L-r: Bishop Phil Whipple, Terry Smith, John and Donna Authenreith, and  Marty Pennington.

L-r: Bishop Phil Whipple, Terry Smith, John and Donna Authenreith, and Marty Pennington.

Bishop Phil Whipple (left) with John and Donna Authenreith.

Bishop Phil Whipple (left) with John and Donna Authenreith.

John Authenreith was ordained by Bishop Phil Whipple on February 18, 2015. John is Worship Arts Pastor at Mainstreet UB church in Walbridge, Ohio. The ordination service was held at Mainstreet, with senior pastor Marty Pennington and associate pastor Terry Smith assisting.

John has served on staff at Mainstreet since 2006. He and the Mainstreet worship team led the worship singing at the 2007 and 2009 US National Conferences.

Don Merillat, a retired UB minister, was hospitalized over the weekend in Tampa, Florida. His condition was very serious. On Sunday, his wife, Carol, wrote, “Don is resting and the pain seems to be subsiding, but he is terribly confused. It partly may be drugs; they are taking him off of them. The infectious doctor was in today and they are going to be testing to see if and where there is infection in the body. One blood test came back that there was some infection. He has been retested. He has had pneumonia and we are in question about his kidneys and how much they may be playing a part in the confusion. Kidneys are not good.”

On Tuesday, Feb. 24, Carol added this message: “The doctors did blood work yesterday. There seems to be an infection in his body. Infectious people will be working on it. He was still very confused and realized that his mind was playing tricks on him. Hard to deal with. Much of this could be due to the drugs that they had him on for pain. He is on two different antibiotics by IV….He has been free from the horrific pain for a couple of days and they are giving him no pain meds as of yesterday.”

Please keep Don and Carol in your prayers.

Bishop Phil Whipple (right) presenting a retirement pin to Mike Arnold.

Bishop Phil Whipple (right) presenting a retirement pin to Mike Arnold.

On Sunday, November 30, Bishop Phil Whipple presented a retirement pin to Rev. Mike Arnold. It was his last Sunday as pastor of Crossroads UB church in Charlotte, Mich., the church Arnold has pastored since 1999.

Arnold come out of what is now New Hope Community UB church in Bryan, Ohio. He began pastoring in the United Brethren church in 1984, serving four years at the Sherwood-Delaware circuit and then five years at West Windsor UB church in Dimondale, Mich. In 1993, he started a UB church in DeWitt, Mich., serving there until 1999.

Arnold graduated from Huntington University in 1986 with a degree in Bible & Religion, and received the Master of Christian Ministry from HU in 1990. He was ordained in 1990.

L-r: Roger Overmyer, Bishop Phil Whipple, Amanda and Steve Henry, and Gary Small.

L-r: Roger Overmyer, Bishop Phil Whipple, Amanda and Steve Henry, and Gary Small.

Bishop Phil Whipple conducting the ordination service.

Bishop Phil Whipple conducting the ordination service.

Steve Henry, pastor of Victory Heights UB church (Franklin, Pa.), was ordained on Sunday, November 23. Bishop Phil Whipple conducted the ordination service, assisted by former pastor Roger Overmyer and Gary Small, pastor of the Atlantic Avenue UB church in Franklin.

Steve Henry has been pastor of Victory Heights since 2006.

Scott Budde has been appointed senior pastor of Mt. Carmel UB church (Fulks Run, Va.). He graduated in 1988 from Indiana Wesleyan University, and was ordained in the Wesleyan Church in 1993. Since 1988, he has served in staff and senior pastor positions in several different Wesleyan churches.

Scott and his wife, Donna, have five children, ranging in age from 24 to 9.

Rev. Howard Munn, 92, passed away October 23, 2014. He was ordained in 1945, and went on to serve as a UB conference superintendent for 23 years in the former Sandusky Conference. He pastored UB churches for 41 years:

  • Bethel UB in Elmore, Ohio (7 years)
  • First UB in New Castle, Pa. (8 years).
  • Mt. Zion UB in Wayne, Ohio (26 years).

After retiring in 1988 he became Pastor of Visitation at Mainstreet UB church in Walbridge, Ohio. His wife, Dolly, whom he wed in 1941, passed away in 2011.

Visitation: 5-8 pm Thursday, October 31.
Visitation location: Dunn Funeral Home, 408 W. Wooster Street, Bowling Green, Ohio.
Funeral: 11 am Friday, October 31, 2014.
Funeral location: Mt. Zion UB church, Wayne, Ohio (corner of Bays and Reynolds Roads).

Rev. Kenneth Graham will officiate at the funeral.

Rev. Dave Stephens passed away Thursday night, October 16, 2014. He was an ordained United Brethren minister, former UB pastor, and for 25 years, director of Camp Cotubic in Bellefontaine, Ohio.

Dave’s son, Scott, wrote the following on Facebook:

With his family at his side, dad passed away on October 16th at 8:00 pm. He’d battled cancer for a year and fought the good fight right up to the end. Dad was such a great man and had a way of making everyone he came in contact with feel like they were family. He was truly a man with the heart of Christ….

God blessed him with a great stage in Camp Cotubic to simply love on people, and that’s what he did every day. He loved the camp so much and gave his heart and soul to it every day for 25 years. God gave Dad a vision 25 years ago, and he worked hard to see that vision come to pass. A couple years ago, Dad sat down and tried to figure out the number of kids that have come through the camp. He quit counting once the number of kids reached a number that would fill Ohio Stadium.

Dad has left us with a great example we all should follow in how to treat others. He always left people better than he’d find them. As I sit here I can’t help but imagine what Dad is seeing right now. He understood this earth isn’t home and looked forward to seeing his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and he also looked forward to seeing his earthly father who passed away in 1984.

We, the Stephens family want to thank everyone who has shown us so much love. It has truly been overwhelming to see the number of people Dad has touched come and love on us over the last year of his battle with cancer. We love you all so much and couldn’t have made it through this without you. Know we’re doing fine and are celebrating as we know where Dad is and who he’s with now! No more pain, no more tears, and no more cancer.

Funeral details will be posted when available. Tentatively, the viewing will be held Monday, October 20, with the funeral on Tuesday in Bellefontaine, Ohio.

Top row (l-r): Stephanie Farman, Todd Moser, Kevin Poole, Montgomery Seaman, Matteneh Abu, Scott Graham. Middle row: Todd Greenman, Gener Lascase, Chris Soltis, Jason Clarke, Todd Frederick, Mike Mattox. Bottom row: Marvin McNew, Caleb Palmer, David Souers, Nicholas Walborn.

Top row (l-r): Stephanie Farman, Todd Moser, Kevin Poole, Montgomery Seaman, Matteneh Abu, Scott Graham. Middle row: Todd Greenman, Gener Lascase, Chris Soltis, Jason Clarke, Todd Frederick, Mike Mattox. Bottom row: Marvin McNew, Caleb Palmer, David Souers, Nicholas Walborn.

The Pastoral Ministry Leadership Team has granted ministerial licenses to the following persons. We welcome them to the United Brethren ministerial family.

Specialized Licenses

  • Stephanie Farman, children’s coordinator at Sunfield UB church (Sunfield, Mich.).
  • Todd Moser, Children’s Ministry Director at New Horizons Community Church (Rockford, Ohio).
  • Kevin Poole, Children’s Pastor at Fowlerville UB church (Fowlerville, Mich.).
  • Montgomery Seaman, Pastor of Worship & Connections at Mongul UB church (Shippensburg, Pa.).

National Conference Licenses

  • Matteneh Abu, from Mount Zion United African Church (Philadelphia, Pa.).
  • Scott Graham, senior pastor of Good Shepherd UB church (Greenfield, Ohio).
  • Todd Greenman, senior pastor of Morocco UB church (Temperance, Mich.).
  • Gener Lascase, pastor of Salem Haitian UB church (Chambersburg, Pa.).
  • Chris Soltis, Pastor of Children & Youth Ministries at Shoreline UB church (Oak Harbor, Ohio).

Provisional Licenses

  • Jason Clarke, Director of Worship Arts at New Hope Community Church (Bryan, Ohio).
  • Todd Frederick, from Sunfield UB church (Sunfield, Mich.).
  • Mike Mattox, senior pastor of New Life Church (Chanute, Kansas).
  • Marvin McNew, associate pastor of The Well (Huntington, Ind.).
  • Caleb Palmer, senior pastor of Northland Community Church (Traverse City, Mich.).
  • David Souers, senior pastor of New Horizons Community Church (Rockford, Ohio).
  • Nicholas Walborn, Director of Student Ministries at New Hope Community Church (Bryan, Ohio).

Mark Self has been named senior pastor of Trinity UB church in Fostoria, Ohio. He graduated in 1994 from Kentucky Mountain Bible College with a degree in Pastoral Ministries. Since 1987, he has served as youth pastor, associate pastor, or pastor at five different churches. Most recently, he served 14 years, 2000-2014, as pastor of Christ’s Community Church in Navarre, Ohio. Mark and his wife, Debbie, have three grown children, ages 18-24.

Steve Smith, senior pastor of Lake View UB church (Camden, Mich.) is undergoing heart surgery on Tuesday, Aug 26, at the University of Michigan Cardio Vascular Center. He has congestive heart failure. He says he will undergo a new form of cardio ablation which has not yet been approved for practice in the United States, though it has been used with good success in Europe and Canada.

The first procedure will occur Tuesday morning, Aug 26, at 9:00. It will check for clotting and blockage around the heart. He will then be prepared for the 1 pm surgery, which will take 5-6 hours.

Steve says he is counting on being released Wednesday afternoon, but it may be Thursday.

Steve’s wife, Pam, will be with him. You can email them both: pam@lakeviewch.org and steve@lakeviewch.org.

Cards can be sent to:

Stephen E. Smith
14901 Meadowvale Dr
Camden, MI 49232