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09 Feb

February 9, 2009 |

Ron Ramsey, Bishop

winningonpurpose.jpgJohn Edmund Kaiser in his book, Winning on Purpose, proposes that a new organizational structure is needed to assist and support church growth. The structure is called “governance” which is described this way:
  • The church board govern.
  • The pastor leads.
  • The staff manages.
  • The congregation ministers. 
This book and system is one that both Pat Jones and I have advocated for our local churches.
I came across an article written by Bill Essum on the Church Central website (www.churchcentral.com) and I wanted to excerpt a paragraph from that article for our consideration. The overall theme is that churches need to reproduce themselves in order to stem church decline in the US.
Bill writes: 

There needs to be an end of democracy and consensus. Apostolic-led churches are structured around the Spirit-led leadership of a man or woman who listens to God rather than following a board. The more democratic the church is, the less likely it is to grow, much less become reproductive. Reproductive churches have small boards and very few committees if any. If you dig under the covers of the large megachurches and the churches that are planting churches, you won’t find much structure; and the sheep aren’t leading the shepherd. (Emphasis added)

I am tired of dealing with churches more interested in who is in charge than they are about being a Great Commission Church that is reaching lost people and seeing them become fully devoted followers of Jesus. I am tired of being called to churches where the sheep are trying to lead and the shepherd is just a “hired” employee.  
I recently was in one of our churches talking about the need for that particular church to become more focused on Great Commission issues. One of the attendees took offense and pounded the table, “This is my church and we don’t want to be one of those big churches.”  
I was able to inform the person they were wrong, it isn’t our church. The Church belongs to Jesus. He is the head. And because Jesus is the Head of the Church, he is also the head of our church. Wasn’t received real well.  
Anyway, this whole debate about who is in charge in a local church is diverting much of our energy away from Great Commission ministries. To me, there are two crucial elements to what Essum is arguing:
  1. That the congregation sees the pastor as a Spirit-led man or woman who listens to God first.  
  2. That the pastor is willing to lead. As Essum says, “The sheep aren’t leading the shepherd”.
I think that Essum makes a lot of sense. What do you think?

05 Feb

February 5, 2009 |

Harold Wust
Harold Wust has been diagnosed with leukemia. Harold and his wife, Dee, served as missionaries in Honduras, and Harold later served many years as Associate Director of Missions. They live in Huntington, Ind., and attend Good Shepherd UB church.

The report this week is that his liver and kidneys are doing well. The chemotherapy is over. Now, they must wait to see if it worked. If it did not, they will not do another dose of chemo. He would not survive it. We have to pray that the chemo worked and for daily continued strength.

Harold could use cards of encouragement and very brief visits. And your prayers. You can contact Harold in these ways:

Email: [email protected]
Mail: Harold Wust
5320N – 200W
Huntington, IN 46750

Wilmer Houck
Wilmer (Bill) Houck, pastor of Coleta UB church (Coleta, Ill.), is in Texas for 5-9 weeks of “stem cell” treatment. He drove to San Antonio on Monday, and his treatments started Tuesday.
He can be contacted here:

Wilmer Houck
3809 Pine Hill Road
Sterling, IL 61081
Email: [email protected]

Barb Osgood
Barb Osgood, former missionary to Sierra Leone, will undergo exploratory surgery on February 11 to determine the cause of a large amount of fluid accumulating in her abdomen. The fear is cancer, but we won’t know till after the operation.

03 Feb

February 3, 2009 |

Jim Bolich, pastor of Prince Street Church (Shippensburg, Pa.), is preaching through Philemon. Paul wrote to Philemon, a wealthy man, about Onesiumus, a slave who stole something and then fled…and then became a Christian. Jim, on his blog, mentioned two principles. Here is the first one:

Principle 1: Don’t deny your problems; face them.

A lot of people go through life denying that their problems exist. It’s like holding a lit firecracker and telling yourself it isn’t going to blow up. But it will. And when it does, severe pain and destruction will happen.

So…what’s your problem? What’s the lit firecracker in your life? Onesimus took a handwritten letter back to the guy who had the authority to kill him, trusting God with the results. God intervened, and He can for us, too.

What’s your problem…the thing that threatens to overwhelm you? Whatever it is, give it a name. Quit denying the problem. Allow God to change your life. Face it, despite the potential consequences. And trust God with the outcome.

27 Jan

January 27, 2009 |

I remember a young man who had come to faith in one of the churches I pastored. His wife was already a believer. They just had their first child. Anyway, in a sermon I talked about how the man of the house is responsible for seeing that prayer takes place in the family.

Well this young man came to me and told me he didn’t know how to pray–not even to give thanks before a meal.

“What time do you eat your evening meal?” I asked him.

“About 5:30,” he said.

I told him, “I’ll be there tomorrow night and teach you how to return thanks for the meal.”

I did that several times before he told me he could do it. Then I asked him whether he prayed with his new baby when they put him down for the night. He said he didn’t know how. “When do you put your baby to bed?” I asked him. And for a couple nights, I showed up at their house, showing him how to pray over his new child until he told me he thought he could do it.

The point is–don’t assume that people know how to pray.

19 Jan

January 19, 2009 |

Ron Ramsey, Bishop

I was with a group of guys who were discussing the question something like this: “When was prayer most meaningful and when was it not meaningful.” 
I’ll never forget what one man said. “Prayer is most meaningful when I have something specific to pray about, and is least meaningful when I don’t have something specific to pray about.” How profound! I have continued over the years to think about that answer.
But I have since changed my mind. 
A believer should always have something specific to pray about, don’t you think? I mean, isn’t one purpose of prayer to bring praise, honor and glory to our Lord? Yes, I know, we are also invited to share our petitions and then confessions, but to me the most urgent reason to pray is to give praise and glory to our Lord and King. 
I guess that is why I enjoy reading the Psalms over and over. They teach me how to think properly about God and how to regard him in my praying and worship. Even aside from praising and adoring a holy, loving and generous God, is there any moment of any day that I don’t have needs to be met? 

17 Jan

January 17, 2009 |

This is from the Sillly file. Hey, it’s Saturday.

Seasoned ministers understand the importance of getting your spouse’s approval before using her in a sermon illustration. Here’s an amusing video about that, a parody of Carrie Underwood’s song “Before He Cheats.”

16 Jan

January 16, 2009 |
Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries, is traveling to Costa Rica today. Here’s where he’s been and where he’ll yet be during this extended trip.
  • Jeff attended Honduras Conference last week.
  • Saturday, January 10: He traveled to Masaya, Nicaragua, to attend Nicaragua Conference. 
  • Friday, January 16: Travel to Costa Rica to visit the UB churches there. Joe Leighton, pastor of Salem Chapel UB (Junction City, Ohio), will join him there. 
  • Wednesday, January 21: Travel to Guatemala to visit the UB churches there (Joe Leighton will return to Ohio). 
  • Monday, January 26: Travel to Haiti to visit Oliam Richard and the UB churches in Haiti. 
  • Thursday January 29: Return to Indiana. 

14 Jan

January 14, 2009 |

phylis_soldier500.jpg

Phylis Stouder, right, displaying the Nutcracker soldier given as a parting gift. On the left is Marilyn Waters, the bookstore manager. Phylis and Marilyn have been a team for about 15 years.

Steve Dennie, Communications Director
Healthy Ministry Resources said good-bye to Phylis Stouder, who has worked there since October 1986. That’s 22 years. 

On Tuesday, January 13, we held a farewell luncheon for Phylis at the Habecker Dining Commons at Huntington University. Pat Jones and Jeff Bleijerveld were traveling, but everyone else was there. The staff gave her a couple gifts, including a Nutcracker wooden soldier to add to her collection. 
Phylis originally came as a secretary in what was then the Church Services department. I was editor of the monthly United Brethren magazine, and Phylis did a variety of chores for me, and helped out the others in the department–Paul Hirschy, Carlson Becker, Denny Miller–in whatever ways she could. 
Since 1993, Phylis has worked primarily with the bookstore. Every quarter, she packages hundreds of boxes of Sunday school materials. She also helps with everyone else’s mailings–the Bishop’s office, Global Ministries, you name it. If you receive something from the national office, Phylis probably had her hands on it. 
Phylis and her husband, Lowell, are members of College Park UB church in Huntington. They spent most of their married lives running a dairy farm (Lowell got out of that a while back). They’re also big Purdue fans. Please don’t ask Phylis for her opinion of Bobby Knight.
We’ll miss Phylis a lot. She worked hard and conscientiously, willing to do anything asked of her. 
Over the years, she learned how to do some of everything, an office jack-of-all-trades. We’ll miss her good sense of humor. 
Actually, Phylis will keep coming back occasionally to help in the bookstore or do mailings or whatever. But she’s basically retired, no regular hours. Which is what she wanted.
Twice a week, we start the day with office devotions. After our prayer time, Phylis would always say, “Have a nice day.” That was our signal to head to our desks and get started. We haven’t decided who will say that now.

13 Jan

January 13, 2009 |

Ron Ramsey, Bishop

A few weeks ago I suggested that you read the book “Prayer Coach” and that we begin a discussion around the ideas of that book. It has been longer than I intended, but at last here is my first post about this matter of prayer and coaching others to pray.
Before we get any further, be thinking: do you have a daily plan for spending time with God? Because I’d like to hear about it.
To introduce the subject, I want to begin with an example. 
Many years ago, probably around 1985, I developed the habit of reading five Psalms and five  Proverbs every day. I either heard or read years ago that Billy Graham follows this practice. 
While I was attending a convention representing Scripture Press, I found in another exhibitor’s booth a little book called “31 Day of Wisdom & Praise,” which has long since become out of print. This little booklet structures my Psalms/Proverbs reading. Each day I read five Psalms, and they are spaced 30 apart. For example:
  • On Day One of a new month I read Psalm 1, 31, 61, 91 and 121, and Proverbs 1. 
  • On Day Two, I read Psalm 2, 32, 62, 92 and 122, and Proverbs 2.
Today, January 13, I read Psalm 13, 43, 73, 103 and 132, and Proverbs 13.
As I read each day, regardless of how many times I have read it, I find new and exciting things that God seems to be saying to me. Even in personal times of deep disturbances of my heart, God has spoken to me with comfort and help. 
Yesterday I read Psalm 12:8, a verse I have read many times, yet this verse seemed to describe our culture. Listen:

The wicked freely strut about
when what is vile is honored among men.

Boy, is that true or what? Sin is being honored in our society and wicked people strut about. It is getting more and more pronounced. Wow! What a verse. Nearly every day I find a passage that speaks to me in a way that it has never spoken to me before. After all, if it is the Living Word, that is what we should expect. Is it not?
I follow the reading with a time of prayer. And I have adopted the pattern in my private prayer life to talk to God as I would talk to you. I would say that my private prayer is more of a dialogue with God than a “formal” prayer. I talk to him as a friend. In the past I have written my prayer out in a journal. For some reason I have not done that these past three years.
Now, I say all of this not to have you follow my plan but to ask a simple question: What is your prayer plan? Our prayer lives are lacking to the degree we have no consistent plan. If I skip a day or two or three or four etc., I really miss the time with God. 
So, I’d like to hear about your plan. Caution: don’t make something up to impress me. I’m not the one you have to impress. Post something in the comments (my preference, so others can see it), or use the “Contact” tab on the right to send me an email.

12 Jan

January 12, 2009 |
  • Bishop Emeritus Wilber Sites, Jr., came home from the hospital on Sunday. 
  • Harold Wust, a former UB missionary and former associate director of Missions, has been diagnosed with leukemia. He and his wife live in Huntington, Ind. Today, he begins aggressive treatment in the oncology center at Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne, Ind. He’ll be there for an extended time. 
  • Gary Reiber, pastor of Union Chapel (Fort Wayne, Ind.), remains in Fort Wayne’s Parkview Hospital after a serious bout with Toxic Shock Syndrome. On Friday, doctors operated on his knee to remove bad tissue and some infection. He’ll be on an IV with antibiotics for three weeks. The knee will need to be reopened today or tomorrow.