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Jeff Dice, associate pastor at Brown Corners Church in Clare, Mich., will lead his third short-term team to Nicaragua June 9-19. This is part of Brown Corners’ ongoing partnership with that country. The team will do several small construction projects, some cultural outreach activities, and Bible training. Jeff would like to invite individuals from other churches to join the team. Interested? Call him at 989-386-2702, or send an email to Jeff Dice.
Jacob Stover, a long-time minister in Pennsylvania and Mid-Atlantic conferences, passed away Thursday morning, February 24, at 11:15 a.m. There will be no public viewing and service. Instead, the family has chosen to have only a private memorial service. However, this service is open to Rev. Stover’s ministerial colleagues.
Gary Dilley, Director of Global Ministries, and his wife Rhonda are celebrating the birth of their first grandchild. Brooke Alexandria Dilley arrived on February 11 at 1:30 a.m., weighing 6 lbs., 15 oz. Everyone is doing fine. That’s Rhonda in the picture holding Brooke.
Traci Slager, director of Anchor Community Church‘s Life Unlimited Youth Center (Fort Wayne, Ind.), is the mother of a baby boy. Nathanael was born Saturday morning, January 28, to she and Rob. The baby had some initial health problems which required a stay in ICU. However, Nathanael was able to come home from the hospital February 1.
On January 25, Bishop Emeritus Paul Hirschy began a new job as a development officer at Huntington University. 
His primary responsibilities are to cultivate relationships and generate financial resources for the University. Hirschy will travel the tri-state area meeting with alumni and friends to share the Huntington University story.
“Paul is a sincere, compassionate, committed Christian man whose love of and historic ties to Huntington University make him a natural fit with the Advancement staff,” says Troy Irick, vice president for Advancement. “Paul and his wife Barbara have 40 years worth of ties to HU as students, alums, parents of alum,s and as a UB pastor and bishop of the church.”
Hirschy served from 2001-2005 as bishop of the United Brethren in Christ Church, USA. Prior to that position, he was the director of the Department of Church Services for the United Brethren in Christ Church beginning in 1982.
“I hope to serve Huntington University by making good contacts with people who believe in the University’s mission, and I plan to help build church and University relations through my extensive contacts with pastors and churches,” Hirschy said.
Hirschy and his wife, Barb, a schoolteacher, attend College Park Church in Huntington, Ind.
Bishop Ron Ramsey provides the following update on his wife’s physical condition. “Many of you have been praying for my wife, E. J. I want to report that prayer works. As you may recall from an email in early December, she was diagnosed with a serious eye condition that could cause total blindness in as little as three weeks. She had already lost partial vision in her right eye. She was started on a course of steroids that could last 1-2 years to combat the disease. But after only four weeks of steroids, her latest blood test came back normal and she began to be weaned off the steroids. I thank God for all of your prayers. There is no doubt in my mind, or hers, that God supernaturally touched her. And I praise God today afresh for his compassion and healing.
On January 15, 2006, Pastor Adam Will was officially installed as pastor of Eden UB church in Reedsville, Ohio. This happened 10 months since he took over as pastor on Palm Sunday in March 2005. He was surprised to find many people in attendance, because the congregation had surprised him with his local conference license. The ironic thing was that the title to Pastor Adam’s message was “Shhh! It’s a Secret!” By the Grace of God, the church, having been through so much, is starting to grow again in Spirit, energy, and even numbers.
Bishop Emeritus Clarence Kopp underwent surgery on Monday, December 5, to remove a fist-sized mass on his liver. However, they began with a scope, since it was suspected that the tumor might be hiding additional diseased tissue. That turned out to be the case. The surgeon felt that the tumor was either positioned much differently than expected or that it now had grown to the point where three-fourths of the liver would need to be removed. As a result, no surgery was performed. Bishop Kopp will now begin six months of chemotherapy treatments to shrink the tumor. He was expected to be released from the hospital today.
On Monday, November 28, Elsie Ramsey, wife of Bishop Ron Ramsey, underwent some tests for what they feared could be cancer. They are thankful that that wasn’t the case. However, later in the day they learned that E. J. has a disorder called temporal artoritis, a condition of inflamed blood vessels in the head. It was affecting the optic nerve in E. J.’s right eye, and if left untreated, could lead to total blindness. E. J. is on a heavy regimen of steroids right now, and the treatments are going well. The doctor feels they got it in time and Elsie may not need to be on the steroids very long. It’s not life-threatening, and there is no pain, but as mentioned, it can lead to blindness. E. J. is also diabetic, and steroids can adversely affect diabetes. But thus far, she has experienced no adverse side effects. As churches, please remember E. J. and Ron in your prayers.
