19 Jun On This Day in UB History: June 19 (The Ackermans)

Don and Leora Ackerman and children in 1956.

Don and Leora Ackerman were married on June 19, 1947, at the Van Orin United Brethren church in Illinois. They had met at Huntington College, and after the wedding, they both taught school in Huntington Township. However, they soon sensed God calling them to the mission field. It turned out to be Honduras, where they spent nine years.

Don grew up in Sabetha, Kansas, became a Christian at a United Brethren campmeeting, and enrolled at Huntington College in 1939. He entered the Army in 1943 and was initially trained to fly the P-40 fighter. He had no trouble hitting ground targets, but said, “When it came to an aerial target, I was absolutely no good at all.” He then trained to fly the B-26 bomber. When the Army decided to stop using the B-26, they sent to train on B-17s. By the time he finished that training, the war in Europe ended. So he was sent to bombardier school at the B-29 base…where he basically sat until Japan surrendered.

Don returned to HC in the spring of 1945 and graduated in 1947 with a teaching degree.

Leora Smith was born in Kansas, but lived most of her life in Illinois. She was converted as a child under the preaching of her father, Rev. Cecil Smith. She graduated from Huntington College in 1946, following in the tracks of her older brother and sister. Her sister Juanita spent 15 years as a nurse at Mattru hospital in Sierra Leone, starting in 1950.

In 1945, we assumed oversight of several English-speaking churches in Honduras. The first missionaries were Harry Flickinger and his family, who then pastored the UB church in Hillsdale, Mich. They went in February 1948. They were effective missionaries and accomplished a lot…for three months. Then severe illness struck Flickinger. Doctors advised him to return to the States ASAP, which he did. He was immediately hospitalized, and remained sick for two years.

Flickinger’s illness was largely blamed on unsanitary living conditions. Mission director George Fleming was determined not to let that happen again. He spent two weeks in Honduras in early 1949 and bought a very nice house previously owned by a former ship captain.

A Standard Fruit Company ship delivered the Ackermans to La Ceiba, Honduras, on July 22, 1949. What a surprise when they arrived at their new home–a fully furnished, two-story place with 13 rooms. So big, in fact, that the Ackermans decided to use just the first floor.

The Ackermans were sent mainly to work in the sadly-equipped 80-student school located about a half-mile from their home. George Fleming had warned them about the Spartan conditions–crude furnishings, few books, practically no equipment. Don, a skilled carpenter, set to work crafting a bookcase, blackboard, and other items. A fellow at the fruit company designed a desk, and Don found people to build probably 100 of them, plus chairs.

In addition to their school duties, the Ackermans were involved in the broader church ministry. They would spend practically the entire day at church—morning service at 9 a.m., Sunday school at 2 p.m., and an evening service at 7 p.m. The Ackermans both taught Sunday school classes and led the Wednesday night meeting.

They saw the mission go through major changes, including the shift to a focus on the Spanish-speaking population and village evangelism. In 1956, Don had the vision to buy a large piece of property on the outskirts of La Ceiba. He built the first building there–a cement block mission house which, today, is the conference headquarters. Today, that property is also home to the Bethel Church and the Bethel school.

The school was closed in 1957. However, the Missions board approached the Ackermans about going to Jamaica. They wanted Don to be principal of a new school Jamaica Conference was starting in Kingston. It would have been the first time UB missionaries were transferred from one field to another. However, the Ackermans were never able to secure visas. The Jamaican government figured Don would replace a national as principal of the high school–which was true. As it turned out, the school never got off the ground.

Bishop Robert Rash told Don and Leora about a new UB church starting in Des Moines, Iowa. It could use workers. Don easily landed a position teaching math and science in a junior high school. And there the Ackermans remained until they retired–faithfully serving in the Patricia Park UB church (now closed), going on the occasional work trip, and always remaining intensely interested in the people of Honduras.

Don Ackerman passed away on July 9, 2008. Leora continues living in Hastings, Nebraska. Today would have been their 70th anniversary.

Address: Leora Ackerman, Good Samaritan Village, 707 Circle M, Hastings, NE  68901

15 Jun On This Day in UB History: June 15 (John Dickson)

By the time John Dickson was born on June 15, 1820, his family had been in the New World for three generations. His great-grandfather, amidst political troubles, fled Scotland at age 15 and, after spending a few years in Ireland, arrived in Philadelphia. He eventually settled around Lancaster, Pa.

Dickson’s grandfather was abducted by Indians when he was 7 years old, but was released after three months. He went on to serve in the military, and was one of only three soldiers to escape an Indian massacre; everyone else was killed and scalped. He fought in the Revolutionary War, along with his four brothers, all of whom were dead by the end of the war. One brother was killed at the battle of Monmouth, one at Brandywine, one by Indians, and the other died on the way home.

Dickson parents were Presbyterians, and he was required to recite the Westminster Catechism every Sunday. At age 17, he began teaching school in Pennsylvania. In 1842, he was converted under the preaching of a first-year minister during a service held in a schoolhouse near Chambersburg. Two years later, he became a United Brethren preacher.

For the next 22 years, Dickson was a pastor–sometimes of a circuit of scattered churches, sometimes of a congregation in a single location. He built some churches, and at every place, there were revivals. Henry Adams Thompson wrote of Dickson, “He never left a charge without leaving it in a better condition than when he took it.”

In 1869, Dickson was elected bishop (on the first ballot), and continued in that role until 1893. Daniel Berger said that in chairing meetings, “the progress of business was always safe in his hands.” And, “As an expository preacher, he has been recognized as having no peer in the denomination.” Thompson said Dickson’s style was to “bring home God’s Word with the least amount of verbiage.”

As a bishop, Dickson was a member of the 1885 Church Commission which worked on a new Constitution and Confession of Faith. However, he refused to participate because he feared it would lead to a division…which it did, in 1889. When the division occurred, he did what he could to hold the church together. However, he never considered leaving with Milton Wright. Thompson wrote, “If he could not conscientiously have remained with the Church, he would have sought a home in some other denomination.”

Dickson served one more term, and then was done in 1893.

At one point, Dickson wrote, “As a denomination, we have but little outside of our piety to depend upon. Other denominations have numbers, wealth, political and literary prestige. We are among the smaller denominations, and made up mostly of poor people. We have no author who has a reputation outside of our own denomination, and we have no one in the high places of the nation. If we lack in piety, we have nothing to build on, nothing to commend us to the people.”

Dickson apparently did a lot of writing. Thompson said of him, “While we may not always accept his views, he puts them clearly, forcibly, and without equivocation. We may not always believe in what he says, but we are sure he believes so. He has written nothing foolish. He writes to be understood, and the average reader knows what he means.”

14 Jun On This Day in UB History: June 14 (Three New Bishops)

L-r: George Weaver, Duane Reahm, and Raymond Waldfogel.

We started the 1900s with four bishops, but in 1913 reduced to just three bishops for the next 40 years. In 1951, illness forced Albert M. Johnson to step down after 22 years as bishop. The 1953 General Conference decided to stick with just two bishops.

Clyde Meadows was one of those two bishops throughout the 1960s (1961-1969), and served the final year pretty much by himself after Bishop Robert Rash suffered severe heart problems. Both men retired in 1969.

When the 1969 General Conference ended on June 14, we had three rookie bishops.

George Weaver, had been pastoring the Otterbein UB church in Waynesboro, Pa. He served until 1977, and then left to become president of Winebrenner Seminary in Findlay, Ohio. He passed away in 2002.

Duane Reahm had been Executive Secretary of Missions since 1961. He now became bishop of the East District. In 1973, we created the position of “Overseas Bishop,” so he returned to providing oversight of the foreign conferences. He retired as bishop in 1981, and passed away in 1991 from ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease).

Raymond Waldfogel had been a pastor and fulltime superintendent in North Ohio Conference. He continued as bishop until 1981, and then returned to pastoral ministry. He passed away in 2011.

13 Jun On This Day in UB History: June 13 (Floyd and Kathy Lundy)

Left: Floyd and Janet Lundy. Right: Floyd and Kathy Lundy.

Kathy Custer, a member of Maple Hill UB church (now Homefront) in Grandville, Mich., went to Sierra Leone in October 1977 as secretary to Jerry Datema (who had been her pastor for a few years in the 1970s).

Jerry Datema was elected bishop in June 1981. Kathy came home on furlough that summer, but at the request of the Board of Missions, she returned to Africa in early September, a month early, to help prepare things for the new field secretary, Floyd Lundy.

Floyd and Janet Lundy arrived in Sierra Leone on November 5, 1981. It was not unfamiliar territory: they had served two terms in Sierra Leone 1964-1971. After they returned to the States in 1971, the Lundys settled in DeGraff, Ohio, where Floyd taught in the high school and pastored a church. Then, after a ten-year absence, Bishop Datema approached them about returning to Bumpe to take on the field secretary job. So—back to Sierra Leone.

Kathy Custer served alongside Floyd Lundy for eight months, and then returned to the States in June 1982 for TMJ surgery on her jaw. Her ailment prevented her from returning to Sierra Leone. Instead, she began working in the Missions department–once again, as secretary to Jerry Datema.

Floyd and Janet Lundy concluded their term in 1983, and returned to the States in July of that year. In November 1984, Janet was diagnosed with lung cancer, and then in mid-1985 with a brain tumor. She passed away.

On June 13, 1987, Floyd Lundy married his former secretary in Sierra Leone, Kathy Custer. Since then, they’ve been living in Bellefontaine, Ohio.

And today–June 13, 2017–Floyd and Kathy are celebrating their 30th anniversary. Congratulations!

10 Jun On This Day in UB History: June 10 (Ezra Funk)

Bishop Ezra Funk (right) was known as a great teacher. Looking toward heaven, he once said, “I hope there will be someone for me to teach.” He was especially adept at teaching biblical doctrine.

While pastoring churches in Pennsylvania, Funk chalked up 28 years as an elementary public schoolteacher. A school superintendent described him as “one of the most energetic teachers I have ever known.” And creative. He was always on the lookout for visual aids to use in the classroom. He put a sandbox in his classroom; students played in it, and he used it to teach measurements–quarters, cups, etc. Standing just over 5’3”, Funk wasn’t much taller than his students.

Ezra Funk was born July 3, 1886, in Cheesetown, Pa., just north of Chambersburg. He grew up in the York Brethren, a branch of the plain-dressing River Brethren. Always small for his age, he was subject to much bullying.

At age 20, when he announced to his parents that he was joining the United Brethren to become a minister, it didn’t go over well. But he knew that’s where God wanted him. In 1906, he joined the Salem UB church near Chambersburg and was licensed to preach.

He went on to pastor various churches in Pennsylvania–in Chambersburg, Shippensburg, Orrstown, Strinestown, Waynesboro, Heidlersburg. In 1909 he and Bessie were married, and would have 11 children, two of which died as infants (Ezra assisted in nine of the births). He pastored Baptist churches 1919-1924, but then returned to the UB fold. In 1941, Funk was elected bishop, and served until 1957.

Funk was a voracious reader, and a dedicated walker. Every morning he took a brisk “devotional” walk, during which he would read the Bible and pray. He was always reading something, and was even known to take a book to read during denominational board meetings.

He read the Bible over and over. One time during a UB missions convention in Ontario, while everyone else spent the afternoon visiting Niagara Falls, Funk stayed behind to re-read the Book of Acts, on which he was preaching that night. A note in his Bible said he had already read Acts 111 times.

He was also devoted to UB missions. Two daughters served in Sierra Leone. He traveled three times to Jamaica to teach the pastors, he organized Honduras Conference in 1956, and he also visited our work in Hong Kong and Sierra Leone.

After the 1957 General Conference, Ezra and Bessie, along with daughter Erma, moved to Greencastle, Pa. Within a couple months, he was diagnosed with cancer. Bishop Ezra Funk passed away on June 10, 1958, at age 71.

(Many thanks to Nancy Hull N’Gele, who wrote the chapter about Bishop Funk in United Brethren Bishops, Volume 2.)

09 Jun On This Day in UB History: June 9 (Five Missionaries)

L-r: Lloyd and Eula Eby, Oneta Sewell, Erma Funk, Bernadine Hoffman.

On April 9, we began following the journey of five missionaries to Sierra Leone in 1944–Lloyd and Eula Eby, Bernadine Hoffman, Oneta Sewell, and Erma Funk. On April 20, we left them in Natale, a city on the eastern tip of Brazil jutting into the Atlantic Ocean. From there, they planned to catch a plane to Africa. But it was war-time, and the missionaries found themselves stuck in Brazil for six weeks.

Planes were constantly making the flight across the Atlantic, but military people had priority. Finally, on June 4, Pan Am had a plane for them. A few seats would be filled by the wives of Firestone workers. All the rest would go to missionaries. On June 5, after a 14-hour flight, they landed in Liberia. (The next day, incidentally, the D-Day invasion occurred in Europe.)

Now the five United Brethren missionaries, along with six missionaries from other organizations, had to figure out how to get to Sierra Leone, along with all their luggage. Early one morning, they boarded a small boat for the 30-mile trip along the coast to Sierra Leone.

The rough seas and high waves left nearly everyone at least a little sick. Then, at the mouth of a river, they hit a sandbar, with high waves all around, and it became quite dangerous. The oarsmen jumped overboard and, one by one, carried the passengers ashore. When the wind subsided, they continued on to Sulimah, the southern-most village in Sierra Leone.

It was June 9, 1944. Exactly two months after leaving Indiana, they had arrived in Sierra Leone.

The next day, a doctor arrived from Pujehun on a lorry he had chartered. The missionaries were able to charter it back to Pujehun. From there, the eleven missionaries took a lorry to Bo, which was as far as the six non-UB missionaries needed to go.

The next day, the five UBs traveled by lorry to Mattru, and then took a boat to Bonthe. They had arrived.

08 Jun On This Day in UB History – 100 Posts So Far This Year

Throughout 2017, we are recognizing significant events and stories from throughout our history. About every other day, a story is posted on UBCentral and Facebook. As of today, 100 stories have been posted this year. Number 101 will be posted on June 9. You can see them all listed here.

On that same page, you can subscribe to the UB Daily News to get each post by email. You can also see them by “liking” the United Brethren Facebook page.

You’ll find stories about UB missionaries, former bishops, significant meetings, influential people, important events, and more. “On This Day in UB History” will give you a greater appreciation for our heritage as a Church.

07 Jun On This Day in UB History: June 7, 1992 (Canada)

Three bishops influential in the history of the United Brethren Church in Canada (l-r): C. Ray Miller, John Jacob Glossbrenner, and Jacob Erb.

On June 7, 1992, Bishop C. Ray Miller officially established the United Brethren Church in Canada. For nearly 20 years, he had been bishop of the UB churches in Canada. But no more. Now they were a self-governing national conference–the first in our denomination.

Bishop Miller was, sort of, the second bishop to establish the Canadian conference.

John Jacob Glossbrenner served as bishop 1845-1885. That’s 40 years, which is longer (by 12 years) than any other United Brethren bishop. So he did a lot of things during his tenure. One of which was organizing a conference in Canada. That happened on April 19, 1856.

United Brethrenism in Canada developed in a hodgepodge sort of way, and involved an assortment of people.

A non-UB named John Cornell, from the “Cornell University” family, moved to Ontario in 1800 and spent the rest of his life as a preacher there. He started a number of churches.

Jacob Erb, a United Brethren minister from Ohio, was sent by his home conference, Pennsylvania, as a missionary to Canada around 1825. He preached and scattered a lot of seed, but didn’t organize any churches. He went back and forth, but had a continuing relationship with Canada. Erb was elected bishop in 1837 at the ripe old age of 33. He served eight years, took four years off, and then served another term, 1849-1853.

Bishop Christian Newcomer crossed into Canada in 1826 and preached at Fort Erie, right across the border from Buffalo. Some UBs had apparently immigrated to Canada, because Newcomer mentioned meeting “many acquaintances whom I had not seen for many years.”

Which brings us back to John Cornell. In 1854, Cornell, now a 72-year-old, began considering retirement. What would become of his scattered congregations? He met with Jacob Erb, liked what he heard about the United Brethren church, and brought his churches under the UB umbrella.

Two years later, Bishop Glossbrenner officially organized the Canada Mission Conference. There were eight ordained ministers—four Americans, and four Canadians (including John Cornell and his son, William)—plus one other licensed minister. The minutes from 1856 showed 152 members among 18 preaching appointments and seven organized churches. Growth came quickly. By 1863, membership had hit 1000.

What exactly did Bishop Miller do in 1992? He established the Canadian churches as a separate national conference. They had always been Ontario Conference, just another annual conference governed out of an office in Indiana. That went against Canadian laws. To retain their charitable status, our Canadian churches needed to be self-governing with their own Constitution. All UB national conferences are now set up this way.

So, Canada owns two firsts: our first conference outside of the United States, and our first national conference.

06 Jun On This Day in UB History: June 6 (1815 Conference)

When the United Brethren denomination officially organized in 1800, we had a single conference, with churches located mostly in Pennsylvania, the Virginias, and Maryland. As the country moved west, UB people moved with it. First stop: Ohio. In 1810, Christian Newcomer (not yet a bishop) met with 15 ministers near Dayton, Ohio, and organized what became known as the Miami Conference (after the Miami Valley of western Ohio).

For several years, the Eastern Conference (sometimes called the Original Conference) and the Miami Conference held separate annual meetings. In 1813, after the death of both Martin Boehm and William Otterbein, the Eastern Conference elected Christian Newcomer to a one-year term as bishop, and in 1814 elected him for another three years. The Miami Conference was not involved in those elections. So only part of the United Brethren Church was choosing the bishop.

Delegates from the two conferences finally met together in 1815. They met at a schoolhouse in Mount Pleasant, Pa., which was kind of halfway between Dayton and Lancaster. The Ohio folks had farther to travel, but didn’t need to cross the Allegheny Mountains like the Pennsylvania folks.

This first “General Conference” convened on June 6, 1815. That was 202 years ago.

The 1815 General Conference was significant in that they adopted a Confession of Faith and Discipline. However, they profoundly felt the absence of the founders. Martin Boehm and George Geeting had died in 1812, and William Otterbein in 1813. These were men whose word was law. As it was said, somebody else could hold the office of bishop, but nobody could replace the man.

Christian Newcomer presided along with Andrew Zeller, an Ohio minister. Things didn’t start well. On the opening day, Newcomer wrote, “Instead of love and unanimity, the spirit of hatred and discord seemed to prevail.”

It got slightly better the next day. Newcomer wrote, “The heat had considerably abated and the business before us was conducted better than I expected.” And yet, “The sky was not exactly clear.” Things would go smoothly for a bit, and suddenly ministers would be throwing around sharp words.

“This could not last long,” wrote Newcomer. “The darkening clouds which hung over this conference must be cleared away.”

So, they halted everything and held “such a prayer meeting your humble servant never witnessed before nor since. Brethren with streaming eyes embraced and thanked God.”

Much, much better.

Some historians say Christian Newcomer and Andrew Zeller were elected bishops in 1815. The reality seems to be that they weren’t elected until 1817. They wanted to hold General Conference every four years, but Newcomer’s three-year term would end in 1817.

So, to get the schedules in sync, they held a second General Conference just two years later, in 1817. During that meeting, Newcomer and Zeller were elected as bishops. From then on, up until 2005, General Conference was held every four years.

03 Jun On This Day in UB History: June 3 (Marvin Price)

On June 3, 1991, Rev. Marvin D. Price was doing one of the things he enjoyed most: fishing. He was by himself out in a boat on a lake where he had fished many times before, a lake near Warsaw, Ind. But tragedy struck this day. Pastor Price fell out of the boat and, unable to swim, he drowned. Several people watching from the shore were unable to help him in time. Some think he may have had a heart attack.

Marvin Price was known much more as a fisher of men than as a fisher of fish. While he took up fishing in the 1980s, he had developed a passion for soul-winning decades before. It was not a hobby, or something to be done occasionally or when the opportunity arose. Rather, for Marvin Price, leading people to Christ was a consuming priority.

Marvin grew up in the home of Rev. Homer and Amanda Price, who served 16 United Brethren pastorates, the longest lasting just four years. Of those, 11 were church plants. He recalled, “My father’s zealous use of spiritual gifts enabled him to establish congregations quickly where there were none. Personal evangelism and crusade evangelism were both major parts of his ministry.”

When Marvin was in second grade, the family pulled a mobile home from church to church conducting evangelistic and revival meetings. Marvin attended 17 different schools that year. “I never fought church attendance,” he wrote in the November 1993 UB newsletter. “It was central to my life.”

While still a teenager, Marvin was assisting his father on the platform and in other areas of leadership. He began preaching at age 16. While a sophomore at Huntington College, he returned to Hillsdale, Mich., to preach a crusade and 35 people accepted Christ.

Marvin pastored two different churches while attending Huntington College. There, he met Grace Ann Graham, who grew up in the Colwood UB church in Caro, Mich. They were married in 1955. Their first UB pastorate was in Topeka, Kansas. After three years there, they were assigned to the Orange Avenue congregation in San Diego, Calif., where they enjoyed a very fruitful six-year ministry.

That was followed by 14 years of exciting growth at First UB in Lake Havasu City, Ariz. During that time, he reported 1745 people who came to Christ. Many people from that church went into fulltime ministry—the pastorate, missions, parachurch organizations, Huntington College, and other areas. Marvin’s sister, Ruth Ann Price, attended First UB while teaching school in Lake Havasu City. She left in 1969 to begin a career as a Wycliffe missionary. Marvin’s oldest daughter, Debbie Price Osberg, would eventually become a missionary in Honduras.

In 1981, the Prices began an eight-and-a-half year ministry at the Morning Star church in Kokomo, Ind. After that, the Prices moved to Spencerville, Ohio, to pastor the Monticello UB church. They were there just 18 months when the fishing accident occurred—but during that time, at least 41 people accepted Christ. During Marvin’s last service at Monticello, a young man was commissioned to ministry and received his local conference license.

Marvin wrote in 1993, “I have understood my call to be a divine one, a distinct honor and privilege….I remain in awe of the high and holy calling of having been set apart by my heavenly Father as one of His under-shepherds.”