02 Apr Easter Story: Hillsdale, Mich.

Pastor Les Smith conducting one of the 15 baptisms at Hillsdale UB on Easter Sunday.

Lester Smith (right), senior pastor, Hillsdale UB church (Hillsdale, Mich.)

The HUB in Hillsdale, Mich., holds two services each Sunday in two different locations in the church building. The 9:30 service is held in the smaller sanctuary and the 11:00 service takes place in the Worship Center (gym). A SON-Rise breakfast was held in between Resurrection services at the HUB Activity Center building.

There were four baptisms in the first service and eleven more in the second. The first service attendance was close to 200 and the second service was completely filled with over 500 present. A grand total of 728 were ministered to by the Children’s Choir in the two services.

Two of the 15 baptized were women who were saved earlier this year at the HUB.

01 Apr Easter Story: Gettysburg, Pa.

For the second year, Heidlersburg UB church (Gettysburg, Pa.) held an Easter Community Outreach. Debbie Frost, from Heidlersburg UB, writes:

“We always have an amazing donation of hard boiled eggs that our children color the Sunday before the event. The children come on a Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m. and are divided into age groups in the sanctuary, where they will first hear the advertisement for Summer Vacation Bible School. The lady that heads this up, Sharon Megonnell, has a gift for rallying the church together to help. She gets so many volunteers: kitchen, crafts, animal lovers for the petting zoo.

“Each age group is led around by two or more leaders to each one of the stations–egg hunt, petting area (live goat, chicks, bunnies, etc.), pony rides, lunch, small crafts. The event is held inside the church and outside for the animals and egg hunt. My daughters run the horse camps at Rhodes Grove Summer Camp, so God has blessed us with some amazingly calm, obedient horses. Animals always draw interest. We are a farming community, so there are lots of animals to go around.”

01 Apr Easter Story: Renew Communities (Berea, Ohio)

Todd and Michelle Manke are part of ReNew Communities, a two-year-old United Brethren church in Berea, Ohio. Todd and Michelle lead one of the church’s missional communities. On Easter Sunday, they told their story through this video.

28 Mar Anchor Holds Service on St. Francis U Campus

The Anchor worship team leading the music part of the service. (click to enlarge)

On Palm Sunday, 4pm in the afternoon, Anchor Community Church (Fort Wayne, Ind.) did a service on the campus of St. Francis University, about a mile down the road from the church. Several churches in the 46808 zip code took turns conducting a service, one service a month, as a way to introduce St. Francis students to some of the nearby churches. Palm Sunday was Anchor’s turn.

Associate Pastor Kevin Whitacre gave the sermon, starting off with a drama in which he put himself in the position of one of the thieves crucified with Jesus. The Anchor worship team led the music.

26 Mar Helping a City–and Canada–Mourn

Constable Jennifer Kovach.

Over 5000 police offers participated in the funeral procession.

Police officers carry the casket to the front of the packed arena for the funeral.

Bishop Brian Magnus on the platform during the service.

The Ontario city of Guelph experienced a major loss on March 14 when Constable Jennifer Kovach, 26, was killed while on duty. She was responding to a call for assistance from another officer when, amidst the snow and poor road conditions, her cruiser crossed the center line and hit a transit bus head on. The bus had no passengers at the time. Firefighters extracted her from the vehicle and she was taken to a hospital, but she died of her injuries.

Constable Kovach was the first Guelph policeman to die in the line of duty since 1964, and only the third in the city’s history.

Over 5000 policeman from across Canada and the northern United States attended the funeral on Thursday, March 21, in the packed municipal arena. They formed a huge procession marching through the streets–police officers on foot, on horseback, and on motorcycles, including over 30 police dogs. Flags flew at half mast, and all city buses changed their signs to read, “R.I.P # 72,” which was Kovach’s badge number.

Brian Magnus (right), bishop of the United Brethren Church in Canada and pastor of the Parkwood Gardens UB church in Guelph, was heavily involved in the funeral. After days of grief counseling and four sessions of visitation–11 hours on March 19 and 10 hours on March 20–he conducted the funeral before over 6000 people in the Sleeman Centre. The funeral was broadcast across Canada on national TV. In attendance were many members of parliament, federal and provincial leaders, the Premier of Ontario, the Lieutenant Governor (the Queen’s representative), and others.

For Bishop Magnus, there was a very personal connection. She was a personal friend.

“We lived next door to the Kovach family for ten years,” he wrote. “Jennifer and our daughter, Heather, were friends since Jennifer was two years old. She was at our house for sleepovers, birthday parties, youth events, etc. The funeral was as moving an event as I’ve ever experienced. I’ve been stopped by many people while in the store, walking the dog, etc., to talk. It’s opened up opportunities to share Christ!”

21 Mar Hillsdale UB Opens Skatepark

The Hillsdale UB church (Hillsdale, Mich.) opened a skatepark in January 2013. It is held 6-8 pm on Sunday nights in the church’s activity center.

The skatepark began as a group of three friends, and has grown to see as many as 17 people attend. Josh Quiggle, a volunteer who has served on the youth leadership team for about four years, heads up the ministry.

Kurt Charleville (right), director of Worship & Student Ministries, explains some of the background.

“A couple years ago we looked into starting an outdoor skatepark, as there is a need for one in our community. The overall cost of the park was too great, so we put the project on hold. Recently, we were given permission to skate on the floors inside our activity center, and the resulting skate times have experienced rapid growth and lots of interest. Even with only a few ramps and obstacles, it has still drawn people.

“Its amazing how once we opened the doors to this ministry, people jumped in wanting to help get it going. We have ramps and half pipes being offered to us, and we have volunteers making up the waivers for us.

“Best of all, we have already seen a couple of younger students come to the Wednesday night middle school program, where they are being exposed to the Gospel. It is an incredible opportunity to get to know people from the community, and it gives us a chance to invite them to church.”

19 Mar 15 Decisions for Christ at Sportsman’s Banquet

Praise Point Church (Willshire, Ohio) held a Sportsman’s Banquet on March 9, 2013. The Sportman’s Banquet was organized as an outreach opportunity. Over 200 people attended, and prizes valued at over $7000 were given away. Fifty volunteers from the church help make it a success. The video above shows some of what happened at the banquet. (You can also view it here.)

Pastor Brad Kittle writes, “It was crazy exhausting, but I’d done them before and I knew the possible impact. At the banquet we gave opportunities for guys to make first-time commitments, etc. As a result, 10 adults and 5 students make first-time commitments at the banquet. We also had a lot of guys check on a response card that they wanted to know more about what it means to follow Christ and even more wanted to know more about the church.”

On Sunday, March 17, youth pastor Marcus Flood talked individually with teens. “Nine teens made made recommitments because they realized they hadn’t been living like a Christian, and 1 teen made a first-time commitment to Christ.”

Kittle continued, “I’m hoping these trends continue, and now the real work begins with the discipleship end of things (and I was hoping for rest after the banquet).”

19 Mar Hillsdale UB Concludes 4th Upwards Season

On Saturday, March 2, Hillsdale UB (Hillsdale, Mich.) held the closing program for their fourth Upwards season. Over 300 elementary age kids were enrolled in the two events, basketball and cheerleading, more than doubling the number from the first season.

Each year, the church gains new families through Upwards. “Most of the kids in Upwards are not from our church,” says Pastor Lester Smith (right).

The Upwards program is for children in kindergarten through grade 6. The basketball program had 252 students, and 60-some girls participated in cheerleading. In addition, 78 volunteers helped out each week.

Pastor Smith estimated that over 1000 people came through the church’s doors each Saturday during the season (January and February).

The kids wore their Upwards uniforms for the closing program. As each team was introduced, they took the stage with cheerleaders cheering them on. Each basketball participants received a basketball, and duffel bags were given to the cheerleaders.

Then came Jon Bruney, a minister whose program, Pressing the Limits, includes acts of strength and endurance–breaking cinder blocks with his first, ripping apart phone books, tearing open a pop can, etc. Along with these demonstrations, Bruney presents the gospel message.

19 Mar Renew Communities at Age 2

On March 11, Renew Communities (Berea, Ohio) celebrated its second anniversary as a church. They put together the video above to celebrate what God has done in their midst during the past two years. It is narrated by founding pastor Andy Sikora (right). (You can also view it here.)

13 Mar Blue Rock Team Works in Honduras

Members of the Blue Rock team at work in Honduras.

Blue Rock UB (Waynesboro, Pa.) sent a group of 8 men to Honduras in February to work at the national compound in La Ceiba. Five men left on February 17, and the other three left on February 22.

The purpose of the trip was to secure the school and the buildings in the compound. The first group gathered the supplies they needed, found local workers, and arranged to have a gate and some window covers made and installed. Juanita Chavez, superintendent of Honduras Conference, hosted the team.

Dave Blubaugh, a member of the team, wrote:

We had a block wall to finish that runs the whole length of the property. A gate was removed, and a smaller gate was replaced with a new one. We also had some windows Encased with grills that finished all of the first floor windows in the compound. Superintendent Chavez also asked if we could extend the back of the bookstore to the block wall. That would give them storage room and help organize the store a little better.

We were also asked to update the kitchen in the administration building. They needed more cupboard space and the counter top needed replaced. Last, she wanted a little flower garden space beside the new part of the bookstore.

With the help of the Lord we finished all of this and even did some concrete work off the back porch leading to the new gate.

On our last Friday, Juanita’s husband, Carlos, took us to the Dole processing plant for a guided tour. That was something that very few folks get to see. We saw pineapples from the field to the shipping crate and everything in between. After the tour we went back to the hotel and got our swimming suits and went to the kids camp for a swim.

On our way back we stopped by the compound to finish up with sister Juanita and those that were still there. She prayed with us and then Pastor Greg Helman prayed. That is always a hard time for all of us, saying good-bye.