(260) 356-2312
We participated in a study through the Church of the Nazarene, giving them information about our churches in the United States. In return, they sent us some interesting maps showing where our churches and constituents are located. The map above has been added to the “About Us” section on UB.org, our official website. (Click to enlarge.)
Rev. Denny Miller speaking to the cluster leaders.
Bishop Phil Whipple speaking to the cluster leaders.
Former bishop Paul Hirschy, under whose watch the NCD survey was first promoted.
Every January, clusters leaders are brought together for a time of training, to make sure everyone’s on the same page. On January 11, 22 of the 28 cluster leaders gathered at Huntington University for an afternoon of training under the direction of Dennis Miller, the denominational cluster coordinator. Much of the training focused on the Natural Church Development survey, which churches will be encouraged to take this year. This survey has been offered for many years through the national office, and a number of churches have taken it, but it hasn’t been emphasized in a while.
Jane Seely (left) and Cathy Reich load gifts for delivery to our family.
For the third year, the staff of Healthy Ministry Resources (the national office) collected gifts for a needy family. Administrative assistant Cathy Reich and Bookstore manager Jane Seely delivered the gifts to a family in Bippus, Ind., on Wednesday, December 21.
The Healthy Ministry Resources staff. L-r: Donna Hollopeter, Cathy Reich, Steve Dennie, Jane Seely, Mabel Mundy, Jeff Bleijerveld, Peggy Sell, Phil Whipple, Marci Hammel, Gary Gates, Elizabeth Holtrop, and Frank Y. (Click to enlarge)
The staff at the national office in Huntington, Ind., hope you have–and are having–a truly delightful and wonderful Christmas.
At the end of each year, pastors are required to complete forms which tell about the church’s ministry during the past year and their own ministry.
The annual report forms are being mailed December 28, 2011. Each church office will receive a packet of forms which will need to be returned to the bishop’s office.
Deadline: February 15, 2012. Reports need to be returned to the bishop’s office by that date.
These are the reports:
These reports can also be downloaded from the UB website at ub.org/reports. They are available as:
Note: If you need your report forms sent to an address or to someone’s attention other than the address the national office has on file, please contact Cathy Reich as soon as possible at 260-356-2312, ext. 311.
Arno Neggenschwartzer, one of the suspects, interacts with one of the three Healthy Ministry Resources tables.
Jeff Bleijerveld picked Latina, the ship's activities director, as the culprit, and she didn't appreciate it.
The Healthy Ministry Resources staff (the national office) held its annual Christmas “party” at the Courtyard Marriott in Fort Wayne, joining about 100 other people in a mystery theater program called “A Christmas Cruise.”
The program was based on the game Clue. Everyone watched a performance, which started with the death of Captain Lenny Ledbeter of the SS Whatamess cruise ship. The performance gave clues to who committed the murder, and ended with four suspects. The audience then wrote down who they thought the villain was, and why.
Oh, the program began with a wonderful buffet. Can’t forget that.
It was a very fun evening, with lots of laughter. The program was put on by Bower North Productions. Larry Bower is part of the morning team at local Christian radio station WBCL.
Here are some photos from the evening.
We’ve got a new flagship United Brethren website. The totally redesigned UB.org is now live. Check it out!
The previous site was designed in 2005, with continual tweaks and upgrades along the way. However, it was time for several significant changes:
So that’s what we did.
We didn’t go all-out with fancy bells and whistles. But we did want to improve the appearance and usefulness–not only for UB people, but for the thousands of other people from numerous countries who, for whatever reason, find themselves on our website.
Related Sites
We also wanted to tie together four sites:
UBGlobal has its own distinctive look. However, the other three sites now share a common look in the heading.
That heading includes a “Related Sites” dropdown on each site’s homepage, which enables you to easily go to any of those sites.
Printing
Each page includes a “Print” feature. It puts the page in a print-friendly format without all of the graphics. You can then print the page, or export it as a PDF document. This will be especially helpful if you want to print a chapter from the Discipline or other official documents.
Use the Search Field
A search field is very prominent on the homepage of UB.org. You’ll also find the search field on every other page, in the left-hand sidebar. The search field is the fastest way to find something specific. For example, if you want information on setting the pastor’s salary, type in “pastor salary.” Keep it simple.
HOWEVER….The search function uses Google. Until Google indexes the new site and deletes the obsolete links to the previous site, you may find yourself on a “Page Not Found” page. So give it some time to catch up.
Look Around
We welcome your suggestions for improving the site. And if you find any errors–bad spellings, broken links, etc.–we want to know about it. We even provided a special form you can use to report errors.
We hope you enjoy the new site. And we always welcome your feedback and suggestions for making it better.
Below are a number of screenshots–mostly from UB.org, but a few from the other sites as well.
Levi, born this morning to Frank and Ginny
Frank Y, the new associate director of Global Ministries, is now a father. His wife, Ginny, gave birth to a baby boy at 4:37 this morning (October 10, 2011).
Levi weighs 7lbs, 3 oz, and is 20.5 inches long. He has a full head of hair, and is very healthy.
Congratulations to Frank and Ginny on the birth of their first child!
October is always a time for denominational meetings. These groups will be meeting during the next two weeks, all in Huntington, Ind.
The 8 persons elected to the Executive Leadership Team at the US National Conference in July have appointed four additional members, as called for in the Discipline. They include one person from each region, including 2 ministers and 2 laypersons.
East Region: Daryl Elliott. Daryl has been a United Brethren pastor since 1985, serving four UB churches in Pennsylvania and Florida before his present assignment at Fountain Church in Keyser, W. Va. He holds degrees from The American University (B.A., Political Science, 1981), Evangelical School of Theology (M. Div., 1986), and Drew University (Ph.D., 1992). Other past roles include conference superintendent, Huntington University trustee, and President of the UB Historical Society. He and his wife, Ruthann, married in 1986, have two children.
Central Region: Timothy Krugh. Tim has attended Mainstreet UB church (Walbridge, Ohio), since 1975. He is an attorney with a Toledo-based law firm, with plans to slow down his practice in 2012. He has served on various denominational boards and commissions over the years, including the ELT 2007-2011. Tim and his wife, Jeanie, were married in 1975 and have three adult children.
North Region: Bob Tobey. Bob is a laymen from Colwood UB (Caro, Mich). He and his wife, Jolene, who grew up at Colwood, met at Huntington University and were married after graduating in 1980. Bob is a schoolteacher and athletics coach. He and Jolene have been very active at Colwood during the past 30 years, and for a number of years directed the denominational Bible Quiz program. They have two daughters.
West Region: Kent Koteskey. Kent is executive pastor of Emmanuel Community Church (Fort Wayne, Ind.). He has served in ministry since 1992, and at Emmanuel since 2001, initially as youth pastor. He is a previous chair of the denominational Youth Ministry Team. Kent graduated from Asbury College in 1992 and from the Huntington University graduate school in 2002, and was ordained in 2002. Kent and his wife, Amy, a registered nurse, were married in 1994 and have four children.
