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11 Nov

November 11, 2014 |

At Rhodes Grove Camp.

The equestrian program at Rhodes Grove Camp.

At Rhodes Grove Camp.

At Rhodes Grove Camp.

Angela Monn

Angela Monn

Steve Dennie, Director of Communications

All of the year-round United Brethren camps became independent entities after 2005, when we went through a denominational reorganization and discontinued the regional conferences. Rhodes Grove Camp in Chambersburg, Pa., has probably done the best job of maintaining close relationships with United Brethren churches. Partly, that’s because so many UB churches are located nearby—about 15 UB churches within 15-20 miles. None of the other camps share that advantage.

“We are centrally located among them,” says Angela Monn, director of Rhodes Grove Camp. “A lot of history for them is located on these grounds.”

Angela began working for Rhodes Grove in 2006 as Conference Ministry Director. That involved managing all of the guest services and helping guest groups plan their experience at the camp. In 2009, she was named executive director.

Angela is very intentional in keeping United Brethren churches in the loop about what is happening at Rhodes Grove and, of course, inviting them to be part of the camp’s ministry. She estimates that 70-80% of the summer youth campers come from United Brethren churches. Ministry from the summer of 2014 yielded 112 first-time decisions for Christ, 215 rededications, and 50 baptisms.

In 2017, Rhodes Grove will celebrate its 100th anniversary. As a lead-up to that milestone, the camp launched a major capital campaign.

The campaign uses the theme of “advancing tabernacle faith.” The focal point of the camp for 90 years was the big white tabernacle. This historic building became structurally unsound and had to be torn down in 2005. But its memory lingers.

“The tabernacle was a very important structure to many folks,” Angela says. “So many spiritual decisions happened within that building–commitments to Christ, commitments to advancing the kingdom, commitments to pastoral ministry and missionary service. Spiritual commitments too numerous to count.

“It was necessary for that building to come down, because it was unsafe and not cost-effective to repair. But it caused a lot of pain for a lot of people to see the tabernacle go away.

“We want to share that the tabernacle wasn’t a destination. Tabernacle faith is a journey. When the Israelites moved around in the Wilderness, the tabernacle went with them.

“Here at Rhodes Grove, the presence of the Lord is still here. We recognize the many great things that happened under that tabernacle roof, but the ministry of Rhodes Grove Camp continues. Lives are still being changed. The Kingdom is still being advanced. All of the same things are happening, just not in that building.”

The capital campaign will position the camp for future ministry. There are several parts.

The first part is debt elimination. The camp carries a debt of $684,000 on the Miller Lodge, which was built in 2001. Erasing that debt will free up $44,000 a year for other ministries.

They also want to become a spiritual life center, which can take in a number of ideas and ministries. One of them involves providing pastoral mentoring and a getaway for ministers and spouses.

Finally, they plan to expand the popular equestrian program. They currently provide four weeks of equestrian camp (four one-week camps) during the summer. This year’s camps were maxed out by April 1. They want to improve the facilities to serve more youth and provide year-round equestrian opportunities. They’ll initially expand the ministry for able-bodied riders. But on down the road, Angela envisions adding therapeutic options for persons with mental or physical disabilities.

The 2014 camp season began Memorial Day weekend with family camp. Rhodes Grove has 38 RV sites, plus hotel rooms and cabins. Training for the summer staff began after family camp, and the first camp began June 15. They held 12 camps during a five-week period.

They also do day camps and high adventure camps during which they take kids to the Pittsburgh area for white-water rafting. In 2013 they launched a paintball camp, which had a tremendous response.

Angela came to the Chambersburg, Pa., area to attend Wilson College. She and her husband, Bill, met there. They now have two teenage sons.

Angela’s background is in accounting and business management. She describes herself as a “spiritual mutt.” She attended a Christian school through fourth grade. “I learned to love the Lord very early as a youngster based on the influence of the teachers and mentors at that school.”

Over the years she has attended Methodist, Lutheran, Baptist, and other churches—“a myriad of foundational teachings,” she says. Her family currently attends the nearby Antrim Brethren in Christ church.

“For me, it’s more about my relationship with Christ,” she says. “I love the Lord.”

11 Nov

November 11, 2014 |

Dr. Kevin Miller, professor of communication at Huntington University, wrote the best article of the year in the Christian Scholar’s Review. That was the verdict of a panel who read every article published in Volume 43. Miller’s article (brace yourself), “Reframing the Faith-Learning Relationship: Bonhoeffer and an Incarnational Alternative to the Integration Model,” appeared in the Winter 2014 issue.

In his essay, Miller noted that the faith-integration model, with its working assumption that “All truth is God’s truth,” has become the standard approach for many scholars at evangelical universities as they seek to understand the relationship between faith and learning. He offered an alternative incarnational model of scholarship that drew from the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s ideas about a “religionless Christianity.”

In offering an evaluation of Miller’s essay, one juror wrote that it “is a lucid essay with a bold thesis that deserves to be read and discussed widely.” A second juror notes that the essay “is clearly written, easily accessible to people from a variety of fields, and engages directly with an issue that is essential to all Christian scholars, namely, the relationship between their faith and their work….Shifting the discussion away from thinking ‘Christianly’ to thinking ‘humanly’ provides a new way to account for what we do, one that works equally well within and outside Christian circles, and so is also of use to Christian scholars working in secular communities.”

Miller earned a Ph.D. in Communication at the University of Kentucky, a Master of Arts in Journalism at Ohio State University, and Bachelor of Arts in English at Eastern Mennonite University. Before teaching, he was associate editor at Christianity Today magazine. He joined the HU communication faculty in 2002.

11 Nov

November 11, 2014 |

Indiana governor Mike Pence visited Huntington University on Thursday, November 6.

During the visit, he met with an economics class full of seniors. He addressed and fielded questions about a wide range of issues–the midterm elections, unemployment, Indiana’s economy, and his own presidential ambitions.

“Just his genuineness came forth in the classroom today,” said Sam Thompson, a senior. “Having the chance to sit down with students in an informal matter with all of the cameras off to talk with the governor.”

Aaron Tan asked if Pence was interested in running for President in 2016 or 2020. “He didn’t really give an answer. He says he wanted to focus on Indiana. That’s where his heart is and his passion is.”

Pence also met with a business class in an open-forum setting. At the end, the students prayed with the governor. 

A press conference was held at the university, during which Pence said, ““This is a great school, and it has a national reputation among Christian institutions around the country. I wanted to come here and encourage, but I also want to learn and look for ways that the state of Indiana can provide additional support for all the good work that’s being done here.”

11 Nov

November 11, 2014 |

CC_FiveStar_SchoolSilver_hiresFor the sixth consecutive year, Huntington University’s athletic program has been named a recipient of the Champions of Character Five Star Award. The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) announced the 2013-2014 awards in October.

The award uses a point system and consider a variety of factors: character training, conduct in competition, academic focus, character recognition and character promotion, plus the five Champions of Character core values: integrity, respect, responsibility, sportsmanship, and servant leadership. The Foresters also earned points based on exceptional student-athlete grade point averages and minimal ejections during competition.

To receive this award, institutions must score at least 60 out of 100 possible points. HU earned 76 of the possible 100 points to rank among 60 schools named to the silver level (66th overall).

Eight of the ten schools in the Crossroads League received Champions of Character awards, putting Crossroads among 17 conferences to be recognized as a Champion of Character Conference.

St. Francis, a Catholic university in Fort Wayne, Ind., was the only Crossroads school among the 12 Gold Medallion winners (scoring 90 or above). HU, Bethel, Goshen, Spring Arbor, and Taylor received the Silver Medallion. Two other Crossroads schools, Grace and Indiana Wesleyan, qualified for the Bronze Medallion. Only Mt. Vernon Nazarene and Marian University didn’t make the list.

Huntington University competes in 16 intercollegiate sports for men and women. In the past decade, Huntington has produced 38 NAIA All-America honors and 222 All-America Scholar Athlete honors.

06 Nov

November 6, 2014 |

Scott Budde has been appointed senior pastor of Mt. Carmel UB church (Fulks Run, Va.). He graduated in 1988 from Indiana Wesleyan University, and was ordained in the Wesleyan Church in 1993. Since 1988, he has served in staff and senior pastor positions in several different Wesleyan churches.

Scott and his wife, Donna, have five children, ranging in age from 24 to 9.

31 Oct

October 31, 2014 |

jim_woodward
Jim Woodward, a member of the First UB church in Findlay, Ohio, received the 2014 State of Ohio Citizen Leadership award. Woodward is administrative chaplain at the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office.

received the honor during a conference today for law enforcement.

“Those receiving awards this year have all made tremendous contributions to their communities by valiantly saving lives and putting the safety of others before their own, by going above and beyond for community members, and by dedicating their lives to public service,” said Attorney General Mike DeWine.

After studying the “Purpose Driven Life” book and listening to the complaints of the inmates, who said the weekly worship services and Bible studies were lectures on how “bad” they were, Jim decided to start his own monthly “motivational” gatherings with the inmates with community leaders. This morphed to “Celebrate Recovery” and eventually to a weekly worship service where, during which First UB’s pastor, Darwin Dunten, shares the weekly church sermon. The average attendance is 45-50 inmates from a population of 100. Officials have praised Woodward for his efforts at encouraging inmates during and after their incarceration.

Woodward retired last year from his Razor’s Edge barbershop in Findlay after 49 years as a barber. He has also been awarded the Findlay Citizen of the Year award.

30 Oct

October 30, 2014 |

Barbara Enfield, a longtime Women’s Missionary Fellowship president in the former Michindoh Conference, passed away on October 29, 2014. She was a member of Mt. Pleasant UB church in Angola, Ind.

28 Oct

October 28, 2014 |
Chuck McKeown, pastor of UBIC Holly Hill, led the group in prayer to start the day.

Chuck McKeown, pastor of UBIC Holly Hill, led the group in prayer to start the day.

Prayer before starting a busy morning.

Prayer before starting a busy morning.

Senior pastors at work. L-r: Mike Caley (Byron Center, Mich.), Derek Thrush (Harrisburg, Pa.), Andy Sikora (Berea, Ohio), and Daryl Elliott (Keyser, W. Va.).

Senior pastors at work. L-r: Mike Caley (Byron Center, Mich.), Derek Thrush (Harrisburg, Pa.), Andy Sikora (Berea, Ohio), and Daryl Elliott (Keyser, W. Va.).

Polly Dunten, from First UB in Findlay, Ohio, in the sorting shed.

Polly Dunten, from First UB in Findlay, Ohio, in the sorting shed.

In the sorting shed. L-r: Gloria Woods, Marty Helman, and Dean Bentz.

In the sorting shed. L-r: Gloria Woods, Marty Helman, and Dean Bentz.

Andy Sikora, pastor of ReNew Ministries (Berea, Ohio), loading a box into a vehicle.

Andy Sikora, pastor of ReNew Ministries (Berea, Ohio), loading a box into a vehicle.

A service project concluded the Pastors and Wives Summit held October 20-23, 2014, in Daytona, Fla. Everyone went to the nearby Holy Hill UB church to help with their food pantry. This is a huge operation, serving hundreds of people. The pantry is open every Tuesday and Thursday, Tuesday being the busier day. This was a Thursday, but there was plenty of work to do.

The group arrived at the church at 9 am. Chuck McKeown, pastor of UBIC Holly Hill, greeted everyone, led them in prayer, and gave them instructions. About half of the pastors and wives worked in an open-air building sorting food to be given out later that morning, while the other half worked in an enclosed building sorting food which would be taken elsewhere.

They have a great system in place. Food is sorted into banana boxes and placed on a conveyor belt, which takes them outside, where the boxes are placed on large carts. The carts are then rolled to a covered shelter. From 10 am to 1 pm, cars enter the property, with a lane going on each side of the covered shelter. Volunteers load the vehicles with the boxed food and other items, like cleaning supplies. The food recipients don’t even need to leave their vehicles.

Originally, the church opened the pantry for anyone. However, they were drawing people from all over the region, and it became unmanageable. So, they restricted it to persons from Holly Hill. As cars arrive, volunteers screen them to see if they are from Holly Hill and if they qualify for the free food.

It’s quite an operation, and it takes a large number of volunteers plus a lot–a LOT–of money. The church owns several large trucks (one of them refrigerated) which can pick up donated food and also take left-over food to other places.

The food pantry also serves hot meals to the homeless and prisoners–nearly 12,000 meals in 2013.

Some stats from 2013:

  • Retail value of food given away: $2.2 million.
  • Food boxes distributed: 36,816.
  • Volunteer hours given: 25,000+.
  • Total pounds of food distributed: 1.2 million.

Over 100 photos from the food pantry service project have been posted on the UB Facebook page.

27 Oct

October 27, 2014 |
Around the table, l-r: Art and Deborah Page (Salem UB, Chambersburg, Pa.); Gary and Rhonda Dilley (College Park UB, Huntington, Ind.); Annette and Dennis Sites (Jerusalem Chapel, Churchville, Va.); Chris and Keri Little (Mt. Pleasant Church, Chambersburg, Pa.).

Around the table, l-r: Art and Deborah Page (Salem UB, Chambersburg, Pa.); Gary and Rhonda Dilley (College Park UB, Huntington, Ind.); Annette and Dennis Sites (Jerusalem Chapel, Churchville, Va.); Chris and Keri Little (Mt. Pleasant Church, Chambersburg, Pa.).

Around the table, l-r: Mark and Carla Wilson (Fowlerville UB, Fowlerville, Mich.); Jeremiah and Elisa Ketchum (Brown Corners UB, Clare, Mich.); Bishop Phil and Sandy Whipple; Matt McKeown (First UB, Holly Hill, Fla.).

Around the table, l-r: Mark and Carla Wilson (Fowlerville UB, Fowlerville, Mich.); Jeremiah and Elisa Ketchum (Brown Corners UB, Clare, Mich.); Bishop Phil and Sandy Whipple; Matt McKeown (First UB, Holly Hill, Fla.).

Around the table, l-r: Jason and Mary Garwood (Colwood UB, Caro, Mich.); Lester and Linda Smith (Hillsdale UB, Hillsdale, Mich.); Marty and Amy Pennington (Mainstreet Church, Walbridge, Ohio); Lisa Fetters, wife of National Ministries director Todd Fetters.

Around the table, l-r: Jason and Mary Garwood (Colwood UB, Caro, Mich.); Lester and Linda Smith (Hillsdale UB, Hillsdale, Mich.); Marty and Amy Pennington (Mainstreet Church, Walbridge, Ohio); Lisa Fetters, wife of National Ministries director Todd Fetters.

The fourth, and final, Pastors Summit began Monday evening in Daytona Beach, Fla. They will meet through Thursday, October 30.

This event is for pastors and wives from our largest churches, those with an attendance exceeding 300. Last week, pastors and wives from churches of 150-300 attendance met at the same hotel along the ocean. Summit for pastors from churches under 150 attendance were held in April and May.

A total of 22 persons are attending this week. They include 9 pastoral couples, plus four persons from the UB National Office–Bishop Phil and Sandy Whipple, and National Ministries director Todd Fetters and his wife, Lisa.

The group began meeting with supper on October 27. After the meal, Matt McKeown, associate pastor of the United Brethren church in nearby Holly Hill, led the group in worship. Then Todd Fetters led a get-better-acquainted time, during which each person/couple told a bit about themselves.

Bishop Phil Whipple will speak to the group on Tuesday morning, and Marty Pennington, pastor of Mainstreet Church (Walbridge, Ohio), will lead a session on Wednesday morning.

24 Oct

October 24, 2014 |

Rev. Howard Munn, 92, passed away October 23, 2014. He was ordained in 1945, and went on to serve as a UB conference superintendent for 23 years in the former Sandusky Conference. He pastored UB churches for 41 years:

  • Bethel UB in Elmore, Ohio (7 years)
  • First UB in New Castle, Pa. (8 years).
  • Mt. Zion UB in Wayne, Ohio (26 years).

After retiring in 1988 he became Pastor of Visitation at Mainstreet UB church in Walbridge, Ohio. His wife, Dolly, whom he wed in 1941, passed away in 2011.

Visitation: 5-8 pm Thursday, October 31.
Visitation location: Dunn Funeral Home, 408 W. Wooster Street, Bowling Green, Ohio.
Funeral: 11 am Friday, October 31, 2014.
Funeral location: Mt. Zion UB church, Wayne, Ohio (corner of Bays and Reynolds Roads).

Rev. Kenneth Graham will officiate at the funeral.