14 May On This Day in UB History: May 14 (Buddy Labor)

On May 14, 1988, John Buddy Labor graduated from Huntington College with a degree in Business. He was from Bumpe, Sierra Leone. His father, John Labor, was principal of Bumpe High school and a longtime leader in Sierra Leone Conference.

Buddy was born in Huntington on January 30, 1964, when his father was a student at Huntington College. The next day, in the same hospital, Tom Datema was born. They would be friends in Sierra Leone, and teammates at Huntington College.

Buddy Labor was, few people would dispute, HC’s best-ever soccer player. His number 10 jersey was retired on February 23, 1988, even before he graduated. A four-time all-American from 1984-87, Buddy held many HC soccer records: most goals scored in a game (4), most goals scored in a season (28), most goals scored in a career (100), most assists in a career (32), most points in a career (232), and most points in a game (10). He was the team MVP all four years.

The various collegiate athletic organizations recognized him.

• NAIA. All-district team all four years, honorable mention All-America 1984-85, second-team All-America 1986, and first-team All-America 1987.
• NCCAA. All-America from 1984-87, during which he ranked among the top ten goal scorers all four years.
• NCAA District III. All-District 1984-87. The 1986 team placed fourth nationally in the NCCAA.

Buddy Labor was inducted into the Huntington University Hall of Fame on December 1, 2001. He now lives in Atlanta and is a sales account manager for NexTraq.

13 May On This Day in UB History: May 13 (1889 Division)

On May 13, 1889–Day Four of General Conference–Bishop Milton Wright (right) and 14 other delegates walked out. They’d had enough. Time to start a new denomination.

General Conference was being held in York, Pa., and everyone figured there would be fireworks. For years, the “Liberals” and “Radicals” (us) had been fighting over the future of the church, and the Liberals had the votes. They were using the 1889 General Conference to make some huge changes:

• Adopt a new Confession of Faith.
• Allow laypersons to be delegates to General Conference (until then, ministers were running the show).
• Soften the stand against Freemasonry.
• Adopt a new Constitution.

The Constitution couldn’t be changed unless two-thirds of all United Brethren members–not just those voting–approved the change. That made it practically impossible to change the Constitution. And the Constitution said–no changing the Confession of Faith, no lay delegates, and no connection with secret societies (read: Freemasonry).

The Liberals, since they had the votes, basically decided to just ignore the Constitution. They made the changes they wanted to make, and the conference ended with a new Constitution and new Confession of Faith.

But before these votes were taken, Bishop Milton Wright and his supporters left in protest. We don’t know if they stormed out, or just quietly existed. Whatever the case, their departure was noticed and mourned, but it made no difference.

Wright & Co. gathered at the Park Opera House in York, where they reconvened as the “true” United Brethren in Christ Church. They argued that the Liberals had withdrawn and formed a brand new denomination with a new Constitution and bylaws. The Liberals had 250,000 members and the Radicals had about 15,000 members, so it’s a stretch to say THEY withdrew from us. But that was Milton Wright’s story, and he stuck to it.

There in the Park Opera House, the delegates re-elected Wright as bishop and elected three rookie bishops.

The whole thing was messy and sad. But today’s United Brethren church–which this year is celebrating its 250th anniversary–is descended from that small group of protesters. Otherwise, like the descendents of those other 250,000, we’d all be United Methodists.

11 May On This Day in UB History: May 11 (Civil War)

The entire Civil War occurred between the General Conferences of 1861 and 1865.

Almost all UB members in Virginia opposed slavery, but were basically cut off from the rest of the denomination. When the war started, some UBs suggested going independent and forming a southern United Brethren church.

However, Bishop Jacob John Glossbrenner (right) decided to stay in Virginia throughout the war, and he was the glue. The Maryland and Virginia churches, part of the same conference, held separate annual conferences for the duration. Glossbrenner was allowed to pass through the battle lines to hold conference for the Maryland churches and then return to Virginia.

The 1865 General Conference met May 11, 1865, in Iowa. By that time, the war had been over for a month. However, on May 10, Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy, was finally captured in Georgia. When this news reached the conference, there was much rejoicing and they broke out in the “Doxology.”

Bishop Glossbrenner was there. Some ministers initially treated him coldly, suspicious of his decision to spend the war in Confederate territory. But after hearing Glossbrenner’s story, delegates passed a resolution commending his heroic leadership of the Virginia churches during the war.

The Civil War, which United Brethren people generally viewed as a just war to end a great evil, prompted us to reconsider our 1849 statement which emphasized pacifism. The 1865 General Conference, while still opposing aggressive warfare, added, “We believe it to be entirely consistent with the spirit of Christianity to bear arms when called upon to do so by the properly constituted authorities of our government for its preservation and defense.”

By 1865, Glossbrenner had already served 20 years as bishop. He continued another 20 years. His 40 years as bishop is longer than any other bishop, ever. He died two years after leaving office, possibly of stomach cancer.

10 May On This Day in UB History: May 10, 1767 – The Actual Day We Began

This year, 2017, the United Brethren Church celebrates its 250th anniversary. But May 10 is the exact day. On that day in 1767, our founders, Martin Boehm and William Otterbein, met in a barn in Lancaster, Pa. It was Pentecost Sunday.

“Great Meetings” dated back to the 1720s. They were usually independent religious gatherings, not connected to any particular group, and they were typically held at farms over a period of two or three days. Word would go out about an upcoming meeting—time, place, etc. People would pack up enough clothes and food to last a few days, travel however many miles they needed to travel, and bunk in homes, barns, tents, or crude shelters built just for the event. The host would stockpile food and maybe slaughter a few hogs, sheep, or even a cow. And let’s not forget the horses, who needed grain.

Various preachers would show up, gather a crowd, and let loose to everyone in hearing range. Several might be preaching at the same time on different parts of the farm—one in the barn, one under the big oak tree, one from the farmhouse porch. People from rural areas who maybe didn’t have regular access to a minister were able to sit under meaty preaching, and the fellowship was good. Probably the eating, too. Whole communities would find the Holy Spirit descending in power and changing everything.

Isaac Long, along with his brothers John and Benjamin, were among Martin Boehm’s converts among the Mennonites. All three were successful farmers. Isaac often accompanied Boehm to Great Meetings. In 1767, Isaac offered to host a Great Meeting at the barn his family had built 13 years before six miles northeast of Lancaster. How about May 10?

William Otterbein was then pastoring in York, Pa. He traveled the 30 miles to Lancaster. A minister from Virginia was preaching to an overflow crowd in the orchard. But Otterbein decided to go into the barn to hear Martin Boehm preach.

Boehm told about his conversion experience. As he plowed his fields, he knelt at the end of each row to pray, and the word “Lost! Lost!” continually hovered over him. Finally, halfway through a row, he broke. Falling to his knees, Boehm cried out, “Lord save, I am lost!” The words of Luke 19:10 immediately came to him, “I am come to seek and save that which is lost.” Joy poured through him. He ran to the house and told his wife what had happened.

The story clearly paralleled a life-changing experience Otterbein had had 22 years before when pastoring a church right there in Lancaster. He realized, “This man and I believe and have experienced the same things!”

Otterbein couldn’t contain himself. When Boehm finished preaching, Otterbein embraced him and exclaimed, “Wir sind Bruder!” We are brethren!

And thus began a lifelong friendship, and a new movement. A movement that became the Church of the United Brethren in Christ.

09 May On This Day in UB History: May 9 (General Conference)

On May 9, 1929, General Conference began at the King Street United Brethren church in Chambersburg, Pa. Beginning in 1949, General Conference would always be held in Huntington, Ind. (up through 2005). But before that, they moved around, like we do now for the US National Conference.

The previous year, 1928, King Street got a new pastor, a young fellow named Clyde Meadows (right). He would remain King Street’s pastor for 33 years, until being elected bishop in 1961. In one way or another, a Meadows was represented at General Conference for most of the 1900s.

Clyde’s father, a UB minister, attended the 1917 General Conference as a delegate from Virginia. It was held that year in Kitchener, Ontario — the only time General Conference was held outside of the United States (until 2010).

Clyde attended the next two General Conferences as part of a Huntington College quartet that provided special music — the 1921 conference in Messick, Ind., and 1925 conference in Adrian, Mich. He then was host pastor of the 1929 General Conference.

Meadows loved telling the story of what happened in 1933. Pennsylvania Conference elected him as a delegate to the conference held in Hillsdale, Mich. However, the rules said you had to be a member of your conference for three years, and he fell two months short. “Consequently, they more or less threw me out,” he wrote in his autobiography. “I could attend the sessions, eat with the delegates, and stay in the dormitory, but I couldn’t vote or speak.”

From 1937-1961, Meadows was a legitimate delegate from Pennsylvania Conference. He chaired the 1965 and 1969 General Conferences as bishop, and from 1973-1993 was, again, an elected delegate from Pennsylvania Conference. In those later years, he was always called upon to make the motion to adjourn. He then attended the 1997 General Conference; as Bishop Emeritus, he had advisory status. Clyde Meadows passed away two years later, at age 98.

In 1929, we had 20 conferences, 19 of which sent delegates to King Street for General Conference. That seemed to be a high water mark. Conferences soon began a series of mergers, until in 1981, we were down to 11 conferences. As an example, the Auglaize and Scioto conferences in Ohio merged to form Auglaize-Scioto Conference, and in 1973 they merged with Indiana’s White River conference to form Central Conference.

07 May On This Day in UB History: May 7 (William Hanby)

Bishop William Hanby passed away on May 7, 1880. It was written, “He was a master of the secret of growing old gracefully. No one ever heard him complain that the former times were better.” His last words: “I’m in the midst of glory.”

Hanby was elected bishop in 1845-1849. He had been editor of the denominational publication for eight years, and much preferred that role. As bishop, he was regularly gone several months at a time, riding alone and frequently afflicted with vertigo. He didn’t want the burden of constant traveling–not with a wife, nine children (eight of his own, one adopted), and feeble parents at home.

To his relief, the 1849 General Conference again elected him as editor of The Religious Telescope.

Hanby supplemented his meager church salary by running a saddlery business, a trade he learned as a teen. When the occasional plague was going around, he would use his own money to buy medicine and personally dispense it among poor people. He kept a poor widow’s woodpile stocked.

The April 8 post told about his work in sheltering fugitive slaves. Hanby was said to be “a firm believer in the equality of the sexes, and never more delighted than when his daughters showed themselves the intellectual equals of their brothers.”

It was written, “He possessed a very tender conscience, was slow to give offense, and when overtaken in a fault, could not rest until he had said, ‘Forgive me, I was wrong,’ even if the injured one was the smallest child.”

Hanby’s last years were difficult. Three of his four sons died, as did his wife of 49 years. He suffered serious illness, and reportedly lost all of his property. But he never gave in to bitterness, and was cared for by his remaining children.

Interestingly, the Hanby name died out. Two sons only had daughters. The only son who had a son was Benjamin, but that grandson married late in life and had no children.

06 May On This Day in UB History: May 6 (Bishop Walter Musgrave)

Bishop Walter Musgrave passed away on May 6, 1950, in Huntington, Ind. He served 24 years as bishop, 1925-1949. Only three other bishops served longer than that. He was most know for his energetic, dynamic preaching.

Musgrave grew up on a farm near Stockport, Ohio, and at age 19 became a Christian in a Methodist church. He received a Methodist ministerial license, but three years later transferred to the United Brethren church. In 1903 he was assigned to a church near the West Virginia border. He promptly began starting a church in a nearby community–where, as it turned out, he met his future spouse. They were married February 6, 1904, and in November had their first child.

For nearly 20 years, Musgrave pastored various UB churches in southern Ohio, in what was then Scioto Conference. Then, in 1921, General Conference chose him to spearhead an ambitious renewal campaign called the Otterbein Forward Movement. He threw himself into it, but the campaign fell short of its goals. Regardless, the 1925 General Conference elected him as bishop.

Dr. M. I. Burkholder, who led the Huntington College seminary for 30 years, described Musgrave as “a dynamo in the pulpit.” Bishop Clarence Kopp, Jr., wrote, “He was probably one of the most animated and energetic of the old-fashion-style preachers. He would literally rush from one side of the pulpit to the other.”

He would pace back and forth, peering into the audience, talking rapidly while employing his signature gestures (like pointing his index finger while keeping one eye closed). His face would grow red, causing some people to fear he might be on the verge of having a stroke.

One time, Bishop A. M. Johnson, concerned for Musgrave’s health, suggested he scale back the energy and vigor he put into his preaching. Musgrave responded, “Well, I believe this!” He couldn’t do any less.

At Musgrave’s funeral, Dr. M. I. Burkholder quoted him as saying, “I don’t know what the Lord has for me on this earth, but whatever it is, He has all of me.”

05 May On This Day in UB History: May 5 (Bishop Edwards)

David Edwards, Bishop 1849-1876

On May 5, 1816, David Edwards was born in Wales. He would become one of our longest-serving bishops–27 years, 1849-1876–and one of the most influential. During that time, he played a role in starting our first college, a seminary, our missionary society, and our denominational publication and publishing house. A fellow bishop remarked, “I have looked upon Bishop Edwards on every side. He is the best man this Church has ever yet had. It has never seen his like; it will be years before it finds his equal.”

Edwards’ family came to America when he was five years old, lived two years in Baltimore, and in 1823 moved into Ohio. He was converted at age 18 in a United Brethren meeting, and a year later, in 1835, he was licensed to preach. They didn’t dilly dally back then.

Edwards was assigned to the Brush Creek circuit, which included 28 appointments spread over five counties; he traveled 360 miles making one round. For the next several years, he was assigned to a different circuit each year. In 1839 he married Lucretia Hibbard, whose father was both a lawyer and a United Brethren minister; her brother was also a UB minister, and a sister married a UB minister.

Like many ministers back then, Edwards had very little formal education but was an avid self-learner, constantly reading on horseback and wherever he found to stop for the night. He began to be noticed as a young preacher of tremendous potential, described as studious, a powerful preacher, prudent, methodical, and fearless.

The 1845 General Conference elected him as editor of The Religious Telescope, the denominational publication. During the next four years, he put the Telescope on solid financial footing, and took it from semi-monthly to weekly. As editor, he strongly defended the church’s stands against slavery, alcohol, and Freemasonry.

Edwards was also a zealous advocate of entire sanctification; holiness of heart and life became a central theme throughout the rest of his ministry. Wrote biographer Henry Adams Thompson doubted that anyone else could explain entire sanctification “more clearly, more profoundly, and in a way less liable to objection.” He said many other “best minds in the church” embraced the doctrine.

Historian John Lawrence said Edwards tended to come across as “unnecessarily rigid” because of his stern adherence to his convictions, and that the “set of his teeth” seemed to say, “You can neither coax nor drive me from what I believe to be right.”

In 1849, at age 33, Edwards was elected bishop, and continued in that role until age 60. During his last term, he suffered much from illness–cancer, probably, which advanced quickly and painfully. He died June 6, 1876, with one year left in his seventh term.

Thompson wrote, “However much good men may have differed with him in their views, none doubted the purity of his motives or the uprightness of his character. As a preacher he had few, if any, superiors in the church….He knew how to live and walk by faith….He would not only urge the ministry to try to do more and better work for the Master, but he led them by precept and example in the doing of it.”

04 May On This Day in UB History: May 4 (Old Otterbein Church)

Old Otterbein Church in Baltimore, Md.

On May 4, 1774, William Otterbein became pastor of the Howard’s Hill church in Baltimore, Md. He remained there for 39 years, until his death in 1813. All that time, he also provided leadership to the United Brethren movement he and Martin Boehm had launched in 1767.

Otterbein was coming into a messy situation, and he knew it. The German Reformed church in Baltimore had gone through a nasty split, with various accusations flying around. The church’s more evangelical element split off, bought property, and built their own church, which became known as Howard’s Hill.

In 1773, Otterbein was asked, at least twice, to come pastor the church. The first time, he said no. The second time, he said he would go IF the German Reformed synod approved; they didn’t.

Francis Asbury, a young Methodist leader who had been in America for three years, was asked to write a letter to Otterbein, asking him to come pastor Howard’s Hill. Asbury hadn’t yet met Otterbein, but had heard a lot about him. How much the letter helped, we don’t know. But three months later, Otterbein became the pastor (despite the synod’s continuing disapproval). And he and Asbury became close friends.

Howard’s Hill was essentially a independent church which maintained nominal ties to the German Reformed denomination (which had little or no authority). Otterbein himself kept his German Reformed credentials, but was not considered a minister in good standing. He had other things on his agenda. Most ministers were assigned from the United Brethren ranks.

In 1949, the church united with the Pennsylvania Conference of the Evangelical United Brethren Church. That denomination, in 1968, merged into today’s United Methodist Church.

Today, that church is called Old Otterbein Church. Their website says, “Old Otterbein Church is the mother church of the United Brethren in Christ and the oldest church edifice in continuous use in the city of Baltimore.” Otterbein is buried in the church yard.

03 May On This Day in UB History: May 3 (Turmoil in Sierra Leone)

Mary Mullen (upper left) and the five missionaries murdered at Rotufunk. Top: Isaac and Mary Cain. Bottom (l-r): Dr. Henrietta Hatfield, Dr. Mary Archer, and Ella Schenk.

May 3–two days, 94 years apart, both set amidst national upheaval in Sierra Leone. A day of tragedy for missionaries, and a day of rescue.

On May 3, 1898, five missionaries with the “liberal” United Brethren church were massacred in Sierra Leone. Two more were soon murdered elsewhere. Just like that, seven of the eight missionaries supported by the Women’s Missionary Association were dead. Killed in the Hut Tax War, which was sparked by grievances against the British government.

Although our denominations had split nine years earlier, the ties ran deep, and our goal was the same–to evangelize the people of Sierra Leone.

None of our own missionaries perished. Mary Mullen, who had arrived six months before, served by herself at Momaligi. She found herself at the hands of five young men brandishing blood-stained clubs and swords, which they had used to massacre people in another village. As she sat in her house awaiting her fate, a boat carrying five well-armed policemen pulled up to the wharf. She ran to the boat, and they quickly pushed off. Before long, Mullen was on a ship to England.

UB missionaries Daniel and Elizabeth Wilberforce, along with their four children, fled into the bush as a war party approached Gbangbaia. They hid for several days as warriors passed closely by. The mission buildings at both Momaligi and Gbangbaia were destroyed.

The five Americans at Rotufunk fled into the bush, but were caught. As the rebels surrounded them, Rev. Isaac Cain, standing next to his wife, reportedly held a revolver in his hand. He threw it aside and stated, “I will not have any man’s blood on my hands.”

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