13 Mar On This Day in UB History: March 13 (Dr. William Witte)

Dr. William B. Witte in his Civil War uniform.

In 1856, we appointed our first two missionaries to Sierra Leone: Rev. J. K. Billheimer of Virginia, and Dr. William B. Witt of Cincinnati. They sailed from New York City on December 5, 1856, and arrived in Sierra Leone about 40 days later.

Dr. Witt served 18 months before illness forced him to leave Africa. Mission director Daniel Flickinger said he provided valuable, fruitful service to people both spiritually and physically, “being well skilled in the science of medicine, a fluent preacher, and a warm-hearted Christian.”

Four years after returning to the States, Witt entered the Civil War as a physician with the 69th Indiana Infantry Regiment. The regiment formed with about 1000 troops on August 19, 1862, and ten days later suffered 218 casualties in the disastrous Union defeat at Richmond, Kent. The entire regiment was captured. After going through a prisoner exchange, they reorganized at the end of November. The 69th Indiana went on to participate in numerous battles, including Chickasaw Bayou, Milliken’s Bend, Port Gibson, Champion’s Hill, and Vicksburg.

Witt died on March 13, 1864 on the Gulf Coast of Texas. The regiment was moving from its inland camp at Indianola to Matagorda Island. That required crossing a 300-yard stretch of Matagorda Bay in a makeshift raft consisting of pontoon boats tied together.

As Witt’s group crossed, carrying full equipment, an incoming wave swamped the raft. Witt–doctor, minister, missionary, soldier–was among the 23 men who drowned.

12 Mar On This Day in UB History: March 12

Bishop Christian Newcomer

The day after Pennsylvania Conference ended in April 1829, Bishop Christian Newcomer, now 82 years old, crossed the Allegheny Mountains to meet with United Brethren people in Ohio.

He was gone 11 weeks, from April 11 to June 25, and traveled 1500 miles on horseback. During that time, he attended three annual conferences and one General Conference, and did other peaching along the way.

Historian Henry Spayth wrote, “Daily and continually, whether in the house or on the highway, in conversation or meditation, his mind appeared to be filled with but one thought, and that thought was the salvation of a lost world.”

In October of that year, Newcomer wrote in his journal, “My feebleness is increasing; the strength of my constutition is gone.” But he was still bishop, and he kept at it as much as he could.

Newcomer’s last trip occurred on March 1, 1830, when he held a quarterly local church conference in Boonsborough, Md. On the way home, his horse stumbled and threw him to the ground. Despite suffering four broken ribs and a pierced lung, he got himself home, where a doctor was summoned. But he kept getting worse.

On March 12, 1830, Bishop Christian Newcomer climbed out of bed to kneel in prayer. Then he laid down and passed on to Glory.

11 Mar On This Day in UB History: March 11

Abbie Swales and Henry Becker

On March 11, 1916, Abbie Swales began her first term as a United Brethren missionary in Sierra Leone. She would serve a total of five terms up through 1941, all of it at the girls’ school at Bonthe.

Throughout those years, Abbie knew a Sierra Leonean named Henry Becker. Henry was one of their brightest, most spiritual young ministers. He became a highly successful minister and evangelist in the Gbangbaia area.

World War I brought high prices for all kinds of products, and Henry was drawn to the opportunity to make money. He left the mission staff and became a successful trader. Along the way, he drifted into polygamy. However, despite his backslidden condition, Henry continued attending church services, which meant continual contact with missionaries.

They all worked on Henry, trying to bring him back to the Lord. But he was thoroughly entangled in business matters and polygamy, and though he felt God tugging on his heart, he didn’t know how to extricate himself. One Sunday morning at the end of the service, he stood and told the young men in the congregation, “You know what I once was and what I am now. I beseech you, do not follow in my footsteps. Be true to the Lord.”

This struggle continued for years.

As Abbie Swales began her final term in 1937, she developed a special burden for Henry Becker. She contended, “He once knew the Lord. He HAS to return to Him.” For the next three years she prayed for him and pleaded with him, but he remained unmoved.

Finally, the time came for Abbie to leave Sierra Leone for what would be the last time. While waiting for a ship, she spent three weeks living with missionaries George and Daisy Fleming in Gbangbaia. Every day, she walked down the hill to Henry’s house to urge him to return to the Lord. And every day, the Flemings watched her come back in tears, her mission a failure.

The day Abbie departed for Freetown, she told George Fleming, “I am committing Henry Becker to you now. Don’t forget about him. He MUST come back to the Lord.”

Some days later, Fleming paid a visit to Henry Becker. He found Henry sitting at a table with a letter in his hands–a letter which Abbie had written in Freetown before leaving the country. Henry had just received it that morning.

After reading the letter, Henry said to himself, “What can you do with a woman who won’t give up on you?” He then knelt at the table and surrendered himself to the Lord. When Fleming showed up shortly thereafter, he told him what had happened and said, “I have committed what is left of my life to Him.”

Within six months, Henry Becker was back in the ministry, and remained there for the rest of his life. Fleming wrote, “I never heard him preach an evangelistic sermon that did not bring a response. Ever since his return to the Lord, he has been making up for lost time.”

Becker continued serving as a minister into his 80s, and became known as “the grand old man of the conference.” He passed away in his 90s. Fleming described him as ”a grand Christian gentleman, beloved by all.”

Abbie Swales passed away on Christmas Day, 1965.

09 Mar On This Day in UB History: March 9

On March 9, 1841, the US Supreme Court handed down a ruling in favor of some slaves from Sierra Leone. The story was told in Steven Spielberg’s 1997 movie, “Amistad.” The case directly influenced our decision, 15 years later, to begin mission work in Sierra Leone.

In 1839, a Spanish slave ship left the island of Sherbro in Sierra Leone with a load of Mende and Sherbro slaves—perhaps several hundred in all. After the ship reached Cuba, 53 of them were bought and placed on a smaller ship, the Amistad, and sent to plantations in Cuba.

During the journey, Joseph Cinque led an attack on the ship’s crew, killing all but two crew members. They ordered that the ship be directed to Africa, but the crafty Spaniards sailed a zigzag course, and the Amistad drifted northward for two months. Finally, in August 1839, an American ship seized the Amistad off the coast of New York. By that time, only 39 of the original 53 Africans remained alive.

The Sierra Leoneans were taken to Connecticut, where slavery was still legal. But anti-slavery activists came to their defense. A Connecticut court declared that the Africans were not truly slaves. The case continued to the Supreme Court, which also sided with the Africans, declaring that they had been illegally transported and held as slaves, and had rebelled in self-defense. It ordered them freed.

News of the slave ship landing in New England spread quickly. Christians rallied around the Africans, providing food, clothing, and other support. The case also drew attention to their homeland. The sad case of the Amistad created much interest in missions.

The Sierra Leoneans returned to Sierra Leone in January 1842, accompanied by missionaries who started what became the Mende Mission. When United Brethren decided to begin work in Sierra Leone, missionaries from the Mende Mission helped us get settled. Then, in 1882, all assets of the Mende Mission were transferred to the United Brethren church, greatly expanding the scope of our work in Sierra Leone.

07 Mar On This Day in UB History: March 7

Throughout 2017, as we celebrate the United Brethren denomination’s 250th anniversary, we are looking at events throughout our history.

About 2 am on March 7, 1992, armed thieves broke into the United Brethren mission house in Freetown, Sierra Leone. They took $4000 in currency and $4000 in personal items—and left behind some badly-shaken UB missionaries.

Eight missionaries were present at the time:

• Stan and Sherry McCammon, along with children Rachel (9) and John (6), were in their first term as missionaries. Stan was the UB Business Manager.
• Sara Banter, 22, a nurse from Dillman UB church (Warren, Ind.), had arrived just two days before to begin her first term as a nurse at Mattru Hospital.
• Tom and Kim Datema, along with their young son, Ben. The Datemas had come to Freetown on business with the government and to pick up Sara. They were involved with development work in Sierra Leone.

Two Sierra Leonean watchmen were on duty when the thieves broke through the gate in the wall surrounding the mission house. Both watchmen were beaten; one suffered a broken wrist. One of them screamed, alerting Stan that something was wrong. He gathered everyone upstairs in their bedroom. They had heard a gun cock, and were all scared.

It took 15 minutes for the thieves to gain entry to the house. They came directly to the bedroom and kicked open the door. Five men entered and demanded rings, watches, bracelets, and other items. The missionaries complied. Kim, probably because she was pregnant, couldn’t remove her rings. They let it go, but later returned and held a gun on Ben, threatening to hurt the infant unless she removed her rings. With Tom’s help, she did.

The thieves took Stan to the office to get money. Stan opened the safe and gave them dollars, along with five bundles of leones from a desk drawer. They seemed satisfied. They also picked up tape players, a camera, a calculator, and other items, and then returned with Stan to the bedroom.

One of the men shined his flashlight at Sara and told her to come with him.

“No,” Stan said in a firm voice. The man left Sara alone.

A few minutes later they took Stan back to the office. They were mad that he hadn’t shown them the big safe, and threatened to kill him. Stan opened the big safe, and they helped themselves to the money inside. They tied him up and fire bullets into the ceiling.

Finally, the bandits took the mission van and fled. It was found later that morning in good condition.

The Missions board offered to bring back to the States any of the missionaries involved in the break-in. The McCammons cut their term short a couple months and returned to the States in late April 1992. The Datemas and Sara Banter left May 2, after the US State Department ordered all Americans to evacuate the country after a military coup.

04 Mar On This Day in UB History: March 4

Guillermo Martinez with his wife Linda and two young children.

On March 4, 1970, Guillermo Martinez was taken under guard to the airport in La Ceiba, Honduras, and put on a plane to Nicaragua. It was not his choice, but it was God’s plan for what, today, is a very strong Nicaragua Conference.

Guillermo Martinez was born in El Salvador. A Honduran couple adopted him when he was seven years old and raised him in Honduras, but he kept his citizenship in El Salvador. Guillermo moved to La Ceiba in 1950 and became involved with the United Brethren church. He went on to become a highly respected pastor in Honduras Conference.

Missionary Archie Cameron said of Guillermo, “He was a people’s pastor. He really went out after people, helping people, and continually visiting, visiting, visiting.” Fellow pastor William Smith-Hinds said, “He was tireless—always busy, friendly, outgoing, involved with people.”

In June 1969, El Salvador invaded Honduras in what is called the Soccer War, because it came after a soccer match between the two countries. In La Ceiba, far from the fighting, Guillermo was among the hundreds of Salvadorans detained for two months amidst terrible conditions. He held evangelistic services among the detainees, and many became Christians. However, it became clear that he couldn’t remain in the country, nor could he take his Honduran wife to El Salvador.

How about Nicaragua? A Honduran pastor had moved to Nicaragua in 1967 to start churches. He could use some help. So he was flown to Nicaragua, where his wife and three children joined him a month later. The Martinez family settled on the outskirts of Masaya, where he started a church. Within a year, 60 persons had found Christ.

Guillermo became superintendent of Nicaragua Conference, and led those churches for many years, including through the difficult years after the Sandinistas took power. He continued as superintendent until 1997, and passed away in September 2009.

03 Mar On This Day in UB History: March 3

Samuel Heistand was born March 3, 1781, in Virginia. He had five older brothers. Two of them, Abraham and John, became United Brethren ministers. Samuel outdid them. He became a bishop.

Around 1804, when Samuel was 23 years old, he moved to Ohio, which was still pioneer territory (Ohio became a state in 1803). He was rousted from his backslidden condition under the preaching of Rev. George Benedum, one of the first United Brethren evangelists in Ohio.

Heistand became somewhat of an apprentice under Benedum, of whom it was written, “As a helper to young preachers, none surpassed him….His countenance beamed with pleasure when he discovered indications of talent and improvement. He was slow to reprove, ready to encourage, and kept before their minds the importance of personal religion and dependence on God.”

Under such mentoring, Heistand became a solid minister, regularly traveling by horseback to visit the scattered churches under his care. He was variously described as a man of deep piety, a faithful and efficient expounder of Scripture, well-read in his native German language, blessed with good social qualities, and a speaker of “marked intellectual and emotional powers.”

Heistand had some kind of speech impediment which, as he preached, went away once he got going strong, at which point he became “quite eloquent.” He was also noted for his “generous hospitality, no one ever going away hungry from his door.”

In 1833, Samuel Heistand was one of three new bishops elected. He was re-elected in 1837.

Historian Henry Thompson told of a campmeeting in Ohio where Heistand preached a powerful message from Daniel. “There seemed to be a sound all over the campground, like the ‘rushing of a mighty wind,’ as on the day of Pentecost.” Future bishop William Hanby arose to preach, stood silently for a few seconds, and was so overcome that he simply knelt at the bishop’s knees. There was, apparently, nothing to add.

In 1838, Bishop Heistand spoke at Pennsylvania Conference. One person remarked, “He addressed the Conference as if conscious that it was his dying address.”

Which it was. Bishop Heistand died October 9, 1838, just one year into his second term. He was 56 years old.

02 Mar On This Day in UB History: March 2

Throughout 2017, as we celebrate the United Brethren denomination’s 250th anniversary, we are looking at events throughout our history.

Lloyd Eby–pastor, church planter, missionary, bishop–was born March 2, 1891, in St. Jacobs, Ontario. He was converted at age 17 during a Salvation Army street meeting. Three years later, he joined what is now the Stanley Park United Brethren church in Kitchener, Ontario. He was licensed to preach, moved to Toronto, and started three churches, including today’s New Hope Community Church.

In 1920, Lloyd married Eula, a young woman from the Sherkston United Brethren church. The next year they headed off to Huntington College to prepare for the mission field. During their 18 months in Huntington, he pastored the Etna Avenue UB church. Then, in 1923, they traveled to Sierra Leone. Lloyd became principle of the 50-student Danville School for Boys at Gbangbaia. They served just one term.

The next 17 years were spent in the Detroit area, pastoring the new Warrendale UB church and starting five more churches. Lloyd became somewhat of an authority on urban ministry. Core groups from Warrendale would begin an outreach in a community, meeting in a school or strip mall or anything else available. Lloyd coordinated the groups and met regularly with the leaders.

In 1944, with World War 2 in progress, Lloyd was asked to return to Sierra Leone, this time as field superintendent, the person in charge of the entire field. From the city to the African bush. Again, the Ebys served just one term.

In 1947, Lloyd became superintendent of the Ontario and Detroit conferences. In 1949, he was elected bishop and spent the next eight years serving the West District. Then it was back to Africa for one more term, again as field superintendent. He was now 67 years old, but told people, “The call of my church is the call of my God.”

Lloyd and Eula retired in 1962 in Fort Wayne, Ind., where they attended the Third Street UB church (now called Anchor) until his death in 1969. It had been an amazing life, full of diversity. But it was far from over. Later in the year, we’ll look at the incredible prayer ministry which marked his final years.

01 Mar On This Day in UB History: March 1

Joseph and Mary Gomer

On March 1, 1871, Joseph Gomer became the first missionary to set foot in the village of Harrowtown in Sierra Leone. As he would write, “Satan has it all his own way there.”

Joseph Gomer and his wife, Mary, arrived in Sierra Leone in January 1871. They settled into our mission station in Shenge, where no missionaries had served for nearly two years. Up to that point, our work in Sierra Leone had been difficult and disappointing. But under their leadership, things really took off.

After less than two months in the country, Gomer journeyed up-river about 30 miles to Harrowtown. He was accompanied by Tom Tucker, who had been converted in 1858 through a previous missionary–one of our first two converts in Sierra Leone.

Gomer and Tucker spent two days in Harrowtown. People said they had never been told about the God of heaven or of Jesus Christ. In one case, Gomer talked for 30 minutes, with Tucker translating. When Gomer stopped, Tucker told him, “They want you to tell them some more.” So he did.

The next day, one woman said Gomer’s words had kept her up all night. She had always thought there must be some other God than the ones she worshipped. She promised to not worship her tribal gods anymore.

Gomer wrote, “She is the head-man’s wife, and I think she is sincere.”

26 Feb On This Day in UB History: February 26 (Investigating Sierra Leone)

W. J. Shuey and Daniel Flickinger.

Throughout 2017, as we celebrate the United Brethren denomination’s 250th anniversary, we are looking at events throughout our history

Moses sent 12 men across the Jordan River to spy out the Promised Land. The United Brethren Church was more efficient. We sent just three men, clear across the Atlantic Ocean, to spy out Sierra Leone.

In 1853 we established the Home, Frontier, and Foreign Missionary Society. It was the forerunner of today’s Global Ministries. We were already doing a good job with the “home” and “frontier” parts. This new organization added the “foreign” part. One of its first decisions was: “That we send one or more missionaries to Africa as soon as practicable.”

Three ministers from Ohio were appointed: W. J. Shuey, Rev. Daniel Flickinger, and D. C. Kumler, who was also a physician. They left New York on January 23, 1855, and arrived in Freetown on February 26, 1855.

The men spent the next 88 days exploring southern Sierra Leone, looking for a place to establish a mission. They took many jaunts up rivers and along the coast, but couldn’t find a promising place to start. Until they came upon Mokelleh, a village of about 600 people. This would be the place.

Their job had been to spy out the land. Shuey felt his job was done, and Kumler was sick, probably with malaria. So on May 3, they returned to America. But Flickinger wanted more than to spy out the land. He, like Caleb, wanted to possess the land. He stayed a total of 14 months, until April 1856.

Mokelleh fell through, but Flickinger set his sights on a place called Shenge. All efforts to arrange anything with the local chief were rebuffed, but when Flickinger left for America in April 1856, he knew Shenge was the place. And when he returned to Sierra Leone eight months later, Shenge is where he started.