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Randy and Toni Fennig have been in Sierra Leone for three months now. Toni has uploaded a lot of photos to her Facebook page. Here are a few.
One end of the Bible college campus was without lights for three days…until Randy and a friend got it going again.
Randy and some Sierra Leoneans built a chicken coop.
Ron Ramsey, Bishop
One of the things that leaders do is LEAD.
We desperately need pastors who will LEAD the congregation or ministry area that God has called you to lead.
You say, “Well, I can’t.” Then, did God make a mistake in calling you?
You say, “I don’t know how. “Then learn some skills and begin to practice them.
We tend to think of the Type A personality who is the natural-born leader. If that doesn’t describe us, then we beg off of leading. No! No! No! If God has called you to a position of leadership, then LEAD. If God has called you to that ministry, he wants you to LEAD.
To me, spiritual leadership involves:
How do you discover that? Pray. Read the scriptures. Pray. Read books on leadership. Pray. Study your ministry area to determine what the needs are. Pray. Then LEAD! You may not lead where or how I think you should, but if you’re getting spiritual results, then you won’t get an argument from me.
Living Hope UB church in State Line, Pa., closed October 5 in order to merge with Crossroads Brethren in Christ church. Mike Wentz, the senior pastor, resigned as of the same date to take secular employment.
Dale Miller resigned as pastor of Montgomery UB church (Montgomery, Mich.) effective the end of December 2008.
Scott Hardaway, pastor of Pathway Community Church, the UB church in Jackson, Mich., wrote a superb blog post called “Something to Believe In.” He talks about how we too often squander laypersons’ time and energy in ministries that lack purpose.
Here are three paragraphs from the middle of the piece. You should read the whole thing, including Scott’s own purposeful goals for himself in 2009.
I believe that churches too often simply assume that everything they do is worthwhile. It might even be true (although, usually it’s not), but I guarantee that the average person in the pew does not make that same assumption. The average person wants to know, “OK, if I give my time to this thing, what difference is that going to make? What’s the impact that my contribution is going to have?” And if we can answer that question satisfactorily, we’ll find people lining up to serve because every single one of us has an innate, God-given desire to make a real difference with our lives.
Part of answering that question satisfactorily, however, lies in our ability to own up to the fact that we have in fact wasted people’s time and efforts in the past. We have invested them in places that really didn’t make any difference. We have created ministries that were not strategic, that were not well-planned or excellently executed. We have mis-shepherded the hearts and lives of our people and put them in positions where they were destined to fail, usually due to no fault of their own.
So we must commit to not doing that anymore. We must solemnly promise (and then, of course, follow through on that promise) to do our part in developing ministries that matter–ministries that really allow those serving to make an impact or an investment in the lives of other people; ministries that tangibly bring glory to God, instead of simply supporting our structure. And the best way to do that is to set clearly defined, concrete goals that spell out plainly what will be accomplished through any particular ministry.
The Huntington University Board of Trustees elected four new board members during its fall meeting. Two of them are United Brethren ministers:
The other two members chosen are Calvin Hawkins and Candace Curie.
All 21 Huntington University students from Dr. Wayne Priest’s Applied Research Methods course have had their research projects published in the online Undergraduate Research Journal of the Human Sciences. The students, who worked in teams of three, have seven papers in the journal’s seventh volume.
“Having practical experience in research and presentation is essential for students seeking application to graduate school,” said Woods, a history major from Hillsdale, Mich.
The seven papers are:
The students also presented their research projects at the 21st annual Michigan Undergraduate Psychology Research Conference on April 19 at Albion College in Albion, Mich.
Evelyn Woodall passed away December 6. She is the mother of Nick Woodall, pastor of Stryker UB church in Stryker, Ohio.
Central UB church of Montpelier, Ohio, has a new name: New Beginnings Church. Mike Martinelli is the pastor.
