14 Sep Son of Pastor Carey Knittle Killed in Accident

Dave Knittle from Spencerville, Ohio, was killed in a motorcycle/car accident Friday morning, September 11, on his way to work. Dave is the son of retired minister Carey Knittle, a longtime pastor in the United Brethren church. Dave’s sister is Amy Riddle, wife of Dave Riddle, who has been pastor of Element UB church in Blissfield, Mich. Dave Knittle’s son is in the military in Colorado and has been ill. The entire family would appreciate your prayers.

04 Sep Pat Jones Accepts Wesleyan Pastorate in Buffalo, N.Y.

During this time of transition, Bishop Phil Whipple agreed to have Pat Jones stay on at Healthy Ministry Resources to assist for a short period of time. Pat will end his time at Healthy Ministry Resources September 30. Pat has served as Director of Healthy Church Ministries since August 2005.

On October 1, Pat will  assume a new role as senior pastor of Eastern Hills Wesleyan Church in Williamsville, NY, a suburb of Buffalo.

In early August, Pat preached one weekend at Eastern Hills and then was invited back for a formal interview. That was followed by a “call” weekend August 28-30, during which he held numerous question-and-answer sessions with different constituencies from the church–staff, men’s group, women’s group, youth, etc. He also preached, again, for their Saturday night and two Sunday morning services.

A congregational vote was taken September 1, and Pat and Pam received a call that night inviting them to Eastern Hills. Pat and Pam have accepted that call and will be moving to Buffalo to begin their duties October 1.

Eastern Hills is the fourth largest Wesleyan church, currently averaging around 2000. Pat will follow Dr. Karl Eastlack, who led the church over a 22-year period from averaging 19 people to almost 3000 at one time in its history. Dr. Eastlack has accepted the presidency of World Hope, a mission organization headquartered in Alexandria, Va.

Pat says, “Pam and I are so grateful for the 27-plus years of ministry, relationships, and heritage we have had among our United Brethren. Those will never change. The challenge of leaving everything and everyone you have known to follow the Lord’s leading is great. We ask an interest in your prayers for this transition and for the Lord to honor Himself in and through it.”

Please pray for Pat and Pam Jones as they prepare for this new venture. You could also pray for the sale of their house in Fort Wayne, Ind.

Pat can be contacted by email at pjones@easternhillschurch.org or patrickjones@me.com.

02 Sep Contacting the Bishops by Email

Bishop Phil Whipple can be contacted at this email address: phil@ub.org
You can also follow him on Twitter.

Ron Ramsey has a new email address. You can contact him at: ronramsey@mac.com

For good measure, here is former bishop Paul Hirschy’s email: phirschy@huntington.edu

26 Aug Adam Lane Hired at Blue Rock UB

Greg Helman, senior pastor of Blue Rock UB (Waynesboro, Pa.), reports: “Blue Rock Church has hired Adam Lane as their new worship/music director. He is a recent graduate of Huntington University with a degree in worship leadership. His expertise and humble heart will complement the growing ministry that God is doing at Blue Rock. Adam and his wife, Shalom, live in nearby Hagerstown, Md.

13 Aug A Final Round of Golf with Ron Ramsey and Pat Jones

Bishop Ron Ramsey scored one of the morning’s 3 holes-in-one.

As mentioned yesterday, the Healthy Ministry Resources staff took Ron Ramsey and
Pat Jones out for breakfast that morning, as a way to spend time with them before they left office. But that was only Part 1 of the morning.

Part 2 was mini-golf.

After breakfast, we headed over to the domed building on Engle Road to play 18 holes on their indoor miniature golf course. Ron and Pat are avid golfers. Actually, Ron is avid, and Pat is fanatical. The staff thought it would be fun to play golf with them, but in a setting where the playing field is more level–in other words, not on a real golf course.

The staff divided into three groups and gave it a whirl. When scores were tallied, Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries, emerged as the winner. Darlene Burkett, fresh from vacation (her first day back) and full of energy, placed second. Actually, she was tied with newly-elected bishop Phil Whipple for second. Then came Pat Jones. Here’s most of the list (we’ll skip the last-place finishers) and their scores:

1. Jeff Bleijerveld (43).
2. Tie: Darlene Burkett and Phil Whipple (46).
3. Pat Jones (48).
4. Donna Hollopeter (55).
5. Tie: Ron Ramsey, Steve Dennie, and Jane Seely (56).

There were only three holes-in-one: Ron Ramsey, Pat Jones, and Marci Hammel.

12 Aug A Farewell Fling with Ron and Pat

The Healthy Ministry Resources staff book Bishop Ron Ramsey and Pat Jones out for breakfast this morning (Wednesday, August 12). They’ll be leaving office in a couple days, and we wanted to treat them. We went to Spyros, a family restaurant in Fort Wayne that feeds you obscene amounts of food, and wise souls always leave with a doggy bag.

We gave both Ron and Pat a bag of goodies, mostly golf-related gift cards, since they are  avid (to put it mildly) golfers. Then Phil Whipple, who will officially take office as bishop on August 15, presented a retirement pin to Ron Ramsey: 32 years of service to the United Brethren in Christ.

05 Aug Retirement of Rev. Jim Kendall

Jim Kendall, pastor at Maranatha UB (Perrington, Mich.) since 1991, retired effective July 27, 2009. He had served with the United Brethren denomination for 37 years.

05 Aug Dick Raab Diagnosed with Cancer

Dick Raab, a retired minister in Michigan, has been diagnosed with sarcoma cancer. He begins radiation treatments around August 24, and chemotherapy will come after that. On Monday, August 4, we received this message from Dick’s wife, Donelle.

“We went to the oncologist this morning. He said without treatment Dick wouldn’t make it past 5 months. With treatment he could live several more months, even years, there is just no way to know at this point. There are some extra spots, too, on the outside of his lung. It is too hard to know if those spots will take off and grow or not. They could stay dormant for a long time and then grow quickly. Or, they could be the same kind as his tumor and grow very fast right away. There is no way to tell.

“We do know that things were slowed down, at least temporarily, by the removal of the large tumor. The rest of the tumor that the surgeon couldn’t get and ‘still have a live patient’ needs to be treated as soon as healing takes place enough that he can be treated. We have an appointment next Monday with the radiation oncologist to go over radiation treatment possibilities and the possible date to start up treatment. The extra spots on his lung will be treated with chemo after the radiation is done. It all doesn’t sound like a pleasant fall even in the best case scenario.”

You can send a note to Dick by email.