30 May Pleasant Hill UB Rebuilds After 2005 Fire

A dedication service was held May 7 for the new Pleasant Hill UB church, located in the small community of Mount Pleasant about ten miles outside of Muncie, Ind. On May 1, 2005, a fire destroyed the old portion of the church and the sanctuary suffered severe water and smoke damage.
Pleasant Hill dates back to 1835, when informal meetings were held. The first church was a log building located near the present church site; a new church was built there in 1860.

The building which burned in 2005.

When the denomination divided in 1889, the people followed the leadership of Bishop Milton Wright in leaving the main church body. In the process, they, like many other such congregations, lost their building. They held meetings in a sawmill until a new church could be erected in 1892. The church, according to its history, was dedicated debt-free.
A room was added around 1915. Sometime later a small basement was dug, and it was expanded to a full basement in 1957. The original belfry was replaced with a new one in 1963. Men and women always sat on opposite sites of the church. That tradition ended following the marriage of Paul and Minnie Huffman, who insisted on sitting together.
Dr. Ray Seilhamer held revival services at Pleasant Hill in 1976. Afterwards, the congregation decided to build a new sanctuary and fellowship hall.

30 May A Joint UB and Wesleyan Church Plant

The Sunfield UB Church (Sunfield, Mich.) and Impact Weslyan Church of Lowell, Mich., are partnering to start a church in Portland, Mich. The launch will be on October 6.
Mark Ralph (right), pastor of Sunfield UB, writes, “Recently, we negotiated with an American Legion Hall to take over their utility bills and fix the place up and also to cover all insurance costs. The location is right off I-96 between Lansing and Grand Rapids. Already there is a buzz going on in Portland about this new church plant. We covet your prayers as a Wesleyan Church and UB church work together to build the Kingdom.”

27 May Update on the Jerusalem Chapel Fire

On Thursday morning, a fire struck the Jerusalem Chapel UB church in Churchville, Va. The old sanctuary, which goes back over 100 years, and Sunday school facilities were destroyed, causing about $750,l000 of damage. The fire is being blamed on faulty wiring.

Here is a local news report about the fire and the church:

• Church and Faith Rebuilds at Burned Church

25 May Jerusalem Chapel Struck by Fire

About 5:30 this morning (May 25), a fire was discovered in the “old” section of Jerusalem Chapel in Churchville, Va. The old chapel and Christian education wing in that facility were a total loss. The new sanctuary, offices, fellowship hall, and classrooms appear to be fine, except for some possible smoke damage. It is suspected that an electrical short in the old sanctuary caused the fire.
Pastor Denny Sites (right), who has been in Denver but is flying back this morning, sent an email to Bishop Ron Ramsey about the fire. He reported, “The fire was discovered by a couple of faithful prayer warriors that daily go to the church to pray about 5:00 a.m. They called the local fire department and made the staff aware of the situation. We are grateful for such prayer warriors and their dedication to prayerfully keep the needs of the church family and community before the Lord, and who have now been the intercessors in sparing part of our worship facility.”
Denny says the trustees and associate pastors are supervising the emergency measures, along with the help of eight local fire departments.

24 May Church Withdrawal – New Castle, Ind.

The Eastside UB church in New Castle, Ind., withdrew from the denomination as of March 2006. The pastor was Tom Current.

16 May Church Closing / Church Withdrawal

• The UB church in Leavenworth, Kansas, has withdrawn from the denomination. The pastor is Rev. Joseph Trusty.
• The Zion UB church in Shade, Ohio, has closed.
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04 May Anchor and Emmanuel Team for Relandscaping Project

Some of the workers. Pastor Tim Hallman of Anchor is third from the right, and Pastor Bob Bruce (Emmanuel) is second from the left.

On Saturday, April 22, landscaping trucks and equipment and about 30 workers descended on Third Street in Fort Wayne, where they relandscaped five homes. This was a joint project between two United Brethren churches: Anchor Community Church, which is located on Third Street, and Emmanuel Community Church. The crew cleaned up yards, laid lots of fresh mulch, put in new plants, raked up leaves, and generally left the homes looking great.
Pastor Tim Hallman of Anchor and Chris Moore, an associate staffperson at Emmanuel, initiated the project. But Tom Clounie, an elder at Emmanuel who owns a large landscaping company, Clounie Landscaping, then made it happen. Hallman identified five homes along Third Street and talked to the owners for permission to relandscape their yards. Tom then brought in the equipment and organized the work. They started early that Saturday morning and finished by noon.
About 15 people from Anchor participated. The others came from Emmanuel, with Tom Clounie adding a few of his regular employees.
Anchor Community Church started in 1998 with a core group of about 40 people from Emmanuel. The church had existed there since the 1930s as Third Street UB church. It was closed in May 1998 for five months, underwent extensive renovations, and then reopened with new leadership and a new vision in October 1998.
For more photos from the project, follow the link below.

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01 May Pleasant Hill — After the Fire

The Pleasent Hill Church just outside Muncie, Ind., is having a special service on Sunday, May 7 at 2:00 p.m. to honor the fireman and police departments that did so much to save most of the building during the fire last year, and also those contractors who did the work to rebuild the building that was distroyed by the fire.