14 Feb Ministry Team Headed to Brazil

On March 31, five persons will travel to Cuiaba, Brazil, to assist endorsed UB missionaries Wes and Jean Bell (right) with a Spiritual Emphasis Retreat for students at the mission school where the Bells serve. Donna and Jason Hollopeter, Isa Rivera, Diane Sayles, and Nancy Shearer will help teach and mentor students of all age groups. The group will spend time not only with the Bells, but with fellow Wycliffe missionaries Dave and Becky Spencer, and will discuss ways future ministry groups could assist these missionaries.

14 Feb Leadership Training in Nicaragua

Dan Wust, endorsed missionary with the UB church, worked in partnership with Global Ministries in December 2005 doing leadership training with Nicaraguan pastors and lay leaders. He taught inductive Bible study, and its application to preaching and teaching.

14 Feb Jamaica Conference: Focus on “Healthy Churches”

Jamaica Conference will hold its annual meeting March 15-19. Gary Dilley (Director of Global Ministries) and Pat Jones (Director of Healthy Church Ministries), along with their spouses, will attend the event. Rev. Jones will lead several training presentations on church health.

The event will include the election of all major offices, including General Superintendent. They will also work on updating their ten-year ministry plan.

A major thrust of Jamaica Conference is to acquire additional land for church planting in the following areas: Iterboraele, Rhymesbury, Cockpit (Longville Park), and Eltham Park. They are also purchasing land at their church camp, Malvern. On the Sunday following the conference sessions, all UB churches across the island come together for a large combined service near Mandeville.

Superintendent Winston Smith (left) and the conference leadership will challenge those gathered to give generously toward making this dream come to pass. Pray that God’s people will be moved to participate. North American churches have been asked to consider working in partnership on this project.

13 Feb Macau Update from David and Melissa Kline

David and Melissa Kline are UB missionaries in Macau. Melissa sent this report dated January 17.
December always mean time with people and time in the kitchen, anywhere in the world I think. And Macau is no exception to that rule. David invited his ELP class over for dinner and I invited my class over for breakfast. Both events were filled with fun and good chances for relationship building. Time in the kitchen was spent baking Christmas cookies, peanut brittle, and Chex Mix. We put together around 30 Christmas snack bags and delivered them to our neighbors and ELP students as a way to spread the Christmas spirit. Later that week, we met one neighbor in the hall and she started to have a conversation with us for the first time! We pray that God will continue to open opportunities for us to share God’s love with those around us.

(more…)

13 Feb Macau News from the Beckers

Carlson and Naomi Becker, UB missionaries in Macau, sent the following as part of their January update letter.
The week before Christmas, we felt impressed to reach out to a young woman, a new Christian during the past year, who was struggling on her own away from her parent’s home and support. A church in the US had sent us a cash gift for Christmas, and we were enabled to take her to the grocery store and buy her some food to help stock her pantry. Naomi had been giving her tips about how to save money on food. We were humbled as we took her through the store and she first picked out two items as gifts to her father and mother for Christmas.
On Christmas Eve, this girl invited her father to go to an Evangelical Outreach Program with her, and because of the change he had seen in her, he went. They gave an altar call and the father went foreword to accept Christ. We were so thrilled that we practically walked on air after hearing the news. We were blessed to be a minute part of it and to see the joy in the young girl’s face.

(more…)

30 Jan March Evangelistic Trip to the Philippines

Mike Brown, pastor of the Franklin UB church in New Albany, Ohio, is currently looking for persons interested in joining a 10-day mission trip to the Philippines. Members of this team will participate in a week-long evangelistic crusade, working in partnership with the new Philippines National Conference. These crusades, held annually for the past 18 years, have consistently resulted in new churches being formed. Individuals with the following giftedness are needed: musicians, books, medical personnel, persons for testimonies, altar counselors, and miscellaneous helpers.

Date: March 29 – April 8, 2006
Cost: $1,350 per person

This is a chance to be among the first North American UBs to visit and become acquainted with the new Philippines National Conference, which became a member UB conference in June 2005. For more information about the trip, contact Rev. Mike Brown at 614-855-1391 (church phone) or 614-855-3276 (home phone).

26 Jan “End of the Spear” Movie Now Playing

“End of the Spear” is a version of the story of the five missionaries killed in Ecuador by the Auca Indians in 1956. This great missions film opens in local theaters beginning January 20. Note that it is rated PG-13 due to some spearing scenes.

Doug Weber, a UB endorsed missionary serving with HCJB Radio in Ecuador, comments, “I have seen ‘The End of the Spear.’ It is extremely well done! It would be a great thing to take a non Christian friend to, and could easily be used as an evangelistic tool. We got a sneak preview, as HCJB was involved in producing parts of the film. It is a fairly intense movie, but our kids all saw it, even our 6 year old. It was very thought provoking for even them and created some great after-movie conversations about the Lord, missions, missionaries, etc.”

26 Jan Poland English Camp – Summer 2006

About ten slots are still open for a mission trip to Poland this summer. It starts June 29 and ends July 11, 2006. The purpose is to work alongside UB endorsed missionaries Arek and Donna Delik (right) as they reach out to young people in Kutno, Poland, a city of 50,000. The event will involve teaching English as a second language to teenagers in a camp setting. It will cost $1700 per person. Donna Hollopeter will lead the group, and needs to know of your interest by March 1. Contact Donna by email.

26 Jan Updates on New Missionaries

• Abby Farmer (right), one of our newest endorsed missionaries, is leaving this month for Papua New Guinea, where she will teach missionary children. Abby is from the Blue Rock UB church in Waynesboro, Pa.
• Angie Swanson, a member of First UB church in Findlay, Ohio, is extending her stay at Jamaica Bible College through July 2006. She has been teaching a variety of classes, has mentored a number of students, and has been involved in a local United Brethren church. Angie needs an additional $3000 in support to get her through July. Contact [email protected] if you’re able to help.

• Mike and Jennifer Burtnett and family (right), also new endorsed missionaries, left the staff of Hillsdale UB church (Hillsdale, Mich.) this month to join Wycliffe Bible Translators. They will serve at Wycliffe’s World Mobilization Center in Orlando, Florida.

22 Dec Practice Services at New Taipa Church

Carlson Becker, missionary in Macau, reports that they started “Practice Church services” on November 20, as they lead up to formally launching a new church on Taipa Island on February 28. “We had 9 people present, with most of them being staff members. Michael and his wife (Michael is our co-worker in the ELP and Church), the Chinese tutor that Jen Blandin and Naomi and I are studying under, and his wife came along with the American staff. So we had 4 Chinese and 5 Americans. We are working to put together a worship service that will minister to the Chinese congregation that we are trying to build. Our tutor is very open to help us evaluate the services and how they relate to the culture here.

“After church they all come over to our apartment for a waffle feed and fellowship. We are still working to make the ‘center’ look more inviting for worship, and we are making some headway on that. We have put up a cross made of stone for ‘Living Stone’ church and we are dealing with a sink that is located in the front corner of the sanctuary space. It’s not big enough to be a baptistery unless we baptize cats or other small animals.

“Next Sunday we are planning to go out for Yum Chow after church. The group is bonding and we will probably invite in a few other Chinese folks we are coming across before the actual launch on February 28. We want to have a good core to greet and work with the newcomers at launch time. We are printing literature to mail before the launch date and have some outreach events planned. Our goal is to develop a Chinese church so that the American missionaries can back out and it will continue and multiply in the future. We may find that there are enough English speaking people on Taipa who are looking for a church that we will need an English service also, but our plan is to not make Living Stone primarily dependent upon English speaking people.”