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Phil Whipple (right) presents the winner’s plaque to Paul Hirschy.
Bishop Phil Whipple presented a plaque to Paul Hirschy for winning the Bishop’s March Madness Challenge. Of the 68 persons who filled out NCAA brackets in the bishop’s group on ESPN, Hirschy emerged as the winner.
Paul Hirschy served as bishop 2001-2005, and is currently associate pastor of College Park UB church (Huntington, Ind.)
A church that is considering adding a second service contacted the national office. They were wondering about the experience of other UB churches who were holding multiple services during the week. So we thought we’d ask–not just for this church, but for other churches in the same situation.
If your church holds more than one worship service per week, we’d love to get your answers to some questions, which we’ll compile and publish.
Go here to fill out the form. Please give us your honest feedback.
Bishop Phil Whipple issued a challenge to United Brethren ministers–to fill out an NCAA March Madness bracket in a special group for UB ministers on ESPN.com. A total of 68 people–mostly ministers, with a few missionaries and national office staff thrown in–signed on.
After the first two rounds, and as we begin the Sweet 16, the lone leader is Jim Bolich, senior pastor of Prince Street UB church in Shippensburg, Pa. Tied for second place are Donna Hollopeter, associate director of Global Ministries; and Kevin Poole, Children’s Pastor at Fowlerville UB church (Fowlerville, Mich.).
On February 19, a new sign was installed outside the national office in Huntington, Ind. It incorporates the new United Brethren logo unveiled at national conference last summer. The sign has already been getting rave reviews. (As you can see, we still have plenty of snow on the ground.)
The original sign (top) dates back to the 1970s. It was replaced in 2008 with the Healthy Ministry Resources sign. That year, the national office went through a branding process, and adopted the name “Healthy Ministry Resources” to refer specifically to the national office. That name never really caught on and is being phased out. Most people simply refer to the national office as, well, the national office. So we’ll go with that.
Although the name of the office building has changed, it’s mission remains the same: “to effectively resource pastors and congregations of the US National Conference to fulfill the Great Commission.” That was central to the idea behind Healthy Ministry Resources, and it will continue to be the focus of the national office.
The national office handles all cooperative ministries of the US National Conference. Here are some of the services under that umbrella.
A reminder to UB ministers–your annual reports for the 2013 year are due to Bishop Phil Whipple by February 15. That includes:
All reports are available online at ub.org/reports. You can download copies to fill out, or you can submit the report using an online form.
Bishop Phil Whipple sent a note of appreciation to Darwin Dunten, senior pastor of First Church in Findlay, Ohio. Every year, local UB churches must submit a report to the bishop’s office. First Church was, well, the first church to submit their report for the 2013 year.
Licensed United Brethren ministers are also required to submit reports about their own ministry during the year. A number of ministers have already submitted their reports.
All annual reports can be found on the UB website. All of them can be filled out online, or downloaded to be filled out on a computer and then returned by email or FAX. Reports are due by February 15.
A recent ruling by a US District Court has raised questions about the status of housing allowance for ministers. Some UB ministers have called the national office, wondering, “How does this affect me? Do I need to do anything different?”
The short answer is: continue what you’ve been doing. Nothing will take affect until all appeals have been exhausted. That could take a couple years.
Ministers of all religious groups are allowed housing allowance to pay expenses related to their home—rent, mortgage, utilities, insurance, repairs, furnishings, property taxes, etc. The church must state in advance (preferably in board minutes) the amount of salary designated as housing allowance. That amount, then, is not taxable. For instance, if a pastor makes $40,000 and $15,000 is designated as housing allowance, the minister will be taxed on just $25,000 of income. (Here’s suggested wording for a board resolution.)
On November 22, 2013, a US District Court in Wisconsin ruled that the housing exemption violates the Constitution’s “establishment of religion” clause. The judge said it unnecessarily “provides a benefit to religious persons and no one else.” She felt that housing allowance provides an unconstitutional preference for religion, and that denying housing allowance wouldn’t infringe on freedom of religion.
You can read much more about housing allowance in this article on UBCentral.org.
Top row (l-r). The four out-going members: Lee Rhodes, Dennis Sites, David Burkett, Chuck Wheatley. Continuing members: Phil Whipple, Chris Little, Terry Smith. Bottom row. Continuing members: Bob Bruce, Craig Burkholder. New members: Gary Gates, Mark Wilson, Randy Carpenter, Jim Bolich, Mike Brown.
The Pastoral Ministry Leadership Team is meeting today and tomorrow (October 21-22) in Huntington, Ind. The PMLT deals with various issues involving ministers, in particular licensing and education.
The PMLT consists of ten ordained UB ministers. They include the bishop, the chairman, and up to eight persons appointed to two-year terms by the Executive Leadership Team.
Five changes have occurred on the Pastoral Ministry Leadership Team for the 2013-2015 period.
Leaving the team are:
Taking over as chairman is Gary Gates, the Director of Ministerial Licenses. He had previously served only in an advisory role. Also joining him on the team are:
You can see the complete team here.
There are two new additions to the Global Ministries Leadership Team.
Ruth Ralph (right), whose husband, Mark, is pastor of the Mount Zion UB church in Wayne, Ohio.They took the place of former members Chuck Malson and Jeff Sherlock.
The GMLT held its fall meeting at the beginning of October at the Gull Lake conference center in Michigan.
The Higher Education Leadership Team is meeting tonight, October 16, as they always do prior to meetings of the Huntington University Board of Trustees. The HELT deals almost exclusively with issues pertaining to Huntington University. The members serve four-year terms.
All eight members of the HELT are also members of the HU Board of Trustees, which meets October 17-18.
We have one change to report. Brooks Fetters (right), a UB ordained minister who is currently mayor of Huntington, Ind., has been appointed to the team. He replaces Keith Schall, a layperson from Emmanuel Community Church (Fort Wayne, Ind.).
