29 Jun 2013-2015 Executive Leadership Team Elected

The eight persons elected to the 2013-2015 ELT. L-r: Gary Dilley, Robert Eberly, Molly Kesler, Tim Krugh, Dan Paternoster, Dennis Sites, Lester Smith, Greg Voight.

Every two years, the US National Conference elects eight members of the Executive Leadership Team–1 layperson and 1 ordained minister from each of the four districts. The new ELT will later appoint four additional members, 1 from each district.

Half of the persons elected are new: Dennis Sites, Bob Eberly, Greg Voight, and Gary Dilley. That means a turnover in three of the four clergy positions. In 2011, only one new person was elected to the ELT–Tim Hallman. Of the continuing members, Dan Paternoster has served by far the longest, now beginning his 13th year on the ELT. Lester Smith has served since 2005, Tim Krugh since 2007, and Molly Kesler since 2009.

Interestingly, two pastors’ wives who have been members of the ELT since 2005 chose not to run again. However, their husbands–Dennis Sites and Greg Voight–were elected to the ELT.

Here are the results of the 2013-2015 ELT ballot. The persons selected are indicated with italics type. The location of their church is also given.

27 Jun Phil Whipple Re-elected as Bishop

Bishop C. Ray Miller (foreground) praying for Bishop Whipple as he begins a second term.

L-r: Ron Ramsey, Phil Whipple, Ray Seilhamer, and C. Ray Miller. Standing behind Bishop Whipple, mostly hidden, is Paul Hirschy. Bishop Emeritus Ray Seilhamer is praying for Bishop Whipple.

Phillip Whipple was re-elected a bishop of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, USA. He was first elected in 2009, and will now serve another four-year term as bishop. The election came Thursday morning, June 27, during the business session of the US National Conference.

Todd Fetters, assistant chairman, introduced the ballot for bishop, and gave some background, noting that they would follow much the same procedure employed in 2009, when there was also just one name on the ballot. Then Kevin Cherry, chairman of the Nominating Committee, gave some remarks about how they were led to present a ballot with just one name.

The “Rules and Procedures” states that ballot must contain twice the number of persons to be elected. So first, they had to suspect that rule (this has been done many times in the past—just once for bishop, but various times when we elected national directors).

Todd Fetters then invited additional nominations from the floor.

Molly Kesler, a member of the Executive Leadership Team, came to a microphone. She said she had approached two persons about letting their names run for bishop, and that both had said yes. One, she said, was Chuck Malson, pastor of Brown Corners UB church in Clare, Mich. However, she said, Malson subsequently declined, saying he was still committed to serving his local church.

The other person, however, and said “yes”–Lester Smith, pastor of the UB church in Hillsdale, Mich. She placed his name in nomination.

Lester Smith came to the microphone. He said he was “wired for personal evangelism,” and didn’t think the bishop’s position—“in the unlikely event I was elected to it”—would provide the right opportunities to fit his gifting. He thanked Molly for the nomination, but then declined to let his name run.

The vote then proceeded. When the written ballots were counted, they showed the following:

321 votes cast for Phil Whippe
1 “no” vote
6 abstentions
5 blank ballots
1 vote each for Chuck Malson, Dennis Miller, and Tim Hallman.

“This body has elected Phil Whipple as its bishop,” declared Todd Fetters.

Applause.

Fetters continued, “Thank you for celebrating that decision. It’s also important to consecrate that decision.”

He invited the bishops emeriti—C. Ray Miller, Ray Seilhamer, Paul Hirschy, and Ron Ramsey–to come gather around the bishop on the platform. All four bishops laid hands on Bishop Phil Whipple, and bishops Miller and Seilhamer offered prayer.

03 Jun Photos via Denis Casco from General Conference

Denis Casco, Bishop of Mexico Conference, published on Facebook over 180 photos from the recent General Conference meetings.

29 May General Conference Begins in Ontario

Brian Magnus opening the General Conference meeting.

Bishops John Pessima (Sierra Leone, left) and Isaac Nugent (Jamaica).

The General Conference delegates.

The 2013 General Conference got underway at 9 am Wednesday, May 29, at Emmanuel Bible College in Kitchener, Ontario. General Conference is an international meeting held every three years. Each national conference can send two delegates.

Seven of the ten national conferences are represented.

1. United States (Bishop Phil Whipple and Jeff Bleijerveld are the delegates).
2. Canada (Bishop Brian Magnus and Paul Plato, a layperson, are the delegates).
3. Jamaica (Bishop Isaac Nugent and Pastor Winston Smith)
4. Honduras (Superintendent Juanita Chavez and Ms. Iveth Raudales)
5. Hong Kong (Superintendent Yiu Kin Keung and Mr. Daniel Ko).
6. Sierra Leone (Bishop John Pessima).
7. Mexico (Bishop Denis Casco).

Bishop Brian Magnus of Canada, chairman of the 51st General Conference

Three national conferences are not attending: Nicaragua, the Guatemala, and the Philippines.

Donna Hollopeter, associate director of Global Ministries, is serving as secretary.

Two persons representing mission districts are also attending. A mission district consists of UB churches in a country which have not yet organized as a national conference, and are under the supervision of an existing national conference. We have mission districts in Haiti, India, Germany, Thailand, Macau, El Salvador, and Costa Rica. Attending are:

• Rev. Gonzalo Alas, a Honduras pastor now serving in El Salvador and overseeing the churches there.
• Rev. Oliam Richard, superintendent of the UB churches in Haiti. He won’t arrive until Wednesday night (a plane crash at the Port Au Prince airport in Haiti threw everything off and caused his delay).

Rev. Alas’s visa was initially rejected by the Canadian embassy, but Brian Magnus’s Parliamentary representative stepped in and got him cleared. The delegates from Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Costa Rica were not so fortunate–either they were denied entry visas, or they started the process too late.

Bishop Brian Magnus of Canada is chairman of the international executive committee, a position to which he was elected in 2001 when the United Brethren denomination first reorganized with an international structure. He is chairing the General Conference, as he did in 2005 (in Huntington, Ind.) and in 2010 (in Honduras).

Magnus began the meeting with a devotional on “Growing Spiritually in Life.” He addressed leadership issues such as responsibility, finances, difficult relationships,

The General Conference meetings last Wednesday through Friday. However, most persons will be in Canada through Sunday. Here’s what the schedule looks like:

Mornings: business sessions of the General Conference.
Afternoons: an excursion of some kind (Thursday is Niagara Falls).
Evenings: a service in one of the Canadian UB churches.
Saturday: a big missions conference for the UB churches in Canada.
Sunday: delegates will be dispersed to speak in various Canadian UB churches.

The business session agenda for the three days looks like this:

• National conference reports and updates (15-20 minutes per country).
• National conference mission efforts reports (outreach efforts within and outside of their own borders).
• Approval of any changes made to national conference governing document. This is mostly an accountability check to make sure national conferences haven’t taken actions which might violate the international Confession of Faith, Core Values, Constitution, and By-Laws.
• Miscellaneous issues.