end and “Great” on the high end. When people circled “Great,” we gave them an 11. That’s why you see scores above 10.

On that note: way to be, children’s and teen workers! You were obviously deeply appreciated.

The lowest scores went to the business session (no real surprise there), and music (music is a huge point of disagreement in local churches, so you would expect the same at a national church conference).

Registration Process 9.7
Helpfulness of the Conference Staff 10
Tim Brown 9.9
Missions Night 9.1
Business Session 7.9
Sunday Morning Service 9.5
Music during various Services 7.9
Multimedia used during Conference 9.1
Receptions 9.6
Workshops 9.3
Morning Prayer 9.4
Printed Materials 9.5
Decorations/Use of Theme 10
Sawmill Creek Facilities 9.7
Hotel Costs 8.4
Free Time 9.4
Location 9.4
Women’s Events 9.4
UB Historical Society Banquet 9.8
Church Multiplication Luncheon 9.8
Golf Outing 9.9
Nursery 10.8
Children’s Activities 10.1
Teens Activities 10.5
Overall Evaluation 9.7

24 Jun

June 24, 2009 |

When I went to Mainstreet, the church had been on a steady decline for several years, going from 330 people to 220. The worship service was so structured that if you went in at 11:10 any time of the year, they would be doing the same thing. If they did the responsive reading at 11:10, that’s where they did it every Sunday. The preacher quit at 11:30 whether he was done or not.

The power brokers of the church were members of the fully-robed choir. They marched in and sang the anthem

Then I showed up. My first Sunday, in 1993, I told them I wanted to begin the service with the song “Majesty.” “You’ll march in from the back, through the double doors, and charge forward like you’re capturing the mountain. And I want you to sing.”

They groused about it, but they complied. Because the new guy said so.

They had been doing things one way. I took them into the neutral zone. But what I wanted was to get to the point where we didn’t have a choir at all. That’s not something you pull off overnight. But in time, we got there.

23 Jun

June 23, 2009 |

Ed Mast passed into eternity Monday morning, June 22, in Arizona, where he and his wife, Mary, had lived since the early 1970s. He is survived by his wife Mary, children Sandi McMahon, Sue Copp and Randy Mast, plus a number of grandchildren and at lest one grandchild.

Visitation: Wednesday, June 24, 6-8 p.m.
Funeral: Wednesday, June 24, at noon.
Location: Green Acres Mortuary, 401 N Hayden Road, Scottsdale, AZ 85257.

Ed Mast pastored the UB church in Glendale, Calif., for many years. In the mid-1970s, he moved to Fountain Hills, Ariz., where he started what is now Fountain Hills Community Church.

22 Jun

June 22, 2009 |

The US National Conference made over 20 changes to the United Brethren Discipline, including two changes to the Constitution.

The revised Discipline is now ready. You can view it online, or download a PDF copy. The only way to get a printed copy is to download the PDF and print it out yourself. Since the national conference now meets every two years, instead of every four years, the Discipline’s shelf-life has been cut in half. It’s just not worthwhile to print up copies for that short period of time.

But the PDF is good. Plus, in the extraordinary event that an error is discovered, it can be easily corrected.

The other major document is the Pastoral Ministry Handbook, which gives information about our various ministerial licenses, our assignment procedures, etc. That document is updated regularly by the Pastoral Ministry Leadership Team. You can download the latest version as a PDF file.

20 Jun

June 20, 2009 |

Randy Carpenter, from Walbridge, Ohio, is leading a trip to Israel November 1-13, 2009. Currently, 14 people are signed up, but there is space for others who may be interested in going. The cost is $3200 per person (not including taxes and tip to tour guides). The trip is using Bible Lands & Reformatin Group Travel. If interested, contact Randy at: (419) 708-7994. Or email him. (Itinerary in a MS Word file)

19 Jun

June 19, 2009 |

If you search for it, you can find a lot of United Brethren stuff on YouTube. Here are some videos which show the worship team of Mainstreet Church in Walbridge, Ohio. This team provided music during Thursday and Friday nights at the 2009 US National Conference. It also shows the platform setup for Mainstreet’s new facility. These videos were uploaded by John Authenreith, the worship pastor at Mainstreet.