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07 Feb

February 7, 2010 |
Bob Bruce shows Din Wan, a recent Burmese immgrant, how to eat an ice cream cone.

Bob Bruce, Pastor of Spiritual Care at Emmanuel Community Church (Fort Wayne, Ind.), shows Din Wan, a recent Burmese immigrant, how to eat an ice cream cone.

My wife and I, along with Bob and Kathy Bruce from Emmanuel Community Church (Fort Wayne, Ind.) are involved with a family of Burmese immigrants. A couple days ago, Bob and I took the five children to McDonald’s for ice cream. They had never eaten ice cream before.

To to honest, the reaction was somewhat mixed. Some thought ice cream was pretty tasty; others couldn’t figure out why anyone would eat something that cold on a winter night.

But the biggest challenge seemed to be eating it. However, not to fear, Bob Bruce (or Mr. Bob to the Burmese kids) demonstrated with fine fashion the most effective method of eating an ice cream cone.

21 Jan

January 21, 2010 |

United Believers in Christ Fellowship consists of churches in California which withdrew from the denomination in 2005. However, they are raising funds for Haiti to be channeled through UB Global Ministries.

Nicholas Kern, CEO of United Believers in Christ, writes, “If you or your congregation wishes to do so, please send your contribution to the United Believers in Christ Fellowship. We will send any monies collected through the Global Ministries department of our parents (The United Brethren in Christ Missions Dept) designated to our Missionary in Haiti.”

15 Jan

January 15, 2010 |
We learned today (Jan. 15) that Rev. Oliam Richard, superintendent of the 40 United Brethren churches in Haiti, made it back to Haiti, and he was reunited with his wife, Esther. She was not injured. However, Esther is not well, and they are making arrangements with the French embassy to send her back to France as soon as possible. She arrived in Haiti from France the day before the earthquake.

12 Jan

January 12, 2010 |

Bishop Phil Whipple is preaching at tonight’s General Conference service in La Ceiba, Honduras. The service will be held at one of the local churches. He’s been having some stomach problems, so you might say a prayer that he’ll be just fine tonight.

06 Jan

January 6, 2010 |

Phyllis Cherry, wife of retired UB minister, Herb Cherry, passed away on Tuesday, January 5, 2010. Her funeral arrangements are as follows:

Visitation: Friday, January 8, 5-8 pm

Location: Chas. J. Burden & Son Funeral Home, 1806 E Michigan Ave, Jackson, MI 49202-3646 (517) 784-3104  www.dignitymemorial.com

Funeral: Saturday, January 9, 11 am. Visitation 10-11 am

Location: Eden UB Church, 1938 Eden Road, Mason, MI 48854 (517) 676-1376

Herb Cherry’s address is: 3913 Sage Court, Bloomington, IN 47401

09 Dec

December 9, 2009 |

Last Thursday, Dec. 3, Bishop Phil Whipple was a guest on the popular Mid-Morning show on WBCL, a Christian radio station in Fort Wayne, Ind. He was joined by two Huntington University graduate school professors, Mike Cook and Jerry Davis, along with another Fort Wayne pastor. The topic: “Healthy Church, Healthy Pastor.”

08 Dec

December 8, 2009 |

A group of six persons from Mount Pleasant UB (Chambersburg, Pa.) will fly to Mexico tomorrow, December 9. Youth pastor Bobby Culler, his wife, and four other persons will meet up with Bishop Denis Casco of the Mexico National Conference. They are looking for a UB church with which to partner. Mount Pleasant has partnered with one UB church in Mexico for the past five years, but has released those reigns and are looking for a different church.

19 Nov

November 19, 2009 |

Rick Warren got into the Twitter game a couple months ago, and I’ve been following him. His tweets are some of the more interesting and redeeming ones. Lots of fluff and nonsense out there, but Warren sends out very useful and sometimes provocative tidbits.

Last week, Warren sent out this tweet:

Finding time to read the great spiritual classics is no mystery. Turn off the TV. Nothing on TV today will matter in 10 years.

Then, to drive home the point, he sent this tweet:

“A wise person is hungry for truth, while the fool feeds on trash.” Proverbs 15:14 (NLT)

All I can say is: touche.

13 Nov

November 13, 2009 |

At Anchor Community Church, we’re always on the prowl for new worship songs. Most new songs we learn from Christian radio.  When we attend Christian events, we’re not particularly interested in hearing songs we already know. We want to hear new stuff. It’s disappointing to leave an event having heard the same ol’ songs.

We brought back two songs from last summer’s US National Conference, which we’ve incorporated into our repertoire: “Revelation Song” and “Let Me Sing.” Thanks, Mainstreet worship team!

A Willow Creek conference taught us “Lord I Will.” A Promise Keepers convention provided “I Am Free,” “Strong Tower,” and “How Great is Our God.” MinistryCOM introduced me to “Yes You Have” and Michael Neale’s “More and More.” All of these are now regular songs at Anchor, songs our people enjoy. The latest batch of “possibles” includes two songs I heard at this year’s MinistryCOM.

I’m no music expert. I’ve been playing on worship teams for 20 years, but I’m still basically a keyboard hacker with a rock-and-roll bent. But I see a lot of wonderful music being written today, music that connects with me and with our congregation.

And it’s not necessarily fluff or repetitive (as too many people stereotype contemporary Christian music). We’re talking songs with multiple verses, plus a bridge (which you don’t find in hymns). Songs that, if written in another era, would have been included in a hymnal and revered today.

Too many churches still fight music wars, with parishioners who have sung the exact same hymns for 60 years resisting the introduction of any new music. That always makes me sad…and very grateful for the wide-open attitude at Anchor.