27 May Stories of Life-Change

Our first consultation was in December 2006 at Banner of Christ church in Byron Center, Mich., in the greater Grand Rapids area. Pat Jones made monthly coaching visits for the next year.

During the past year, at least 40 conversions have occurred at Banner. Pastor Mike Caley tells about the banquet at the end of their Upward Basketball season:

“We had to hold the banquet at a neighboring United Methodist church, because over 700 people came. The altar was filled at the end of the evening. Quite honestly, we were unprepared for the response and frustrated that we couldn’t process those conversions the way we wanted to. But it was a great evening. We had grandparents walk forward to make decisions to trust Christ for the first time.”

Isn’t that great? What stories of life-change can you tell from your own church during the past year? I want to hear them. Write something in the comments.

15 May Three More UBs Churches Join One Prayer

Seven UB churches are now among the 830-plus churches across the world that are participating in One Prayer. Four were mentioned in an earlier post. Now they are joined by:

• Colwood UB (Caro, Mich.; Phil Whipple, pastor).
• Christ Fellowship (Westerville, Ohio; David Hedrick, pastor).
• Devonshire church (Harrisburg, Pa.; Todd Fetters, pastor).

12 May Church Closing

Prince of Peace UB (Springfield, Ohio) has voted to close.

20 Apr New Life in Kansas.

Highland Avenue UB church in Chanute, Kansas, has a new name: New Life Church. Michael Longfellow is the pastor.

17 Apr Closing of Pennfield UB

Pennfield UB church of Battle Creek, Mich., has been closed. The building has been sold and the funds will be forwarded for use in church planting.

15 Apr Buried in Cans for Habitat

Anchor Community Church is working with nearby Grace Presbyterian church and several other Presbyterian churches in a Habitat for Humanity project. They have been raising funds for about a year, and are almost ready to start on the home.

The most recent project involved collecting aluminum cans. The goal was to bury Todd German of Grace (right) in pop cans. The catch: Todd is 6’7″ tall. Everyone brought their pop cans to Grace on Sunday, April 13, to see if they could do it.

Members of Grace used pvc pipe and plasting netting to construct a seven-foot-tall pen. Todd put on his hunting boots, a rain poncho, and a football helmet, and in he went. Louise McCracken of Grace (and Todd’s mother-in-law), who is heading up the Habitat project, wrote:

“By the time he was covered up to his chest, we were out of cans…I thought. In came the channel 15 photographer, and my heart sank. Behind him, however, came many people from Anchor Community Church with many bags of cans. Plus, our pastor had held back her six or seven big bags. The cans were overflowing the top of the container, and Todd was completely out of sight! It was lovely!”

Todd, submerged in cans, used a piece of garden hose to breathe.
In the end, 28 huge bags of cans were hauled to Omni Source for recycling.

14 Apr Technology and Churches

Public Opinion, a newspaper in Chambersburg, Pa., published an article online called “Technology Benefits Local Churches.” It includes (clear at the end) comments from Ken Adams, business manager of King Street United Brethren Church in Chambersburg.

09 Apr Wild Game Dinner in Ontario

Shiloh UB church (Tiverton, Ontario) held its fourth annual wild game dinner. The event raised $1043 to help support David and Melissa Kline, missionaries in Macau, surpassing the church’s 2008 commitment to the Klines.

Almost 100 people attended, compared to 50-60 people in previous years. Donna Doern of Shiloh wrote, “The people just kept on coming in and coming in. It was a little overwhelming at first, but we soon learned to go with the flow. We did have lots of wild meat and lots of regular food as well. It was a great night.”

The people watched a CD from the Christian Deer Hunters Association which presented many testimonies from hunters. The speaker was a well-known Wildlife Management associate who has his own business trapping and moving animals.

The speaker even donated a turkey cooker, which they used to fry wild turkey.
And here was the menu:

03 Apr Six Men Find Christ at “Breakfast of Champions”

On Saturday, March 15, Franklin UB church in New Albany, Ohio, held its first annual Breakfast of Champions. The purpose was to bring as many unchurched men as possible to hear the gospel presented and give men an opportunity to accept Jesus Christ. Six men responded, giving their life to Christ.

The church has developed a friendship with the local Athletes In Action ministry at Ohio State University. Using that contact, they secured Roy Hall, former Buckeye and current Indianapolis Colts wide receiver. Roy was the featured speaker, with Tom Rode of Athletes in Action the host. Roy shared that his faith in Christ never became real until he learned that football was not the most important thing in life. Of the 30 people who attended the breakfast, 55% were not from Franklin.

In addition to Breakfast of Champions, Franklin has held Fall Football Sunday the last four years with Buckeye players Vernon Gholston, David Patterson, and Marcus Freeman sharing their testimony. Gholston and Patterson are now on NFL teams making an impact for Christ; Freeman is a senior this year for OSU and is expected to be a Defensive Captain.