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As of the end of December, we had received $85,951 for the three hurricane relief funds.
Persons who want to contribute toward tsunami relief are encouraged to give through World Relief, the relief organization of the National Association of Evangelicals. Or, people can designate money for relief work by our couple in India, who have been helping some victims of the tsunami.
During October, UB members throughout the United States voted on three referendum items and elected laypersons and ministers to represent their conference at the June 2005 US National Conference.
Altogether, about 11,500 UB members in the United States voted.
A referendum needs at least 50% of the votes in order to be passed along to the US National Conference. The Property and National Conference Representation referenda will now go to the 65 delegates next June; if two-thirds of them vote in favor of a referenda, it will become official.
Bishop Hirschy writes in his December Bmail newsletter, which was mailed today, “I do not see any reason why those two items should not pass the US National Conference….With this level of support, I will do everything I can to encourage the National Conference to pass those two items.”
The referendum on joining the Missionary Church, having received less than half of the votes, is dead and will not receive further consideration.
The UB website gives a complete report on the referendum results, with the number of votes and percentages listed according to conference. Every conference passed the Property and National Conference Representation referenda. The referendum on Joining the Missionary Church passed in only four conferences: Arizona, Michindoh, Sandusky, and Southeast.
In addition to voting on the referenda, UB people elected delegates to the National Conference. Members elected 62 persons as delegates, with between two and sixteen persons representing each conference (depending on the conference’s size). In addition, three elected officials (the Bishop, Director of Global Ministries, and Director of Education) are also voting members.
Since the referendum to join the Missionary Church failed, people are asking, “What happens now?” To help answer that question, Bishop Paul Hirschy has called a special meeting of the National Board on February 14 and 15. The meeting will start at 1 pm on Monday, the 14th, and conclude during the afternoon on Tuesday. It will be held at Huntington College.
Of the 65 members of the 2005 US National Conference, 24 also serve on the National Board (3 of them being elected officials). So a little over one-third of the National Board members will return for National Conference. All ELT members are also members of the National Board.
The Huntington College Board of Trustees has approved a 0% tuition increase for 2005-2006. Annual tuition is currently $18,060, which places Huntington 19th out of 32 independent colleges and universities in Indiana. Across the United States, the average tuition at four-year private institutions this year is $20,082. Read the HC press release.
Russ Neterer is known to many people in the denomination through his involvement at College Park UB church in Huntington, Ind., his role as a founding member of Emmanuel Community UB church in Fort Wayne, Ind., his service as a lay delegate to General Conference, and his 25-year tenure on the Huntington College Board of Trustees.
Russ, 92, passed away early Wednesday morning, November 17, at Parkview Huntington Hospital. He is survived by his wife, Thelma, and two children.
Edward E. Souers has been elected chairman of the Huntington College Board of Trustees. He is managing partner of Christen Souers LLC, an accounting firm in Fort Wayne, Ind. Ed is a 1977 HC graduate, and is a member of South Scipio UB church in Harlan, Ind.
Kelly Savage (Class of 1983) was elected Vice Chair of the Board. Savage is the chief information officer for Alticor, the parent company of Amway, Quixtar and Access Business Group. David Tinkey (1980), a commercial banking finance manager for Bank One in Indianapolis, Ind., was elected Secretary of the Board.
Throughout October 2004, United Brethren members in the United States voted on these matters:Next
The voting ended on October 31. Here are the next steps in the timeline, as stated in chapter 33 of the UB Discipline:
Most likely, the results of the voting will be announced in late December. The results will be announced in the same way they were published in 1993, the last time we had a referendum. The referendum results from each conference will be posted, with three pieces of information for each referendum: the number of Yes votes, the number of No votes, and the percentage of Yes votes. The names of the delegates elected from each conference will also be posted.
If a referendum receives a simple majority of all votes cast in the United States churches, it can be passed along to the National Conference in 2005. The 65 delegates to the National Conference can, with a two-thirds vote, make a referendum official.
Information about the voting, as well as other information related to the 2005 US National Conference, can be found at this address.
Bob Lust is no longer pastor of First UB in Columbus. The pastoral staff at Franklin Church in New Albany, Ohio, will provide pastoral oversight for this congregation during the transition.
Doug Birdsall was installed as International Chairman of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization during the organization’s global forum in Pattaya, Thailand, in October.
Doug is the brother of Brent Birdsall, pastor of College Park UB church (Huntington, Ind.) and of Brian Birdsall, a UB endorsed missionary serving in Ukraine. A sister, Connie, attends a Missionary Church congregation in Berne, Ind.
The forum brought together 1500 church leaders from around the world to focus on the task of global evangelism.
The Lausanne Movement is an outgrowth of a 1974 International Congress in Lausanne, Switzerland, convened by Billy Graham. At that historic meeting, several thousand participants from 150 countries signed the Lausanne Covenant “to be more intentional about world evangelization.” Lausanne’s vision is to energize churches, mission agencies, networks and individuals “to respond with vigor and courage to the cause of world evangelization.” The unifying theme of the Lausanne Covenant and the Lausanne Movement is, “The Whole Church Taking the Whole Gospel to the Whole World.”
Since 1980, Doug Birdsall has served as a missionary in Japan with Asian Access/LIFE Ministries, an organization that focuses on evangelism and church multiplication. He is currently President of Asian Access. He is a graduate of Wheaton College, Gordon-Conwell, and Harvard University. He and his wife, Jeanie, have three children, Stacia, Judd and Jessamin, who were all born and reared in Japan.
Doug returned to Gordon-Conwell in 1999 to help establish the Wilson Center for World Missions, and is seconded to the seminary for 20 percent of his time by Asian Access/Life Ministries
