02 Dec Bishop Whipple on Dec 3 Radio Show

On Thursday, December 3, Bishop Phil Whipple will take part in a panel discussion on the Mid-Morning program on WBCL, a Christian radio station in Fort Wayne, Ind. He will be joined by Jerry Davis and Mike Cook, from the Huntington University graduate school, and Monte Sheets, a pastor in Fort Wayne.

The panel will talk about healthy pastors and healthy churches.  They will particularly tackle the questions, “How can pastors care for their inner life, and how can their congregations help?”

The program airs 9-10 am. You can listen over the internet.

19 Nov Feb. 5-7: WinterSlam 2010

Junior high and senior high students from UB churches are invited to attend WinterSlam 2010, a winter retreat in the mountains of western Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. This annual retreat has existed for the past 20 years.

WinterSlam was originally sponsored by Mid-Atlantic Conference. Bobby Culler, youth pastor at Mount Pleasant UB (Chambersburg, Pa.) and a member of the denominational Youth Ministry Team, is in charge of the event. The retreat is sponsored in part by Huntington University.

The retreat is  held at the Laurelville Mennonite Church Center, a 250-acre retreat center at the foot of the Laurel Mountains of southwestern Pennsylvania. That’s near the town of Mt. Pleasant, and southeast of Pittsburgh.

The cost for the retreat is $80, plus activity fees for such things as skiing, snowboarding, and tubing.

Go to the Youth Ministry page for complete information.

28 Oct New Website for Women’s Ministries

The Women’s Ministry Leadership Team has a new website. It has information about the 2010 UB Women’s Conference, to be held in Lancaster, Pa, next September.

27 Oct November 8-9: Mid-Atlantic Pastoral Resource Day

The annual Mid-Atlantic Pastoral Resource Day will be held November 8-9 at Rhodes Grove Camp and Conference Center near Chambersburg, Pa.

The event begins 7 pm Sunday night, November 8, with message from Bishop Phil Whipple.

On Monday morning, Bishop Whipple will give devotions. The rest of the day, 9 am – 4 pm, will focus on the topic “Addiction in the Pews: Understanding the secret struggles of addiction and how to bring ‘hope to the hopeless.” The presenter will be Carol Reinertson, formerly director of the Addiction Studies Program in the Campolo College of Graduate and Professional Studies of Eastern University.

A .5 CEU credit is available. The cost is $40 per person. Lodging is also available at Rhodes Grove Camp.

21 Sep Nov. 8-9: Mid-Atlantic Pastoral Resource Day

The annual Mid-Atlantic Pastoral Resource Day will be held November 8-9 at Rhodes Grove Camp near Chambersburg, Pa.

The event begins 7-9 pm Sunday night, November 8, with a Fireside Chat with Bishop Phil Whipple and Dr. Anthony Blair of Eastern University of St. Davids, Pa.

On Monday morning, Bishop Whipple will give devotions. The rest of the day, 9 am – 4 pm, will focus on the topic “Addiction in the Pews: Understanding the secret struggles of addiction and how to bring ‘hope to the hopeless.” The presenter will be Carol Reinertson, formerly director of the Addiction Studies Program in the Campolo College of Graduate and Professional Studies of Eastern University.

25 Jun Evaluation Results from XLR8

We completed tabulating all the evaluations from the US National Conference. People were asked to rate various aspects of XLR8 on a scale of 1-10, with “Poor” on the low end and “Great” on the high end. When people circled “Great,” we gave them an 11. That’s why you see scores above 10.

On that note: way to be, children’s and teen workers! You were obviously deeply appreciated.

The lowest scores went to the business session (no real surprise there), and music (music is a huge point of disagreement in local churches, so you would expect the same at a national church conference).

23 Jun 2010 UB Women’s Conference

The Women’s Ministry Team holds a convention for United Brethren women every two years. They are now announcing their 2010 conference, which you can get on your calendar:

September 17-19, 2010
Willow Valley Resort, Lancaster, Pa.

10 Jun Clergy Representation at National Conference

This year, anyone holding a national conference license was a voting delegate at the US National Conference. Not so in 2011. A new provision cuts out unassigned and retired ministers. The new Paragraph 503.1, “Clergy Representation,” says:

Voting members. Ministers are eligible to serve as voting members if they meet both of these conditions:
1. They hold a specialized Ministry license, a national conference license, or are ordained elders in the United Brethren church.
2, At the time of the National Conference, they meet one of these criteria:
a. Are employed by a United Brethren church in the US National Conference.
b. Serve the national conference in an appointed or elected position.
c. Hold a leadership position in a non-United Brethren ministry recognized by the Executive Leadership Team. Persons desiring this recognition must send a letter to the bishop requesting such recognition.

This subject sparked the only major debate on the conference floor. There were two main issues:

1. There was strong sentiment for allowing all national conference ministers to be voting delegates, whether they were actively serving or not.
2. What about United Brethren ministers who serve in the broader Kingdom in other organizations, and who value their UB connections? The two main examples given were missionaries Dave Datema and Roger Skinner, both of whom are ordained but serve fulltime in mission organizations.

It would be impossible to write a Discipline statement covering every possible organization. Point C addressed that by letting the Executive Leadership Team be the filter. If Dave Datema and Roger Skinner (and others) want to be voting members in 2011, they merely need to send a letter to the bishop with that request. He’ll take the request to the ELT, which can grant or deny the request.

After considerable discussion, this entire debate was deferred until after lunch, so that a small group of people could formulate a statement, rather than try to write one on the conference floor. What they came up with is what passed by a considerable margin. There was much, much further discussion, and unsuccessful attempts at several amendments, but the statement above ultimately passed as presented.