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07 Jan

January 7, 2010 |

Honduras Conference started Wednesday, January 6, in La Ceiba, Honduras. This will be the first conference presided over by Rev. Juanita Chavez, who was elected superintendent of Honduras Conference in January 2009.

The conference will conclude on Sunday morning at the Bethel UB church in La Ceiba. Then, a service on Sunday night will kick-off the international General Conference.

Each national conferences can send two voting delegates–the highest leader in the conference, plus one other person. Here is our list, albeit incomplete, of delegates.

Canada
Rev. Brian Magnus, bishop of the United Brethren Church in Canada
Paul Plato, layperson and Missions Team Leader

Guatemala (applying as a new national conference)
Rev. Francisco Najera Ventura, superintendent
Rev. Rolando Valenzuela, pastor

Honduras
Rev. Juanita Chavez, superintendent
One other delegate

Hong Kong
Rev. Ajiax Wo, superintendent
Karis Wong, pastor of Living Water church in Macau

Jamaica
Rev. Winston Smith, bishop
Rev. Isaac Nugent, pastor

Mexico
Rev. Denis Casco, bishop
One other delegate

Nicaragua
Rev. Juan Pavon Pavon, superintendent
Rev. Henry Osorio, pastor

Philippines
Rev. Prudencio Lim, superintendent
Mr. Aaron Lim, layperson (son of Prudencio Lim)

Sierra Leone
Rev. Billy K. Simbo, bishop
Mrs. Theresa Musa, layperson

United States
Rev. Phil Whipple, bishop
Rev. Jeff Bleijerveld, Global Ministries director

Several invited guests (without vote) will also attend.

  • Donna Hollopeter, Associate Director of Global Ministries
  • Steve Dennie, Communications Director
  • Jeff Dice, Global Ministries staff (currently in Costa Rica doing language training)
  • Jason Hollopeter, Donna’s husband
  • Rev. Oliam Richard, superintendent of Haiti (our Canadian churches, who have primary oversight of Haiti, are working to get Rev. Oliam Richard to the meeting)
  • Rev. Erik Gonzalo Roas Ramirez, superintendent of Costa Rica, a mission district of Nicaragua Conference.
  • Mr. Carlos Quesada, a layperson in Costa Rica.

Brian Magnus, as chairman of the International Executive Committee, will preside over the General Conference meetings.

31 Dec

December 31, 2009 |

Everyone’s publishing “decade in review” lists–best movies, best sports plays, most significant news stories, ground-breaking new products, top scandals, etc.

How would we recap the decade for the United Brethren church? Here are ten UB highlights of the decade, in roughly chronological order.

2001 General Conference. This was a historic conference. We adopted a true international structure, with 7 autonomous national conferences joined together by the Confession of Faith and an international constitution. Huntington, Ind., stopped being the United Brethren “world” headquarters, and became just the US headquarters. No longer does United Brethrenism revolve around the United States. Colonialism: RIP.

Open Theism. A whole lot of turbulence arose around Dr. John Sanders, a professor at Huntington University who was a leading proponent of what is called Open Theism. United Brethren theology clashed, hard, with academic freedom. Both church and college came under criticism from the broader evangelical community. In the end, an exit strategy was worked out for Dr. Sanders, and both church and college began mending the wounds.

Joining the Missionary Church. In early 2003, the UB Executive Leadership Team voted to pursue merging our denomination into the Missionary Church, a like-minded, larger denomination based in Fort Wayne, Ind. As leadership pushed this initiative, a group called UB Hope arose to rally people against it. Ultimately, UB members voted it down in a referendum, 56%-44%. This set the stage for lots of soul-searching about why we exist and the adoption of a whole new structure.

(more…)

16 Dec

December 16, 2009 |

A Cup of Christmas Tea 2009

The Healthy Ministry Resources staff started the day with a tradition that goes back a number of years–a Cup of Christmas Tea. Donna Hollopeter started this back in the 1990s.

The lights were dimmed as we entered the conference room, with candles burning and instrumental Christmas music playing quietly. A nice, tranquil atmosphere.

After we were all seated, Donna read the Christmas story and prayed. Then she introduced the food at the front of the room–bread, cheeseballs, coffee cake, and much more. And then there were the teapots, five of them, all filled with a different kind of tea.

We filled out plates. Then, as we ate, Donna introduced “A Cup of Christmas Tea,” a poem written and read by Tom Hegg. We continued eating, often trekking to the front for more food or to try a different flavor of tea. Then we just sat around talking for a while. It was a great way to begin the day, and a reminder of why Christmas is special. Thanks, Donna!

09 Dec

December 9, 2009 |

Two Healthy Ministry Resources wayfarers are returning to Huntington, Ind., today.

  • Bishop Phil Whipple flies out of Phoenix this morning after several days in Fountain Hills, Ariz.
  • Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries, flies back after six days in Mexico.

09 Dec

December 9, 2009 |

Marc StephensonTwo new persons have joined the denominational Youth Ministry Team:

  • Marc Stephenson (left), Minister of Youth at Cochranton Community Church (Cochranton, Pa.).
  • Mark Vincenti, Associate Pastor of Student Ministries at King Street Church (Chambersburg, Pa.).

They replace Roger Vezeau and Brian Kramer, who served on the youth team during the past four years.

16 Nov

November 16, 2009 |

Jane Mason was the United Brethren archivist for over 20 years, finally stepping down in 1997 at age 80. She professionalized our a archive services, and was in charge when the archives was moved from the United Brethren offices to the lower level of the Huntington University library.

Jane’s daughter, Barb, wrote about her mom on her blog. For those of you who might know Jane, you’ll find Barb’s recollections interesting.

10 Nov

November 10, 2009 |

After church on Sunday at Bethel Temple of Praise in Yonkers, N.Y., Sandy and I drove across New York City and through New Jersey to Pennsylvania. We arrived in Shippensburg at 6 p.m. I dropped Sandy off at our son’s home and I headed on to Rhodes Grove Campground. It was my first visit to the camp.

At 7:00 I arrived at the camp for a fireside chat session with some pastors and lay folks from Pennsylvania. I shared my story and talked about what I see for the United Brethren Church in the future. We had an enjoyable evening.

On Monday morning, I shared some devotional thoughts with a group that had come in for Mid Atlantic Resource Day. Then I headed back to spend some time with our son and daughter-in-law. Added to that opportunity was the chance to spend time with our granddaughter Aubrey. What fun it is to see her walking and growing up so fast.

Tuesday morning found us headed back to our home in Huntington. It has been a good trip.

09 Nov

November 9, 2009 |

Sandy and I arrived in Yonkers, New York, on Friday, November 6. On Friday night and Saturday, I led an evaluation of Bethel Temple of Praise, the UB church in Yonkers.

I was joined by Dan Palmer, an experienced church planter from Tennessee who and has a history of planting a multiethnic congregation. We had a good meeting with senior pastor Dalton Jenkins on Friday night.

On Saturday, a group of 15-20 people from the church came together. We asked some questions and did some teaching and sharing. Then Dan and I came back to the hotel and put together a report.

On Saturday evening, I met with the cluster that Dalton leads. Linton Thomas and Joseph Abu came to the meeting, and we had some good interaction.

Then, around 7 p.m., there was a fundraising rally. It was a night to remember. Many people, most of Jamaican descent, came from a number of area churches. The Bethel Temple of Praise church was packed as its praise team led off with several songs. Each church had someone sing a song. After each song, they went out to collect an offering, then return and report what they had raised. The emcee kept it moving with humor and a good-natured challenge to each church to out-give the last one.

On Sunday morning, I gave the sermon at Bethel, challenging the people to identify the lions in their lives that cause them to fear, and to become a lion chaser through the power of God.

04 Nov

November 4, 2009 |

I want to announce the hiring of Denny Miller, senior pastor of Emmanuel Community Church in Fort Wayne, Ind. He will work one day a week for Healthy Ministry Resources. He will oversee the cluster leaders and provide direction to the cluster system.

As I talk with other denominational executives, they all seem to like our cluster structure. I believe this system has great promise, but needs more direction.

Denny is uniquely equipped for this role. Some of our original ideas for clusters came out of the Healthy Church Leadership Team back 8 years ago. Denny was the chairman. I believe we can work on some new ways to help clusters have a greater impact in both training and meeting the needs of pastors.

We hope to roll out an updated strategy with our cluster leaders in January 2010.

We are excited about what is happening in many of our churches. We want to challenge all of our churches to pray hard and follow the direction that God leads us in to more effectively impact the towns and communities where we have churches. It is time to move with all of our energy to accomplish the mission that God has for us.

30 Oct

October 30, 2009 |
Andy Sikora

Andy Sikora

Last night (Thursday), Sandy and I had supper with Andy and Merri Sikora, both Huntington University graduates who live in Berea, Ohio. Tom Blaylock was also there.

Andy is currently the Lead Teaching Pastor for the 707 Sunday night young adult ministry at Cuyahoga Valley Church in Broadview Heights, Ohio. Andy and Merri are going to plant a United Brethren church in Berea starting next fall. We had a great supper and conversation.

This morning Tom, Andy, and I met with:

  • Rick Duncan, who pastors Cuyahoga Valley Church.
  • Guy Stevens, who heads a church planting organization called NEO360, based in Cleveland, Ohio.
  • Matt Jones, an intern with NEO360.

We had a great meeting as they shared their vision for impacting northeast Ohio with planting churches which not only see lost people come to Christ, but also impact their communities with their presence in every area. Exciting stuff. They want to partner with us to see a UB church planted.

We all want to work across denominational lines to accomplish the mission of impacting the kingdom of God.